William Hague Ends 40-Year Tory Career

William Hague burst on to the political scene at the age of 16 when he took the 1977 Conservative Party conference by storm.

Nearly 40 years later he has stolen the headlines again with his bombshell resignation announcement overshadowing the rest of David Cameron's reshuffle.

"Role as Leader of the House means I will finish in politics as I began - speaking in Parliament and campaigning among the voters," he tweeted.

He says after the General Election, when he will step down as MP for the "All Creatures Great and Small" constituency of Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales, he will return to writing, supporting the Tories and campaigning on international issues.

So he's likely to continue his high-profile trips with Angelina Jolie campaigning against sexual violence in conflict, while giving up the dross of EU foreign ministers' meetings and other tiresome international summits.

He will also, I predict, return to the lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit, where he made a handsome income after stepping down as Tory leader until his recall to the front line by David Cameron in 2005.

Mr Hague, flanked by wife Ffion, resigns after 2001 election defeat

His replacement as Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, has none of the flair or wit of Mr Hague, though he has proved to be a safe pair of hands at the Ministry of Defence and won the trust of previously sceptical military chiefs.

After his barnstorming conference speech at 16, William Hague waited another 12 years before becoming an MP in the by-election caused when Leon Brittan - back in the news again now - went to Brussels as an EU commissioner.

He only won the by-election because the Liberals and Social Democrats, then going through an acrimonious merger, fought against each other. But since then, Mr Hague has turned Richmond into one of the safest Tory seats in the country.

He was a junior minister, then Welsh secretary when John Redwood challenged John Major for the Tory leadership and then party leader at just 36 after Tony Blair's landslide victory in 1997.

The Foreign Secretary has campaigned with Hollywood star Angelina Jolie

But while Mr Hague outwitted Mr Blair in the Commons, the Conservatives were still trounced by Labour again in 2001 in a result almost identical to 1997 and it seemed his top-flight political career was over until Mr Cameron persuaded him to return.

Nearly a decade after his comeback, in what looks like a purge of middle-aged men by the Prime Minister, at least Mr Hague's departure from the Foreign Office was his own decision.

And the Tories will benefit enormously from his skills in the Commons as Leader of the House and campaigning on the domestic front - particularly in the north of England - in the run-up to the next election.

Plenty of other middle-aged men have been ruthlessly sacked by David Cameron in what one of them called "the cull of all the innocents".

Downing Street listed seven ministers - all men - who had resigned. They were Kenneth Clarke, David Willetts, Alan Duncan, Hugh Robertson, Sir George Young, Andrew Robathan and Greg Barker.

Damian Green is one of the high-profile Cabinet casualties

But the No 10 list did not include the names of David Jones (Wales), Dominic Grieve (Attorney General), Damian Green (Policing) and Stephen Hammond (Transport). All were sacked. And all were shell-shocked by their dismissal.

As news of the sackings spread through Westminster, middle-aged male Tory MPs stood around in conspiratorial huddles of three or four, whispering and muttering.

For the moment, there is a lot of ill-feeling on the back benches.

But after the disappointed will come the appointed - promotion for younger, telegenic women MPs. The traditional parade up Downing Street and the smiles for the cameras.

Mr Cameron has got the bad news out of the way first. Labour has called his reshuffle a "massacre of the moderates". The PM will be hoping for more favourable publicity for day two of his changes.

But William Hague quitting is a serious blow. And if things go badly for the Tories at the next election, don't bet against Lord Hague of Richmond taking the Conservative Party conference by storm once again.

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PM Shapes New Team As Cull Sees Hague Exit

Hague Calls Time On Roller-Coaster Career

Updated: 6:57am UK, Tuesday 15 July 2014

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

William Hague burst on to the political scene at the age of 16 when he took the 1977 Conservative Party conference by storm.

Nearly 40 years later he has stolen the headlines again with his bombshell resignation announcement overshadowing the rest of David Cameron's reshuffle.

"Role as Leader of the House means I will finish in politics as I began - speaking in Parliament and campaigning among the voters," he tweeted.

He says after the General Election, when he will step down as MP for the "All Creatures Great and Small" constituency of Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales, he will return to writing, supporting the Tories and campaigning on international issues.

So he's likely to continue his high-profile trips with Angelina Jolie campaigning against sexual violence in conflict, while giving up the dross of EU foreign ministers' meetings and other tiresome international summits.

He will also, I predict, return to the lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit, where he made a handsome income after stepping down as Tory leader until his recall to the front line by David Cameron in 2005.

His replacement as Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, has none of the flair or wit of Mr Hague, though he has proved to be a safe pair of hands at the Ministry of Defence and won the trust of previously sceptical military chiefs.

After his barnstorming conference speech at 16, William Hague waited another 12 years before becoming an MP in the by-election caused when Leon Brittan - back in the news again now - went to Brussels as an EU commissioner.

He only won the by-election because the Liberals and Social Democrats, then going through an acrimonious merger, fought against each other. But since then, Mr Hague has turned Richmond into one of the safest Tory seats in the country.

He was a junior minister, then Welsh secretary when John Redwood challenged John Major for the Tory leadership and then party leader at just 36 after Tony Blair's landslide victory in 1997.

But while Mr Hague outwitted Mr Blair in the Commons, the Conservatives were still trounced by Labour again in 2001 in a result almost identical to 1997 and it seemed his top-flight political career was over until Mr Cameron persuaded him to return.

Nearly a decade after his comeback, in what looks like a purge of middle-aged men by the Prime Minister, at least Mr Hague's departure from the Foreign Office was his own decision.

And the Tories will benefit enormously from his skills in the Commons as Leader of the House and campaigning on the domestic front - particularly in the north of England - in the run-up to the next election.

Plenty of other middle-aged men have been ruthlessly sacked by David Cameron in what one of them called "the cull of all the innocents".

Downing Street listed seven ministers - all men - who had resigned. They were Kenneth Clarke, David Willetts, Alan Duncan, Hugh Robertson, Sir George Young, Andrew Robathan and Greg Barker.

But the No 10 list did not include the names of David Jones (Wales), Dominic Grieve (Attorney General), Damian Green (Policing) and Stephen Hammond (Transport). All were sacked. And all were shell-shocked by their dismissal.

As news of the sackings spread through Westminster, middle-aged male Tory MPs stood around in conspiratorial huddles of three or four, whispering and muttering.

For the moment, there is a lot of ill-feeling on the back benches.

But after the disappointed will come the appointed - promotion for younger, telegenic women MPs. The traditional parade up Downing Street and the smiles for the cameras.

Mr Cameron has got the bad news out of the way first. Labour has called his reshuffle a "massacre of the moderates". The PM will be hoping for more favourable publicity for day two of his changes.

But William Hague quitting is a serious blow. And if things go badly for the Tories at the next election, don't bet against Lord Hague of Richmond taking the Conservative Party conference by storm once again.

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World Cup: Germany Win Trophy For Fourth Time

Terrific World Cup That Swept Aside The Doubts

Updated: 11:40pm UK, Sunday 13 July 2014

By Nick Powell, Sports Editor

It was entirely appropriate that a competition where predictions became impossible should be settled in extra-time by a German who came on as substitute for the World Cup's all-time leading goalscorer.

After a gripping but goalless opening 90 minutes, Mario Gotze, replacement for Miroslav Klose, beat Argentina with a sublime piece of skill befitting what we have seen this past month.

For sustained team excellence throughout, Germany are worthy champions.

It was unquestionably a terrific tournament.

Best ever? Too subjective. One of the best, certainly. 1970 and 1998, to name but two, gave us plenty to enjoy.

But football has changed since then, and World Cups too.

Fitter, faster, stronger players. Bigger tournaments. More countries, for heaven's sake, and more finalists (after an expansion to 32 countries in 1998).

One argument against that has been exploded this past month in Brazil, namely that too many weak teams would feature.

Costa Rica, Algeria? Both reached the last 16, where the former won again and the latter took Germany to extra-time.

The competition's compelling nature proved enough to quell most of the Brazilian protests about its cost, and help us generally forget the questions about FIFA's competence and propriety.

But match-fixing allegations surrounding Cameroon were an in-tournament reminder of football's seamy side, or more accurately of the sport's attractiveness to criminals seeking a fast illegal million bucks or a money laundry.

Luis Suarez snaffled himself more column inches through his incisors than his prodigious talent or his noteworthy comeback from knee surgery to blast England out of the World Cup.

Ah yes, England ... no, let's move on, as they might yet successfully do themselves if Roy Hodgson can get them playing consistently as they did for long periods against Italy.

FIFA acted quickly and strongly against Suarez, less so against the brutality which many teams realised they could get away with - not least Brazil, who themselves ironically lost poster boy Neymar to a crude knee in the back.

That must be sorted by Russia 2018 - always assuming investigator Michael Garcia has not found reasons to switch the venue (unlikely).

Which brings us to Qatar 2022, and a welter of unanswered questions guaranteed to keep journalists busy and lawyers rich.

And to Teflon-coated FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Like the poor, always with us, and set on asking in 2015 for another four-year term to stay as football's overload until he's 83.

The politics are on the doorstep.

But it's acceptable for now to put our fingers in our ears, draw the curtains, and replay in our minds (or on video) the sporting delights served up this past four weeks by unheralded talents like Colombia forward James Rodriguez and Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas, and acknowledged superstars like Neymar, Dutch wizard Arjen Robben.

Not to mention the wonderfully gifted Argentinian Lionel Messi, who fell one step short of football's ultimate prize.

His team's fans ended the night in tears.

Only four more years ....

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Costa Concordia: Cruise Ship Being Refloated

The operation to refloat the shipwrecked Costa Concordia has begun with compressed air being pumped into 30 tanks attached to the sides of the vessel to force out the seawater inside.

Thirty-two people died when the huge ship slammed into rocks off the Italian island of Giglio in January 2012 and part of the ship's 290-metre-long hull sank beneath the water.

But having been hauled into an upright position after a 19-hour operation last September, the wreckage of the luxury liner is now being refloated before a flotilla of tugboats will drag it to the port of Genoa.

The Costa Concordia has been resting on a huge underwater platform

It will then be broken up and sold as scrap.

The 114,500-tonne vessel will be raised two metres off the artificial platforms it has rested on since September in the initial phase of the operation on Monday.

It will then be towed away from the shore and moored using anchors and cables.

The salvage operation is the biggest in maritime history

"The risks are that the ship could bend as it is raised, or the chains underneath it could snap," Salvage Master Nick Sloane said.

"There will be 42 people on board during the first manoeuvre. If disaster strikes we will evacuate through emergency escapes on the bow and stern."

The bulk of the refloating operation is due to take place from Thursday to Saturday, as the decks slowly emerge to be cleared of debris and checked for structural damage.

Mr Rebello, second left, is the only victim whose body is still missing

Search teams will scour the wreck as it is refloated in an attempt to find the body of the only victim still missing, Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter. 

In an interview with Sky News last January, Mr Rebello's brother, Kevin, who has made regular trips to Giglio from his home in Milan, said: "More than anything we would just like to find Russel's body so we can bury him and draw a line on what happened.''

Eerie video footage shot by divers and released by police earlier this month showed twisted metalwork, broken furniture and discarded belongings left by the 4,200 people who were on board the Costa Concordia when it crashed.

Francesco Schettino is accused of fleeing the ship

Francesco Schettino, the ship's captain, is on trial for charges including manslaughter.

He is accused of deliberately altering the course of the Concordia in order to carry out a sail-by salute of the island in order to impress local residents and passengers.

The 53-year-old, who was allegedly on the bridge with his Moldovan lover Domnica Cemortan, claimed it was ''too dark to see anything'' and told investigators he had not fled but had ''tripped and fell into a lifeboat".

He was dubbed 'Captain Coward' by some tabloid newspapers after reportedly refusing orders from the coastguard to return to the ship to help with the rescue operation.

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Ambulance Response Times 'Putting Lives At Risk'

Ambulances are taking longer to reach patients suffering from life-threatening conditions compared to three years ago, according to a new report.

Figures from NHS England suggest that in some areas of the UK, heart attack and stroke victims have to wait almost three minutes more to be seen by a paramedic.

Category A calls where a patient's life is in danger should arrive within eight minutes. But ambulances are taking more than a minute longer to arrive on average and experts warn this is putting lives at risk.

Dr Dale Webb, director of research and information at the Stroke Association, said: "When a stroke strikes, the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off which causes brain cells in the affected area to die.

Paramedic Danny Wroe says increases in traffic are causing longer delays

"So time lost is brain lost. These figures are a concern because stroke patients need to get specialist treatment as soon as possible.

"The quicker someone arrives at a specialist stroke unit the quicker they should receive the right treatment and the more likely they are to make a better recovery."

In the East of England, ambulances are taking some 2.8 minutes longer to respond to the most serious calls. In the East Midlands, ambulances are taking 2.3 minutes longer compared to three years ago.

But an East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson cast doubt on the data.

''EMAS is an improving organisation and hit all of its key performance standards during the first quarter of 2014," he said.

One trust is recruiting more staff like Danny to help with response times

''The method used nationally to measure response times changed between years so the figures quoted do not compare like with like.

"The figure of 489 seconds for May 2014 uses the new criteria and is correct. However, if the new measurement criteria were applied to the May 2013 figure, it would read 476 rather than 376.

"This means the change from 2013 to 2014 is 13 seconds."

Portsmouth-based paramedic Danny Wroe told Sky News: "Traffic is on the increase and people's inability to use their mirrors is a major thing."

The chief executive of the East of England Ambulance Service said the service was dealing with delays by recruiting extra paramedics and putting additional ambulances on the road.

Dr Anthony Marsh said: "We are putting more staff on the front line and reducing the number of cars to increase the number of ambulances.

"We are recruiting 400 student paramedics by April 2015, the first group of which are already working from ambulance stations across the region, as well as up-skilling our existing emergency medical technicians and emergency care assistants.

"Additional ambulances are also on the road, and we launched a replacement programme to ensure no ambulance in our fleet is older than five years by next spring."

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Israeli Troops Launch First Ground Raid On Gaza

Israeli troops have launched a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, the first since the offensive against Hamas began, according to Israeli public radio.

The navy commandos' brief incursion - which ignored a United Nations call for a ceasefire - apparently targeted a rocket launcher site.

The armed branch of Hamas confirmed that Israeli troops had exchanged gunfire with Palestinian fighters.

Artillery flares illuminate the sky following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Four Israeli soldiers were injured during the operation, an Israeli military spokesman said.

Residents in northern Gaza spent the night fleeing their homes, after a warning from Israel's military that they should leave "for their own safety".

Israel says it plans to step up its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza today in an effort to stop missiles being fired into Israel.

A picture tweeted by Israel claiming to target a militant rocket site

It has been massing military hardware and troops close to the border with northern Gaza.

Sky's Alex Rossi said more than 100 Israeli armoured personnel carriers and tanks are in the area.

Israel began its offensive on Tuesday in response to weeks of rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza, who are understood to have fired some 600 missiles into the country.

Tel Aviv residents take cover during an air raid siren warning of an attack

On Saturday evening, an Israeli warplane bombed the home of Gaza's police chief and damaged a nearby mosque, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50.

It was the deadliest single attack during the five-day conflict, which has now claimed more than 140 lives.

Israeli soldiers rest in the shade of trees near central Gaza

Injured Palestinians were taken to al Shifa hospital in Gaza City as the bombardment continued.

Dr Ayman al Sahabany, director of emergency ward at the hospital, said: "Women and children are more than half of the casualties. And children form a third of the total casualties."

Israeli soldiers walk across a field near central Gaza strip

No Israelis have died so far in the latest conflict, and many of the rockets fired into the country have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not end the campaign until he achieves his goal of stopping the rocket attacks from a "terrorist organisation which calls for our destruction".

Former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said: "(Israel) is the one that started this aggression and it must stop, because we are (simply) defending ourselves."

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Israeli Airstrikes: Five Palestinians Killed

A Complex Web Of Friends And Enemies

Updated: 5:06pm UK, Friday 11 July 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel at dawn. The opening of a new front for Israel already engaged in an escalating air campaign in the Gaza Strip? No.

Neither the Israelis nor Hezbollah, which has an arsenal of 100,000 rockets and controls southern Lebanon, are that stupid.

The missile attack on Israel's north was an attempt by Sunni militants to spark a confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel that both know would be a zero sum.

Why would Sunnis, in all probability descendants of Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, want to do that?

It's Hezbollah, a Shia movement, after all, that has been a major conduit of experts, funding and modern rockets to Hamas, a Sunni organisation, in Gaza. Hamas and Hezbollah are allies.

But only when it comes to fighting Israel.

In Syria, Hamas has condemned the Assad regime, which like Hezbollah is backed by Iran.

Sunnis of Palestinian descent are among volunteers who have joined rebel groups fighting Damascus, while Hezbollah has sent thousands of its best fighters to the frontlines to defend the regime of Bashar al Assad.

There is a logic at work here.

If Sunni groups in south Lebanon can sucker the Israelis into a war with Hezbollah they could enjoy the double whammy of reduced pressure on Gaza, and the use of Israel's devastating air power against Hezbollah, the Sunni's enemies in Syria.

No better example of an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

It won't happen because both Hezbollah and Israel, foes who have the greatest respect for one another, saw through the plot some time back. It's not the first time it has been tried.

But it does signal just how the Middle East's tectonic plates of conflict have shifted and can overlap.

The explosion of sectarian Muslim war between Sunni and Shia in Syria, which has spread into Iraq and has destabilised Lebanon, has become the defining clash in a new age of chaos.

Rival regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran use proxies to vie for influence and control.

The Saudis have become increasingly nervous of the spread of a Shia crescent from Tehran through Baghdad to Damascus and south Lebanon.

But Tehran has also used enemy forces to bolster the positions of its allies.

According to intelligence sources Muhsin al Fadhli, once a senior al Qaeda figure based in Iraq has taken up an operational roles inside Syria - at the instigation of the Iranian government.

Why would Tehran release someone to fight a key client an ally in Damascus?

Because radical groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have fought harder against fellow rebel groups than they have against the Assad regime.

Tehran has split the rebels.

But now ISIS threatens Iran's client government in Baghdad showing that an enemy's enemy may be a friend from time to time, but will remain an enemy.

This may be complicated but there is no excuse for stupidity in the Middle East. Failure to comprehend this can be fatal.

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