Extremism Row: Gove Sorry As May Aide Quits

Education Secretary Michael Gove has been forced to apologise, while Theresa May's special adviser has quit in the public feud over the handling of alleged extremism in schools.

Mrs May's aide Fiona Cunningham resigned following the investigation ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron into the dispute between two of his most senior ministers.

And Mr Gove has written to apologise to Charles Farr, the director general of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, and the Prime Minister "in acknowledgement of his role" in the row, which saw the Education Secretary's camp and Mrs May's side at loggerheads.

Fiona Cunningham has resigned after an investigation into the row

The rift became public after quotes attributed to a Department for Education source in The Times detailed Mr Gove's concerns about the Home Office's approach to tackling extremism.

In response, a letter was released from the Home Secretary to the Education Secretary which questioned his department's handling of the Islamist "Trojan horse" allegations in Birmingham schools, despite warnings dating back to 2010.

A source said: "Why is the DfE wanting to blame other people for information they had in 2010? Lord knows what more they have overlooked on the subject of the protection of kids in state schools? It scares me."

Mr Cameron was said to be "deeply frustrated" at the dispute, particularly the way it broke on the day of the Queen's Speech.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "In relation to unauthorised comments to the media about the Government's approach to tackling extremism and the improper release of correspondence between Ministers, the Prime Minister has received the Cabinet Secretary's review establishing the facts behind these events.

"In acknowledgement of his role, today, the Secretary of State for Education has written separately to Charles Farr and the Prime Minister apologising for the original comments made to the Times newspaper.

"In addition, in relation to further comments to the Times, Fiona Cunningham has today resigned."

Some 21 schools in Birmingham have been the subject of an Ofsted investigation after a letter referred to an alleged plot by hardline Muslims to seize control of governing boards in the city.

Ofsted will publish the findings of its investigation on Monday, with one of the schools expected to be found as "inadequate", with its management strongly criticised by inspectors.

Mr Gove is also to make a statement in the Commons, where he is set to face some uncomfortable questions from Labour which has seized on the spat, and accused the Government of "gross negligence" for failing to tackle the issue of extremism in schools.

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said: "Michael Gove should be apologising to pupils and parents, not David Cameron. He was warned of the problems in Birmingham four years ago.

"Michael Gove can no longer seek to distance himself from the mess that he has created. He must explain in full what he knew about the warnings he was given in 2010."

Ahead of his apology, Mr Gove had earlier denied the row with Mrs May had damaged the Government, or that he was considering his position over his department's handling of the Birmingham allegations.

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Fifa Feels Heat Amid Fresh World Cup Claims

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent, in Sao Paulo

Qatar deployed its political connections and natural gas wealth to help win the 2022 World Cup, according to allegations published by the Sunday Times.

For the second week running the newspaper has published details of meetings and deals that it claims demonstrate former Fifa executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam broke bid rules as he lobbied on behalf of his country's bid.

The Qatar bid deny that Mr Bin Hammam, since banned for life from football, was directly linked to the bid or worked on their behalf.

Fifa sponsor Sony has called on world football's governing body to investigate the allegations thoroughly.

Qatar deny Bin Hammam was linked to the bid or worked on their behalf

"As a Fifa partner, we expect these allegations to be investigated appropriately," the company said in a statement to The Sunday Times.

"We continue to expect Fifa to adhere to its principles of integrity, ethics and fair play across all aspects of its operations."

The latest allegations, gleaned from millions of documents in the possession of the newspaper, suggest Mr Bin Hammam was in contact with bid officials as he brokered meetings between senior Fifa officials and the Emir of Qatar.

The newspaper alleges Mr Bin Hammam met Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister, weeks before the vote in December 2010, to discuss "bilateral sporting relations".

Putin was backing Russia's 2018 World Cup bid, which beat England on the way to winning the right to host the tournament.

Fifa's Sepp Blatter declined to comment on the matter on Saturday

It also alleges Mr Bin Hammam helped broker a natural gas deal between his country and Thailand.

It reports that an advisor to Fifa executive committee member Worawi Makudi met senior Qatari energy officials to discuss a deal.

Asked by Sky News if he was concerned about the allegation Mr Makudi said: "No, not at all."

The Sunday Times also claims Mr Bin Hammam brokered meetings between the Emir and nine senior Fifa executive committee members, and distributed £1.7m from a slush-fund to Asian football officials.

It says its latest disclosures prove that Mr Bin Hammam was actively working for the Qatar bid.

Qatar re-stated the denial issued last week after the newspaper alleged that Mr Bin Hammam paid around £3m in bribes to African football officials.

Qatar won the right to host the World Cup in 2010

"The Qatar 2022 Bid Committee always upheld the highest standard of ethics and integrity in its successful bid to host the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

"In regard to the latest allegations from The Sunday Times, we say again that Mohamed Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar's 2022 Bid Committee."

Fifa President Sepp Blatter declined to comment on the matter as a meeting of the executive committee concluded in Sao Paulo on Saturday evening.

The governing body has charged US attorney Michael Garcia with investigating the allegations, and he will not report until after the World Cup.

Mr Garcia will be in Sao Paulo this week to discuss his investigation with Fifa officials.

He is also expected to attend the Fifa Congress starting on Tuesday.

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Newborn Dies As NHS Drips 'Poison 15 Babies'

An investigation is under way after a baby being treated in intensive care died from blood poisoning through an infection caught from a suspected contaminated drip.

Public Health England (PHE) said it is examining 14 other cases of septicaemia in babies at a total of six hospitals in England.

The infant who died was being treated at St Thomas' Hospital in central London.

The baby died on June 1, and the other two children who fell ill at the same neonatal unit are "responding well" to antibiotics, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.

"All babies on the unit are being screened for the bacterium as a precaution and enhanced infection control measures have been put in place to prevent any further cases," she said.

Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, where four children suffered infections

PHE said the 15 cases have been "strongly linked" with a number of batches of a liquid called parenteral nutrition, which was fed to the babies through intravenous drips.

The bacteria that caused the infection is called bacillus cereus, which is found widely in the environment in dust, soil and vegetation.

As well as St Thomas' Hospital, babies have fallen ill in neonatal intensive care units at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust (four cases), Whittington Hospital (one case), Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (three cases), CUH Addenbrookes (two cases) and Luton and Dunstable University Hospital (two cases).

Professor Mike Catchpole, PHE's incident director, said: "We have acted quickly to investigate this issue ... and we have taken action to ensure that the affected batches and any remaining stock of this medicine is not being used in hospitals."

Parenteral nutrition is usually produced under sterilised conditions to cut the risk that the product could result in infections.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a Class 1 Drug Alert over the suspected batch of contaminated liquid.

Class 1 is the most critical alert and requires immediate recall. PHE said London-based ITH Pharma Limited, which makes the batch in question, had already issued a recall notice.

The company's managing director Karen Hamling it was "very saddened" by a baby's death and the firm is co-operating fully with the investigation.

Two babies fell ill at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital

Sky's Health Correspondent Thomas Moore said premature and seriously sick children were particularly vulnerable to infections.

He said: "(Officials) believe that there's probably nothing left of these batches in the supply chain.

"There's been a precautionary note to doctors and nurses asking them to check batch numbers.

"They believe that this has been contained, that it's been identified swiftly, although sadly not swiftly enough for this one baby."

PHE said investigations with the company had identified an incident that might have caused the contamination. 

It said most surfaces would test positive for the presence of the bacteria, which produces hardy spores that, in the right conditions, produce a toxin which causes illness.

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Police Hunt Gunman After Three Officers Killed

Police are hunting a gunman after three officers were shot dead and two others were injured in Canada.

The shootings began after police responded to a call about an armed man in north Moncton, New Brunswick province, at 7.30pm (11.30pm UK time).

The attacker, reportedly wearing a camouflage outfit, began firing at officers and a massive manhunt is now taking place to catch him.

Police say he is still believed to be in the Pinehurst area of the northeastern city and have have urged people there to stay inside and lock their doors.

Officers are looking for 24-year-old Justin Bourque of Moncton and say he is considered "armed and dangerous".

The window of the police car is shattered

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in New Brunswick confirmed the three officers' deaths on its Twitter feed.

The two other officers had non-life threatening injuries and were in a stable condition in hospital.

The force tweeted an image of a suspect wearing military camouflage and wielding two guns.

Witness Danny Leblanc, 42, said he saw the gunman in the distance on Wednesday evening standing in the middle of the street with his gun pointed at police cars.

The police officers were shot dead in Moncton on the east coast of Canada

The construction worker said he believed it was an RCMP officer he was looking at until he heard a burst of automatic gunfire coming from the man's gun.

He said he quickly went back into his home and remained there with his family.

Mr Leblanc said: "It's devastating. I don't know if he was on a hunt for them, or what."

At one point a neighbour posted on social media that their kitchen window was shattered by gunfire.

Another witness said she saw an injured officer being taken away.

The unnamed woman said: "We just came outside. My daughter said there were police in the area, and we noticed that there was a lockdown on the street, they wouldn't let anybody in or out, they were turning vehicles around.

"And we noticed there was a staff supervisor vehicle that had taken an injured officer away, the lady liked like she was, like, really hurt."

RCMP Constable Damien Theriault, who appeared emotional during a news conference, said he personally knew the officers who were killed.

Constable Theriault asked the public not to disclose any information about the police operation or locations of officers on social media.

A number of roads in the city were blocked and drivers were also asked to stay out of the area.

Moncton mayor George LeBlanc urged all residents to pay strict attention to the RCMP warnings.

Such violence is rare in Canada, particularly on Canada's east coast.

Constable Theriault said Moncton did not have a homicide in 2013 or this year until Wednesday evening.

More follows...

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EU Must Reform For Jobs And Growth - Cameron

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

David Cameron has called fellow European leaders and urged them to "seize the opportunity" for reform on jobs and growth following the European elections.

In a series of phone calls the Prime Minister urged them to "heed the views expressed at the ballot box" over recent days.

His intervention came ahead of today's Informal European Council dinner in Brussels, where leaders are expected to discuss the results of the European poll.

Many European leaders, including Mr Cameron and Denmark's Helle Thorning-Schmidt, saw their support fall away to anti-immigration parties such as UKIP.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also lost votes to Alternative For Germany, a party opposed to the euro.

Mr Cameron told leaders, including Ms Merkel and Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, that the results of the poll underlined the need for reform, in particular on job creation and economic growth.

Germany's Angela Merkel lost votes to a party opposed to the euro

"The PM has been making the point in these conversations that leaders should seize the opportunity of Tuesday's dinner to heed the views expressed at the ballot box," said Downing Street.

"The turnout and results in the EP elections have underlined the need for reform to ensure that the EU is doing more to deliver what voters care about: jobs, growth and a better future."

A senior diplomat said the informal dinner will look at the EU Council's priorities over the next five years, and discuss the likely impact of the confusing mosaic of political interests elected to the chamber.

The diplomat said no names for a potential president of the Commission would be discussed, and that the process of picking a successor to Jose Manuel Barroso could take weeks, not days.

The leaders might use the dinner to slim down the Council's "to do" list, in order to concentrate on encouraging growth and employment, so restoring faith in the institutions of the European Union.

Mr Hollande has called for a "re-focus" of Europe

Parties which campaign against the European Union, or its current structure and priorities, doubled their representation in the parliament with a humiliation for the French President Francois Hollande.

Mr Hollande's Socialist Party secured nearly half as much support as the right-wing Front National.

He has signalled his intention to press ahead with reforms in France, while also pushing for the EU to prioritise growth and jobs.

"I am a European, it is my duty to reform France and re-focus Europe," he said in a message broadcast on French television.

The EU Council is also expected to discuss developments in Ukraine, where presidential elections were held at the weekend.

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Nick Clegg 'Could Lose Seat At Next Election'

European Elections: The Winner And Losers

Updated: 4:01am UK, Monday 26 May 2014

By Michael Thrasher, Sky's Election Analyst

UKIP stormed to first place in the European elections, becoming the party of choice for nearly a third of voters.

This is the first time since 1906 that a party other than the big two - Conservative and Labour - has topped the poll in a nationwide vote.

The first result, once again delivered by the North East region, gave a taste of things to come. 

Last time the region's three Euro seats were spread among the three established parties.

This time both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats lost their seats leaving Labour leading with two MEPs but UKIP picking its first seat of the night.

Across the region UKIP even finished ahead of Labour in four local authorities that are used to tally the European votes.

As more regions declared their results it became clear that UKIP was on course to finish on top in the popular vote.

It out-polled the Conservatives in the South East and South West, in the Eastern region where it has gained a real foothold at local council elections and also the East Midlands. 

In the West Midlands, in parliamentary terms a real battleground between the Conservatives and Labour it was UKIP that once again eclipsed the traditional parties.

Further evidence that UKIP has been instrumental in stalling Labour's progress came in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Here, UKIP finished first with 31% of the vote, a two-point lead over Labour in what is generally regarded as one of the party's strongest areas.

Compared with the last time voters selected MEPs in 2009 UKIP registered double-digit increases in vote share across every region to declare overnight. 

The biggest losers were the Liberal Democrats who endured an appalling time, following so closely upon extremely disappointing local election results.

The pro-European party lost all but one of its MEPs from the first nine of Great Britain's 11 regional constituencies to declare and were relegated to fifth place behind the Greens.

The pressure that had grown on Nick Clegg as the party watched its councillors defeated may grow yet further as his critics point to his decision to debate with Nigel Farage as a catalyst for the party's collapse.  

Although Labour gained seats it will again be subjected to the accusation that it is punching below its weight. Opinion polling suggested that it was vying with UKIP for first place but the results show a clear gap between the two parties.

Indeed, while Labour is likely to overtake the Conservatives in the national vote once the counting is completed in Scotland the gap between the two main parties will not be great.

The national projection of the local election voting placed Labour just one percentage point ahead of the Conservatives and the closeness of the Euro voting will add to the pressure on the Labour leadership.

Of course, the pattern of voting will be different at next year's general election. Many voters that backed UKIP this time will return to one or other of the major parties.

But Mr Farage has undoubtedly produced chaos and confusion among the established parties and no one can be sure at this point about the impact his party will have in less than a year's time.

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Far-Right National Front 'Win' In France

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Voters have dramatically altered the make-up of the European Parliament by doubling the number of MEPs from the populist, eurosceptic Right and the anti-austerity Left.

Marine Le Pen's far-Right National Front scored its first victory in European Parliament elections in France.

Without waiting for the final result, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls went on television to call the result "an earthquake" for France and Europe.

The National Front (FN) won around 25% of the vote in France, according to exit polls, easily beating the centre-Right UMP on 20%.

Exit polls say far-right and hard-left parties have gained ground in many countries, including in Greece where the extreme-right Golden Dawn are thought to have won nearly 10% of the vote.

By the half way stage, the centre-right parties were expected to be the biggest group, with 212 out of 751 seats.

The Socialists were expected to gain 185 seats, the Liberals third with 71, the Greens fourth with 55 and the far-left next with 45.

Eurosceptic parties were expected to win about 143 seats.

Marine Le Pen celebrates winning France's Euro election

The winners in Greece, the anti-austerity movement Syriza, are thought to have topped the polls with more than 27% of the vote.

In Germany, the EU's biggest member state with the largest number of seats, the pro-European centre ground held firm, according to the polls.

Ms Le Pen, whose party beat President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists into third place, told supporters: "The people have spoken loud and clear ... they no longer want to be led by those outside our borders, by EU commissioners and technocrats who are unelected.

"They want to be protected from globalisation and take back the reins of their destiny."

Eurosceptic Conservative MPs in the UK were quick to point out they had predicted the rise of the Right.

Harwich and Essex MP Bernard Jenkin wrote on Twitter: "Some of us who opposed Maastricht 20 years ago predicted it would lead to the rise of the Right in the EU: and here we are."

Douglas Carswell, the Clacton MP, said: "So maybe those of us who sometimes banged on about Europe were on to something?"

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I think we should be concerned about some of these developments across the rest of Europe and that is why it is so important that the next European Commission, the European Council, the next European Parliament do get the message that there is rising discontent and tensions of many kinds in Europe."

In Denmark the Right wing Danish People's Party topped the polls, although its leaders have ruled out an alliance with the National Front.

Spain's two main political parties, the ruling conservative Popular Party in power since 2011 and the Socialist Party, lost major ground to smaller parties, mainly on the Left. The Catalan independence party also performed well.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) came in ahead of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) in his country's exit polls.

In Belgium, the controversial Flemish separatists secured four of  21 EU parliamentary seats available in the country, more than any other party. 

Turnout in Eastern Europe was predicted to be low, with estimates of around 20% expected. 

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