Minister for Asia and the Middle East Amanda Milling has completed her second trip to the Gulf this week, visiting Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The visit came as ties between the UK and the Gulf Co-operation Council are strengthening quickly. Last month the UK announced that GCC countries will be exempt from visa requirements, joining the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme and also launched Free Trade Agreement discussions.

During a one-day visit to Bahrain, Minister Milling met Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, where they further reflected on the strong bilateral relationship. Ms Milling congratulated the Minister for Bahrain’s continued progress in human rights and reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to support Bahrain’s work in this area.

She also had productive meetings with the Minister of Justice and Minister of Finance and National Economy. Ms Milling heard from influential young Bahrainis about their hopes and aspirations, met senior business figures, and visited the UK Naval Support Facility for a briefing on UK security contributions in the region, alongside the US and other defence partners.

In Qatar, the Minister met with her counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister and HE Sultan Saad Al Muraikhi to discuss strengthening the bilateral partnership, building on the recent visit to the UK by His Highness the Amir, including areas of regional and international security.

The Minister also met with Nasser Al Khater, CEO Qatar 2022 ahead of the World Cup to discuss what England and Wales fans can expect during the tournament, the Minister of Labour Dr. Ali bin Samikh Al-Marri to discuss labour rights and the Minister of Public Health, Dr Hannan Al Kuwari to discuss cooperation on global health matters.

In the UAE, Minister Milling met with key Emirati officials such as Dr Anwar Gargesh and HE Sheikh Shakbout bin Nahyan to discuss how to drive forward the ‘Partnership for the Future’ (P4F) agreement signed by the PM and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan during a Guest of Government visit to the UK in September 2021.

Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East, Amanda Milling MP said:

Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE are close friends of the UK. We are making it easier for UK companies to trade with companies in the Gulf through a Free Trade Agreement and for citizens of the Gulf to travel to the UK through our Electronic Visa Authorisation scheme.

In Bahrain, I reiterated that the UK is a reliable partner and we’ll continue to work closely together on many areas, including regional security, human rights and trade and investment.

In Qatar I had the opportunity to discuss on-going preparations for the World Cup, and our support for a safe and enjoyable experience for British fans.

In the UAE, my counterparts and I discussed the full range of shared priorities outlined in the Partnership for the Future, from boosting bilateral trade to regional stability and development.

Thank you Chair

Welcome back, Ambassador Del Monaco to the Permanent Council, and thank you for your comprehensive report highlighting the Presence’s achievements over the last ten months.

During this period we were pleased to welcome Albania’s membership of the UN Security Council, including their leadership of the UNSC in June.

We cannot escape the fact that this period has also been marked by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, an invasion which the UK strongly condemns. We welcome Albania’s firm position, and note that the invasion has resulted in some challenges to Albania’s Government priorities, including around the cost of living.

Turning to your report, I would like to focus on four key areas, namely: electoral reform, media freedom, anti-corruption, and the fight against serious organised crime and trafficking.

First – on electoral reform, we welcome your continued efforts to assist the reform process, a stated top priority of the Assembly of Albania. This includes the Presence’s work with the Central Election Commission (CEC), including their objective of having the necessary infrastructure in place to support out of country voting by autumn 2023. We also appreciate your support to the CEC, together with OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), on drafting its first ever Code of Ethics. As mentioned previously, your support and advocacy for an inclusive approach to elections is highly valued. We were pleased that our Embassy in Tirana was able to join with the Presence and the CEC to encourage youth participation in electoral processes earlier this year. We continue to encourage further work on electoral reform, including by addressing ODIHR recommendations, and we welcome the cross-partisan efforts of the new Assembly in this direction. This work is especially important ahead of the June 2023 local elections.

Secondly – we welcome your focus on media freedom in Albania. As your report notes, the Media Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders in May 2022, ranked Albania 103rd, dropping 20 places compared to 2021. Journalists should be able to report in a free and accurate way to hold those in power to account, expose corruption and inform citizens.

Thirdly – we commend your continued focus and expertise in addressing corruption, including to corruption-proof legislation. We welcome the work of the Special Prosecutor against Corruption (SPAK), which must continue to be supported. It is noteworthy that your report mentions the complex interplay between corrupt practices and gender inequality. Gender is integral in all that we do, and we appreciate your attention to this. We also welcome the commitment of the Ministry of Justice/National Coordinator Against Corruption to follow up on the Presence’s recommendations and to mainstream gender in the national anti-corruption strategy. As mentioned previously, we also encourage a focus on intersectional factors, and we are pleased that the OSCE is starting to increase its attention here.

Fourthly – on fighting serious organised crime and trafficking, we welcome your continued assistance in combating trafficking in human beings. We particularly note your support to innovative multi-sectoral training, addressing child trafficking, and on the Anti-Trafficking National Referral Mechanism Framework. Combating trans-national threats is vital for any government, and we appreciate your support in building the basis for Intelligence-led Policing to address serious and organised crime.

Looking ahead – we welcome the Presence’s planned focus and we look forward to hearing more on your assistance to advance these areas, including on electoral reform, media freedom, good governance, serious organised crime and gender equality.

In concluding, I would like to thank you, Ambassador del Monaco, and your team for your hard work and commitment during the reporting period. We wish you the very best of luck in your future endeavours.

Thank you Chair

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement in Downing Street

Good afternoon everybody,

It is now clearly the will of the parliamentary conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party

and therefore a new Prime Minister

and I have agreed with Sir Graham Brady

the chairman of our backbench MPs

that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now

and the timetable will be announced next week

and I have today appointed a cabinet to serve – as I will – until a new leader is in place

so I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019 – many of them voting Conservative for the first time

thank you for that incredible mandate

the biggest Conservative majority since 1987

the biggest share of the vote since 1979

and the reason I have fought so hard for the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person

was not just because I wanted to do so

but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019

and of course I am immensely proud of the achievements of this government

from getting Brexit done and settling our relations with the continent after half a century

reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in parliament

getting us all through the pandemic

delivering the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe

the fastest exit from lockdown

and in the last few months leading the west in standing up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine

and let me say now to the people of Ukraine that I know that we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes

and at the same time in this country we have at the same time been pushing forward a vast programme of investment in infrastructure, skills and technology

the biggest for a century

because if I have one insight into human beings

it is that genius and talent and enthusiasm and imagination are evenly distributed throughout the population

but opportunity is not

and that is why we need to keep levelling up

keep unleashing the potential of every part of the United Kingdom

and if we can do that in this country, we will be the most prosperous in Europe

and in the last few days I have tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments

when we are delivering so much

and when we have such a vast mandate and when we are actually only a handful of points behind in the polls

even in mid term after quite a few months of pretty unrelenting sledging

and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally

and I regret not to have been successful in those arguments

and of course it is painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself

but as we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves and

and my friends in politics no one is remotely indispensable

And our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times

not just helping families to get through it but changing and improving our systems, cutting burdens on businesses and families

and – yes – cutting taxes

because that is the way to generate the growth and the income we need to pay for great public services

and to that new leader I say, whoever he or she may be, I will give you as much support as I can

and to you the British people I know that there will be many who are relieved

but perhaps quite a few who will be disappointed

and I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world

but them’s the breaks

I want to thank Carrie and our children, to all the members of my family who have had to put up with so much for so long

I want to thank the peerless British civil service for all the help and support that you have given

our police, our emergency services and of course our NHS who at a critical moment helped to extend my own period in office

as well as our armed services and our agencies that are so admired around the world and

[Political content ommitted]

I want to thank the wonderful staff here at Number Ten and of course at chequers and our fantastic protforce detectives – the one group, by the way, who never leak

and above all I want to thank you the British public for the immense privilege you have given me

and I want you to know that from now until the new Prime Minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on

Being Prime Minister is an education in itself

I have travelled to every part of the United Kingdom and in addition to the beauty of our natural world

I have found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways that I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.

Thank you all very much.

Richard Collier-Keywood OBE

Richard Collier-Keywood, OBE, is the Chair of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, the Chair of Fair4All Finance (the UK financial inclusion organisation funded by dormant assets), the Chair of Big Education and the Chair of New Forest Care (a company that provides bespoke care and education to children with complex needs). He is also on the Board and chairs the finance committee of Women of the World Foundation, a UK charity focused on diversity and equality and St George’s House based in Windsor Castle. He is also on the Board of CoGo, a social enterprise tech start-up based in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, focussed on empowering consumers in their climate choices.

Previously Richard was a senior adviser to DCMS (2017 to 2021) and Global Vice-Chairman of PwC from November 2011 to February 2017 and served as Managing Partner of PwC UK from 2008 to 2011. Richard is a barrister and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Stuart Hobley

Stuart Hobley has spent almost twenty years working in the grant-making and not-for-profit sector, including philanthropic and charitable giving, social finance, local authority funding for communities, and lottery grants. He is currently the Director of The Linbury Trust, an independent grant-making foundation that supports a wide range of organisations, across the UK and overseas. The Trust helps to fund public engagement in culture, as well as work to support people experiencing disadvantage and inequality, including homelessness, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Prior to working for the Trust, Stuart worked for the Heritage Lottery Fund in a number of roles, most recently as the Area Director for London and the South of England. Stuart is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board; a voluntary committee who advise the Mayor on the city’s arts and culture sector. This has included supporting and advising on the development and delivery of the acclaimed London Borough of Culture programme. In the last two years he has been on the judging panel for BAFTA Video Games Awards as well as helping to decide the Kids in Museums prestigious Family Friendly Museum of the Year award.

Helen Stephenson CBE

Helen Stephenson is Chief Executive of the Charity Commission for England and Wales.  The Commission is a non-ministerial government department which employs around 400 staff and is responsible for regulating over 168,000 charities.  She joined the Commission from the Department for Education where she was Director of Early Years and Child Care, responsible for the provision of free early education for disadvantaged 2-year olds, and all 3 and 4 year olds.

Helen previously worked in the Cabinet Office where she was Director of the Office for Civil Society and Government Innovation Group.  She led the team setting up Big Society Capital and was responsible for running several of the OCS investment programmes, including the National Citizen’s Service.

Helen joined the Civil Service from the Big Lottery Fund where she was Head of Strategic Policy and Partnerships. She has worked for a large national charity as a development manager and as a researcher and consultant in the statutory and voluntary sector.  Helen has a PhD from Bristol University.

Helen was on the Board of the Big Society Trust and the Advisory Group for NCVO, and was Chair of NCT until her appointment at the Charity Commission. She was awarded the CBE for services to civil society in 2014.

Peter Stewart MVO

Peter is an Executive Director at The Eden Project, with the responsibility for Eden’s charitable mission. This includes driving the key role that communities have in being able in being the foundation to taking on solutions to local and global issues of our time like climate change.

Peter’s career started in advertising agencies in London working on major behavioural campaigns including for The Guardian, Knorr, National Dairy Council (milk), Courage (Fosters, Courage Best and John Smiths), Proctor and Gamble, Philip Morris and Nestle. Agencies included JWT, Leo Burnett and BMP DDB. In the nineties Peter embarked on a new venture to run community public houses in Cornwall. A Cornishman, being immersed in the issues of local communities, this is where he started a family, marrying his wife Jane and having two children.

Working with local businesses, Peter joined the Eden Project in 2003, after supplying products to the Project since its opening. Since joining he has held many roles including Joint CEO from 2013-2014. He leads the biggest outreach programme, The Big Lunch, which is accredited with building social capital on a mass scale.

Peter was appointed to the main Eden Board in March 2012. In the same year he was also appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) by HM The Queen for the community work driven through the Diamond Jubilee, as The Big Lunch played a major part in the celebrations. This work has continued in the recent Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Board Members of the National Lottery Community Fund are offered remuneration of £7848 per annum. Helen Stephenson will not receive remuneration from the NLCF while she is Chief Executive of the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election.  Richard Collier-Keywood, Stuart Hobley, Helen Stephenson and Peter Stewart have declared no activity.