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UK armed forces evacuate diplomats from Sudan in operation involving US and French allies
UK armed forces have evacuated diplomatic staff and their families from Khartoum Sudan, the ministry of defence has confirmed. In a statement it said that it undertook “a military operation alongside the US, France and other allies.
In a statement, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, described it as “a complex and rapid evacuation” and praised “the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation.”
In a statement from the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, the ministry said that the operation involved more than 1,200 service personnel from the 16th Air Assault Brigade, the Royal Marines and the RAF. Wallace said he was “grateful to all our partners”.
“A significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff” was cited as the reason for the evacuation.
Sunak said “We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country. I urge the parties to lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure civilians can leave conflict zones.”
The British ambassador to Sudan had not been in the country, and for some time the difficult security situation in the capital had meant that the embassy was struggling to provide consular support to British nationals there.
They are advised to stay indoors, and let the Foreign Office know of their whereabouts via its website.
Key events
Aubrey Allegretti
Our political correspondent Aubrey Allegretti offers this roundup of what deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said about future relations between ministers and senior civil servants in the wake of Dominic Raab’s resignation:
Ministers will continue demanding high standards from civil servants in the aftermath of a report that found Dominic Raab exhibited intimidating and abrasive behaviour towards staff, the new deputy prime minister has said.
Oliver Dowden, who took over the role from Raab, said those in the cabinet often worked in “highly pressured situations” and that he had experienced “frustrations” dealing with officials, too.
Though he said it was right Raab had quit, Dowden called him as a “very effective” justice secretary who had offered a “huge amount” of public service to the country.
After Raab’s resignation on Friday, prompted by a report that found he was unreasonably and persistently aggressive towards staff, some Conservative MPs have leaped to his defence and sought to suggest the bar for bullying is too low.
To reassure them, Dowden told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: “I certainly don’t want the outcome of this to be and it certainly won’t be the case for me that there will be any letting up in the high standards I expect of civil servants.”
He added: “We all work hard to be as professional as we possibly can. But at the heart of it, I think anyone who has worked at the top level of government – and I’ve been fortunate enough to serve as a cabinet minister – knows that we’re in highly pressured situations.”
Raab has not held back since stepping down from the government, continuing to give interviews. Speaking to the Sun on Sunday, he defended his “straight talk and direct dealing” approach, and accused complainants of a “coordinated and concerted” effort that amounted to a “politicised attack”. In another interview with the Mail on Sunday, Raab argued he had left government with his “head held high” and “integrity intact”.
Read more here: High standards still expected from civil servants after Raab report, says Dowden
Alex Thomas, the civil service lead at the Institute for Government thinktank, has said Rishi Sunak “missed an opportunity to set out the standards that civil servants and ministers should all expect of each other” in his reply to Dominic Raab’s resignation letter.
Speaking on Sky News, Thomas said:
I think civil servants will be concerned that Rishi Sunak, in his letter replying to Dominic Raab’s resignation letter, didn’t really recognise that there had been a problem. It was full of praise about Dominic Raab’s achievements, and a nod to the process perhaps not having been as good as it might have been. But no real recognition, anything went wrong here, which the Adam Tolley report found that it did.
Thomas also cautioned against the way in which the release of Raab’s letter and subsequent newspaper article preceded the actual publication of the report, and should not be allowed to set the narrative. He said:
One of the things for me that was really important was to look at all of this in the round. And actually, to look at the Tolly report that had independently investigated all of these things. And that said lots of good things about Dominic Raab as well. It’s not that it was a hatchet job.
It set out this in the context, and so I do think we shouldn’t be drawn into a narrative about activist civil servants, or using it as a Trojan horse to politicise the civil service, but actually, this is about a relationship breakdown between one minister and a relatively small set of civil servants in his department.
The Foreign Office has issued an additional statement about the situation in Sudan. It reads:
The UK has undertaken a military operation to evacuate British embassy staff and their families from Sudan due to escalating violence and threats against foreign diplomats and embassy properties.
The safety of all British nationals in Sudan continues to be our utmost priority. We recognise that this is an extremely worrying and distressing situation for those trapped by the fighting.
Our advice to British nationals is to shelter in place and contact the Foreign Office to register your location and contact details.
UK armed forces evacuate diplomats from Sudan in operation involving US and French allies
UK armed forces have evacuated diplomatic staff and their families from Khartoum Sudan, the ministry of defence has confirmed. In a statement it said that it undertook “a military operation alongside the US, France and other allies.
In a statement, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, described it as “a complex and rapid evacuation” and praised “the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation.”
In a statement from the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, the ministry said that the operation involved more than 1,200 service personnel from the 16th Air Assault Brigade, the Royal Marines and the RAF. Wallace said he was “grateful to all our partners”.
“A significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff” was cited as the reason for the evacuation.
Sunak said “We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country. I urge the parties to lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure civilians can leave conflict zones.”
The British ambassador to Sudan had not been in the country, and for some time the difficult security situation in the capital had meant that the embassy was struggling to provide consular support to British nationals there.
They are advised to stay indoors, and let the Foreign Office know of their whereabouts via its website.
Sunak: ‘complex’ evacuation of British diplomats from Sudan completed by UK armed forces
Rishi Sunak has said that UK armed forces have carried out “a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan”, citing “a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff”.
He posted to Twitter:
UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff. I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who carried out this difficult operation. We are continuing to pursue every avenue to end the bloodshed in Sudan and ensure the safety of British nationals remaining in the country. I urge the parties to lay down their arms and implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure civilians can leave conflict zones.
UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff.
I pay tribute to the commitment of our diplomats and bravery of the military personnel who…
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 23, 2023
Cleverly: UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan
Foreign secretary James Cleverly has announced that the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan. He wrote:
Due to escalating threats against foreign diplomats, the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan. Our top priority remains the safety of British nationals. We are working around the clock to broker international support to end the bloodshed in Sudan.
Due to escalating threats against foreign diplomats, the UK has evacuated embassy staff from Sudan.
Our top priority remains the safety of British nationals.
We are working around the clock to broker international support to end the bloodshed in Sudan.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) April 23, 2023
More details soon …
In just under two hours, if you live in the UK, you may experience the test of the national phone alert system. The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, was asked about it during his media appearances this morning.
Speaking on Sky News, Dowden said: “It is a bit irritating at the time, but in future people could be grateful for it because in a real emergency, this could be the sound that saves your life.”
Dowden also said that people who received the alert didn’t need to do anything, adding: “It’s another tool in the toolkit. I think most British people in these situations keep calm and carry on.”
Here is the video clip:
The alert is due to be sent out at 3pm today. It is a system that has been years in the making – and here is how to switch it off.
Personally I am keenly anticipating the scenes at the Vitality Stadium and St James’ Park when the test happens just as this afternoon’s Premier League fixtures are about to begin the second half.
Ofsted chief admits to ‘culture of fear’ around England’s school inspections
Richard Adams
The Guardian’s education editor, Richard Adams, has a little more here on the appearance by Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, on the BBC this morning. It was her first interview since the death of the Berkshire headteacher Ruth Perry:
The head of Ofsted has admitted that “a culture of fear” exists around England’s school inspections but said she had no reason to doubt the system of school gradings that has been blamed for the death of a headteacher.
Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if there was a “culture of fear around Ofsted” among teachers, Spielman said: “I certainly acknowledge that it exists,” but went on to blame it on the “tiny proportion” of schools that were rated inadequate after Ofsted inspections.
“For the vast majority of schools, I know that it’s a positive and affirming experience,” Spielman said. “It’s designed to be a constructive, professional dialogue.”
Spielman also suggested Ofsted was being blamed because of “unhappiness” in schools over ongoing funding and pay disputes with the government.
“There’s clearly a lot of bad feeling around. And when there is bad feeling around Ofsted [it] often becomes a sort of lightning rod through which the tensions and frustrations can be discharged,” Spielman said.
“We’re just one part of the system. We’re not the regulator. We don’t make decisions about what happens with school. We are just the inspectorate, going to look and see whether children are getting the experience they should in schools.”
You can read more here: Ofsted chief admits to ‘culture of fear’ around England’s school inspections
Labour MP Margaret Hodge has said Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer was “deeply offensive” and commended the party’s move to swiftly suspend her.
“Diane Abbott’s letter was deeply offensive and deeply depressing,” she tweeted. “Keir Starmer’s response is right. No excuses. No delays. The comments will be investigated and she has been immediately suspended.”
Diane Abbott’s letter was deeply offensive and deeply depressing. Keir Starmer’s response is right. No excuses. No delays. The comments will be investigated and she has been immediately suspended.
— Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge) April 23, 2023
The Labour MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, has tweeted to say that he agrees with the suspension of the whip from Diane Abbott, saying that Keir Starmer acted “decisively”.
Keir was right to act decisively on Diane’s letter!
— Barry Sheerman MP (@BarrySheerman) April 23, 2023
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey did not rule out any potential future Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition while appearing on television earlier today.
PA quotes him telling Sophy Ridge:
We have a positive Liberal Democrat agenda and that’s what we’ll be standing on. When I go round the country and talk to voters, they feel the Conservatives have taken them for granted.
Liberal Democrats are not going to make that mistake, we are going to work really hard to make sure we get as many Liberal Democrat MPs back after the next election and beat as many Conservative MPs as possible. I could not have been clearer.
The Liberal Democrats’ job is to beat Conservatives at the next election. There are one or two seats where we are up against Labour, like Sheffield Hallam, but the vast majority of seats that we can win at the next election in my judgment are against the Conservatives and I want to focus relentlessly on that.
Asked again about working with Labour, he said:
In many ways your question is taking voters for granted and I’m not going to do that.
I want to make sure that we earn people’s votes over the weeks and months ahead so at the next general election we can get rid of this shocking government, who are failing our country and are just so out of touch with people who can’t afford food bills, can’t afford their energy bills and are desperately trying to get that hospital treatment that they need.
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