British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to give a pep talk Monday to his new group of Conservative Party lawmakers as he begins his push to secure Parliamentary approval for his Brexit deal.
Johnson will welcome some 100 newly elected colleagues, many of them coming from parts of the country that were once the strongholds of the opposition Labour Party.
Buoyed by the party's decisive win in last week's election, Johnson will move fast to deliver on his campaign mantra to “get Brexit done." That means ensuring legislation known as the Brexit withdrawal agreement bill is passed in time for the U.K. to complete its historic departure from the European Union by the current deadline of Jan. 31.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, gestures as he speaks to supporters on a visit to meet newly elected Conservative party MP for Sedgefield, Paul Howell, at Sedgefield Cricket Club in County Durham, north east England, Saturday Dec. 14, 2019, following his Conservative party's general election victory. Johnson called on Britons to put years of bitter divisions over the country's EU membership behind them as he vowed to use his resounding election victory to finally deliver Brexit. (Lindsey ParnabyPool via AP)
Johnson has promised to bring the bill to the House of Commons before Christmas
New lawmakers took to Twitter to chronicle their first day at work.
Bury's new representative, Christian Wakeford, tweeted: "Reality with a bump, 5:33 train down to #Westminster not a morning person at all but couldn't be happier to be on this train."
Newcastle-under-Lyme lawmaker Aaron Bell shared an image of himself smiling in front of the Palace of Westminster: "Good morning Newcastle. A new dawn has broken, has it not?"
Queen Elizabeth II will formally open Parliament on Thursday with a speech outlining the government's legislative program.
LONDON (AP) — British troops may be tasked with delivering aid to Gaza from an offshore pier now under construction by the U.S. military, the BBC reported Saturday. U.K. government officials declined to comment on the report.
According to the BBC, the British government is considering deploying troops to drive the trucks that will carry aid from the pier along a floating causeway to the shore. No decision has been made and the proposal hasn’t yet reached Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the BBC reported, citing unidentified government sources.
The report comes after a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday that there would be no American “boots on the ground” and another nation would provide the personnel to drive the delivery trucks to the shore. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public, declined to identify the third party.
Britain is already providing logistical support for construction of the pier, including a Royal Navy ship that will house hundreds of U.S. soldiers and sailors working on the project.
In addition, British military planners have been embedded at U.S. Central Command in Florida and in Cyprus, where aid will be screened before shipment to Gaza, for several weeks, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Friday.
The U.K. Hydrographic Office has also shared analysis of the Gaza shoreline with the U.S. to aid in construction of the pier.
“It is critical we establish more routes for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza, and the U.K. continues to take a leading role in the delivery of support in coordination with the U.S. and our international allies and partners,” Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.
Development of the port and pier in Gaza comes as Israel faces widespread international criticism over the slow trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations says at least a quarter of the population sits on the brink of starvation.
The Israel-Hamas began with a Hamas-led attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people as hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground offensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, around two-thirds of them children and women.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
This satellite picture taken by Planet Labs PBC show the construction of a new aid port near Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. A new port is being built in the Gaza Strip ahead of a U.S. military-led operation to surge needed food and other aid into the besieged enclave as Israel's war on Hamas there grinds on, according to satellite images analyzed by Thursday, April 25, 2024, by The Associated Press. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
