Biodun.BBC: Michael Fallon

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Wednesday, November 1, 2017

BREAKING: Britain: defense minister resigns in growing harassment scandal

NOVEMBER 2, 2017 03H:17 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Selina O'Grady and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, London

LONDON - British defense minister Michael Fallon quit on Wednesday saying his conduct had fallen below the high standards demanded of his position, the first resignation in a sexual harassment scandal in parliament.

Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon addresses the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, October 3, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Prime Minister Theresa May, weakened after losing her parliamentary majority in a June election, loses a loyalist at a time when she is trying to break a deadlock in talks to leave the European Union. Fallon was described by sources in her ruling Conservative Party as a political “Rottweiler”.

His was the first high-profile resignation after a growing number of allegations of inappropriate behavior have been made against ministers and lawmakers, fueled by sex abuse allegations against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Fallon apologized earlier this week for touching a radio presenter’s knee in 2002 - something the woman in question described on social media as “mildly amusing”.

In his letter of resignation to May, he said there had been many allegations about lawmakers in recent days, including “some about my previous conduct”.

“Many of these have been false but I accept that in the past I have fallen below the high standards that we require of the armed forces that I have the honor to represent,” he said.

“I have reflected on my position and I am therefore resigning as defense secretary.”

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon leaves 10 Downing Street after a cabinet meeting, in London, Britain June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo

May replied in a letter saying she appreciated “the characteristically serious manner” in which Fallon had considered his position and “the particular example you wish to set to servicemen and women and others”.

Local media said his replacement would be announced on Thursday. A spokesman said it would not happen on Wednesday.

The growing scandal could damage May if there are further allegations against members of her party as it relies on a small Northern Irish party for a majority in parliament.

Slideshow (2 Images)

Allegations of sexual abuse have ranged from a charge of rape by an activist in the opposition Labour Party by a senior party member, to unconfirmed details of serial “sex pests” on a list reportedly drafted by aides and researchers in parliament.

On Monday, May sat beside the leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom as she set out the government’s plans to tackle sexual harassment, including measures to enforce a code of conduct and to set up an independent grievance procedure.

RELATED COVERAGE

Resigning UK defence minister Fallon says conduct fell below required standard

May has ordered investigations into a report that one of her ministers asked a female secretary to buy sex toys and an allegation her deputy, Damian Green, made an inappropriate sexual advance on a young woman - something he denies.

The prime minister, who has long championed the careers of female lawmakers, said on Wednesday that action would be taken when there were allegations and evidence of sexual misconduct.

“I am very clear that we will take action against those where there are allegations that we see, and the evidence is there, that there has been misconduct,” May told lawmakers.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Syria air strikes: Not enough votes yet, says Fallon

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

From the section UK Politics

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Media caption Michael Fallon sets out the case for air strikes in Syria.

The government does not yet have enough votes from MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.

He told BBC One's Andrew Marr show he had been in talks with Labour MPs but "we've got to keep building the case".
He admitted it would be harder to get the support if Labour ordered its MPs to vote against air strikes in Syria.
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn said he opposed the strikes but he had not decided whether to give his MPs a free vote.
Mr Fallon told Andrew Marr it was dangerous not to try to defeat IS with force.
"We also have to defend ourselves... we are already a top target," he said.
"There are always risks in war but there is a greater risk from not doing something about Isil and leaving our streets vulnerable to the kind of slaughter we saw in Paris."

Live: Reaction to Andrew Marr Show interviews

Britain has so far refrained from bombing IS - also known as Isil and Isis - in Syria after MPs rejected a vote for air strikes against Syrian government targets in 2013. However, it is taking part in air strikes against IS in Iraq.
Mr Fallon said the prime minister had answered questions for two and half hours from more than 100 MPs on Thursday but admitted there was still more to do to convince them.
"You shouldn't extend military operations lightly," he said. "There are legitimate questions to answer and we're doing our best to answer them."

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Media caption Jeremy Corbyn said he opposed Syria air strikes because they will not ''solve the problem that is there''

Mr Corbyn said the government had not convinced him that bombing was the way forward.
"I don't think it will solve the problem that is there," he said.
"There also has to be a recognition that if we bomb in Raqqa we are going to take out civilian lives, we may not in effect do very much damage to Isil and actually may make the situation worse not better.
"The experience of Libya where there was no follow-up plan shows these things can be very dangerous."
Asked whether Labour MPs - about half of whom are thought to support action - would be given a free vote, Mr Corbyn said: "No decision has been made on that yet, I am going to find out what MPs think.
"Obviously there are strong views on both directions. We will have a further discussion on this. We will make that decision not at this moment but later on."
Mr Corbyn said he had received 70,000 responses to a survey sent out to Labour supporters on Friday canvassing their opinions, and a decision would be taken "as a party".

Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell — Image caption Mr Corbyn faces critical meetings with his shadow cabinet on Monday

Stewart Hosie, deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster, said his party had also not been convinced by the argument for military action.
"We have listened. We're still listening. We've asked questions. Even last week on the day of the Autumn Statement I asked the chancellor what has been set aside for reconstruction and stabilisation in Syria. Their answer there came none.
"Unless they have the plan, which not just the SNP but many people want to see to avoid the anarchy of Libya, then of course we couldn't possibly support conflict in the current climate."

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UK Politics

Sunday, June 21, 2015

UK aid can help deter Mediterranean migrants, says Fallon

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

1 hour ago

The UK overseas aid budget should be used to stabilise countries and discourage mass migration, the defence secretary has said.

Speaking to the BBC, Michael Fallon said "well-focused aid" could "prevent conflict breaking out... so that we don't have to fish people out of the Mediterranean later on".
EU states should also pool intelligence on trafficking gangs, he said.
More than 1,800 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far this year.
That is a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.
Britain has not signed up to proposals from the European Commission to redistribute tens of thousands of asylum seekers who have arrived in Italy and Greece to other countries.

Crisis 'roots'

Mr Fallon told The Andrew Marr Show mass migration was a "European problem" and so far only the "symptoms" were being dealt with.
"I think we can pool the intelligence we all have as European countries on these trafficking gangs, we can get more information on the roots, we can tackle their financing," he said.
"And we can use our overseas aid budget - and this is where it should be used - to help stabilise some of these countries and discourage this kind of mass migration from them.

"Well-focused aid should be used to help stabilise these countries, to prevent conflict breaking out."

Analysis: Alan Soady, BBC political and parliamentary reporter
Michael Fallon is arguing that defence and international development are "two sides of the same coin".
He mentions not only the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, but also the 200 military personnel still in areas of Sierra Leone affected by the ebola virus.
His department, however, is facing further budget savings of £500m on top of cuts that have been made in recent years.
The government has been coming under pressure for months over whether it will continue to meet the Nato target of spending at 2% of GDP on defence.
In contrast, the international development budget is protected from cuts.
And so, whatever the rights or wrongs of Michael Fallon's view of how aid money should be spent, some in Westminster will suspect the defence secretary may be hoping it could have the happy coincidence of saving his own department some cash.

Britain is sending survey vessel HMS Enterprise to the Mediterranean early next month to take over from HMS Bulwark, which Mr Fallon said had saved nearly 3,000 lives.
"Well-focused aid should be used to help stabilise these countries, to prevent conflict breaking out."

Britain is sending survey vessel HMS Enterprise to the Mediterranean early next month to take over from HMS Bulwark, which Mr Fallon said had saved nearly 3,000 lives.

A British Merlin helicopter will continue taking part in operations.
GCHQ, the UK's listening post in Cheltenham, is also reportedly being deployed for the first time to identify criminal gangs smuggling migrants to the Libyan coast.
Mr Fallon added: "There has got to be a much more comprehensive approach tackling the problem much further back, dealing with the trafficking gangs, building up information about the people who are making money out of this incredibly dangerous journey."

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will join EU counterparts in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss a European naval operation in the Mediterranean to combat people smuggling.
Earlier this week, EU ministers failed to agree to a plan that would involve the equal distribution of asylum seekers across all 28 EU states.
While some EU members, including Germany and Austria, back the quota idea, others argue migrants should not be forced to move to countries where they do not want to settle.
The UK, Denmark and Ireland have exemptions from the quota plan.
Much of the mass migration has come from Libya where there has been conflict since 2011, following the ousting and death of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
There is currently no ruling power in the country, although the UN is leading attempts to establish a unitary government.

Mr Fallon said it was important a political settlement was reached in Libya soon so that there was an official government the UK could work with, enabling migrants to be returned.
"We have to break the link between rescuing people from the Mediterranean and settlement because they'll keep coming if they think they're going to be settled."
Asked whether the EU could consider a naval blockade of the northern coast of Africa, Mr Fallon said: "That is a matter for Europe to look to see... It is a very long coast.
"That is a difficult operation. I think what is more important is to pool the intelligence we have to go much further back in Africa."

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Election 2015: Tories stand by Miliband Trident attack

by Selina O'Grady and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

1 hour ago

The Conservatives are standing by an attack on Ed Miliband that Labour said had dragged politics "into the gutter".

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Mr Miliband had "stabbed his own brother in the back" to lead Labour and was now "willing to stab the UK in the back" by doing a deal on Trident with the SNP "to become PM".
Mr Miliband said the defence secretary had demeaned himself and his office.
But Prime Minister David Cameron said Mr Fallon was "absolutely right".
In other election news:

Labour pledged teenagers would be guaranteed face-to-face individual careers advice if the party is in government
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said her party would only press for another independence referendum if something material changed
A Plaid Cymru candidate at the centre of a Nazi slur row admitted he has had a "baptism of fire"
UKIP admitted it was "lagging" behind with women voters and that the party sometimes resembles a "rugby club on tour"

"This is the day the election campaign got personal", said BBC deputy political editor James Landale.

"The Conservatives believe that focusing on Ed Miliband's character and a potential Labour-SNP deal will win them votes in England.
"But Labour reckon that playing politics with decisions taken about national defence will backfire and ultimately cost the Tories votes."

The Conservatives and Labour are both committed to replacing the ageing Trident system - Britain's continuous at-sea nuclear submarine force.
But the SNP - which has said it would work with Labour in order to keep the Conservatives out of government after the 7 May general election - opposes renewing Trident and calls the issue a "red line".
Mr Fallon suggested the nuclear weapons system could be at risk if Labour won and did a "grubby deal" with the SNP "to get into Downing Street" - something denied by Labour.

His comments were also criticised by the Lib Dems and UKIP.
But Mr Cameron said Mr Miliband was "playing fast and loose" with Britain's security.
"I think that is a really serious issue and that's why Michael Fallon is absolutely right this and, yes, raise it in a pretty frank way as he did today," he added.
Chancellor George Osborne and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith also agreed with the defence secretary.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg described it as "really nasty language" while his colleague Vince Cable told the BBC it was an "appalling way to conduct the debate".

Hitting back, Mr Miliband said: "Michael Fallon is a decent man. But today I think he has demeaned himself and he has demeaned his office. National security is too important to play politics with."
He said Mr Cameron had "nothing positive to say about the future of the country": "He sends out his minions like Michael Fallon to engage in desperate smears. I think Conservatives today, decent Conservatives right across our country... will say 'come on, we're better than this kind of politics'."
Asked if had gone too far, Mr Fallon told the BBC it was an "issue of trust and of leadership" and denied the comments were a misjudgement on his part.
Labour has suggested the possibility of reducing the number of submarines from four to three if a continuous deterrent could be maintained, although Mr Miliband said their position at the moment was to stick with four.
The Liberal Democrats favour cutting to three, saying the existing system was designed for the Cold War era.
SNP Leader - and Scotland's First Minister - Nicola Sturgeon said any formal arrangement between the SNP and Labour would require a commitment not to renew Trident. Otherwise she said the party would "vote on a case-by-case basis and we will never vote for anything that's about renewing Trident".

Biodun Iginla, BBC News