The Telegraph from July 04 – July 10

At the beginning of this month, many eyes were on Boris Johnson, curious when he, at last, would be smart enough to resign.

July 04

Chris Pincher seeking ‘professional medical support’ after losing Conservative whip

The ‘disturbing’ call about Chris Pincher’s lurid behaviour that forced Boris Johnson to act

Tory rebels are plotting another vote to oust Boris Johnson this month

Diane Abbott claims Boris Johnson is ‘rumoured to like assaulting women’ The Labour MP and former shadow home secretary appeared on Sunday’s episode of Broadcasting House, the BBC Radio 4 news review show, to discuss allegations surrounding Chris Pincher. But she proceeded to make claims about Mr Johnson when she was asked if a man sexually assaulting a woman would have been treated differently from Mr Pincher allegedly groping two men. “It might be treated differently,” Ms Abbott said. “But that’s because Boris Johnson has been rumoured to be the one who likes assaulting women. So it’s sheer hypocrisy from him.”

Boris Johnson facing Cabinet backlash over Chris Pincher sex pest allegations

Russia has now ‘liberated’ half of the Donbas

Luhansk has fallen, but there’s a reason why Russian generals will not be celebrating

Yulia Tymoshenko: Peace only comes when we ‘finish’ Vladimir Putin by military might Former Ukrainian leader warns any deal that concedes territory to the Russian dictator will encourage him to make further land grabs + Her remarks are a rebuke to Western leaders who have hinted that giving up parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region would be an acceptable price for peace. … She told The Telegraph: “I am surprised that some countries continue to try to pursue appeasement policies. “This is unacceptable for all Ukraine. A peace agreement is an illusion, the only way out is a victory in battle. Any peace agreement will be the first step towards the next war.”

July 05

A home-baked biscuit saying ‘Russian warship, go f*** yourself’ Credit: Julian Simmonds

Biscuits, coffee, even haemorrhoid cream has been given a patriotic rebrand during this war By Colin Freeman, Southern Ukraine Readers of this newsletter with an interest in philately may remember that back in April, Kyiv produced a set of stamps commemorating the famous stand-off at Snake Island. This was when a Ukrainian naval rating, ordered to surrender by the Russian battleship Moskva, radioed back with the blunt retort: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself”. Ukraine then added injury to insult by sinking the Moskva with a Neptune missile in April. The stamps have long since sold out, amid speculation that they could quickly become collectors’ items. But for those who still yearn for a souvenir of the whole saga, there is now plenty of other memorabilia available.

Bags of coffee saying ‘Russian warship go F*** yourself’ Credit: Colin Freeman

For example, browsing in a supermarket in the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv last week, I came across packets of “Russian warship, go f*** yourself” coffee. Later that day, while watching a Ukrainian naval band playing a concert in town, a lady gave me a home-baked “Russian warship, go f*** yourself” biscuit. This kind of thing is good for national morale, of course – especially at a time when Ukraine is suffering military setbacks in the Donbas. But I do wonder if people might be overdoing it.

A billboard advertising ‘Russian warship go f*** yourself’ haemorrhoid cream Credit: Colin Freeman

For example, today, passing through the city of Dnipro, I’ve seen adverts for a “Russian warship, go f*** yourself” themed-Cossack restaurant (no, me neither). And just further down the road, there was a poster for “Russian warship, go f*** yourself” haemorrhoid cream. The schtick is that it will zap ’em in one go – just like, er, a Neptune missile. These are just the ones that I have stumbled across on my travels too, I’m sure there are more. The Ukrainian government should probably think about licensing the franchise rights.

I’m realistically optimistic – Ukraine’s retreat from Luhansk is not as bad as it first looks

By Dominic Nicholls, DEFENCE AND SECURITY EDITOR

A learned professor once described the difference between optimists and realists to me thus: An optimist skips into a bar and requests a glass half-full of fizzy pop. A realist slouches into the same bar and demands a glass half-empty of neat vodka. As gags go it’s no barnstormer, but I’m told it has students of International Relations Theory rolling in the aisles. Looking at Russia’s victory in Lysychansk, the last remaining city in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, I would characterise myself as realistically optimistic. Make no mistake, this was a defeat for Kyiv. A tactical withdrawal maybe, to preserve combat power for another day’s fight rather than be decisively engaged, but a retreat nonetheless. And as Churchill observed after Dunkirk, victory is not born of glorious retreats. But before we all start reaching for the vodka, it is important to analyse how Russian forces triumphed after fighting for 76 days over the tiny piece of ground, and what Vladimir Putin has to say about it. That it took so long and cost so much in men and materiel suggests there is no strategically competent Wizard of Mos pulling levers behind a curtain in the Kremlin. Anyone can grind forward, barely a kilometre a day, with sufficient artillery ammunition and a commensurate lack of morality about killing civilians and squandering the lives of their own soldiers. Putin congratulated his forces on Monday and said they “must carry out their tasks according to the previously approved plans, according to the single scheme, and I hope that everything will happen in their directions in the same way it has happened in Luhansk”. The ‘previously approved plans’ seem to be to trudge relentlessly westwards in the hope Ukrainian resistance falters. As for the ‘single scheme’, it seems to be to pound areas you are supposedly liberating with artillery until nothing remains. In reality Russian forces are a hollow shell; a myth increasingly propped up by the bodies of ill-equipped and poorly-trained young men. There is no great vision, no strategic flash of brilliance, no chance that the next phase of this disgusting spectacle will be any different to the last. That will be tough for Ukraine to endure, I’m realistic about that. But Kyiv’s forces and society and have shown great strength and ingenuity under this relentless barrage. They know the fight that is coming to them and can plan accordingly, increasingly helped by western weapons. I’m optimistic they have the better ideas, and will prevail.

Colin Freeman visits the frontline of the lesser-covered battle for the south, where he meets the rag-tag Kherson Brigade seeking revenge for the loss of their hometown.

After the fall of Luhansk, some people are starting to believe fighting Russia is futile. Kyiv needs a victory before autumn to silence Western doubters, says Roland Oliphant. A celebrity Ukraine ‘volunteer’ soldier has been exposed as a fraud by internet sleuths. We look at how the story reveals a cynical and dangerous edge to the online information war. ‘Peace can only come through military might – concessions will just encourage Vladimir Putin.’ Read our exclusive interview with former Ukrainian leader Yulia Tymoshenko. Russia is stealing Ukraine’s grain – but how? We reveal how ships are turning off their trackers for weeks while they collect and sell one of the most precious commodities of the war.

 

Russian ice-hockey star forcibly drafted into army and sent to Arctic Circle

Celebrity Ukraine ‘volunteer’ soldier exposed as fraud by internet sleuths

Ukraine needs a victory before autumn to silence Western doubters

July 06

Russian prisoners offered £2,800 and freedom if they serve in Ukraine – and come back alive

Russian oligarchs’ human rights at risk if seized assets sold to rebuild Ukraine, Swiss president says

Introducing the West’s new weapon working overtime to tilt war in Kyiv’s favour On Monday, the Ukrainian ministry of defence released footage of a rocket launcher firing from the middle of a highway somewhere in the Zaporizhzhya region, the rockets arching high into what looked like an early evening sky. + Russia is currently firing an estimated 20,000 artillery rounds a day compared to Ukraine’s 6,000 rounds, according to Ukrainian officials cited in a recent report by the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi). + Deprived of the ability to lay down thousands of shells a day, the theory goes, Russia will be unable to replicate its grinding advance through the Luhansk and its assault on Donetsk region will stall.

July 07

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Putin’s invasion may have strengthened Nato – but cracks in the alliance are still showing By Joe Barnes, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT, IN MADRID Nothing has done more for Nato unity, strength and expansion than Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Just three years ago, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, declared the Western military alliance “braindead”, as he questioned transatlantic relations with Donald Trump in charge of the White House. His comments marked a low point for Nato, then 71 years old. But, leaving their summit in Madrid last week, its leaders hailed a newly reinvigorated and enlarged alliance at a time when it is most needed. The headline announcements of Sweden and Finland being allowed to join and a 300,000-strong rapid response force were the perfect response to the growing threat posed by Russia. Scratching away at the surface of those, however, revealed a far from smooth path to demonstrating unity to Moscow. Ahead of the summit, billed as historic by Nato allies, Sweden and Finland’s membership bids were firmly on ice because of a Turkish veto. “I wasn’t planning to talk to you,” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Finnish and Swedish counterparts at a meeting on the first day of the gathering. “I’m here due to my friend [Jens] Stoltenberg’s insistence,” he added. Before the meeting between Mr Erdogan, Sauli Niinisto, Finland’s president, and Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson, there was little hope of the deadlock being broken. Ankara had for a month been blocking Helsinki and Stockholm’s membership ambitions over what the Turkish said was their lax attitude to Kurdish groups, including the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, EU and US. In Madrid, officials started work on what they called a “memorandum of understanding” in the hope of circumnavigating Turkey’s veto. “The Turks are b——- to negotiate with,” one official with experience told me. Turkish officials repeatedly asked for Sweden to extradite 20 to 30 people, which Ankara says are alleged terrorists, in order to secure Nato membership. Stockholm said no. Eventually they hammered out an agreement, after Turkey initially walked out of the talks, to “address” Ankara’s pending deportation and extradition requests. The pact also made clear that Sweden and Finland share Turkey’s concerns over terror. Behind the scenes, Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, Joe Biden, the US President, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had been working hard to convince Mr Erdogan to drop his opposition. They said blocking Finland and Sweden’s membership bids was a clear victory for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s despot leader. The Turkish leader relented, keeping one trump card up his sleeve for the end of the summit in Madrid. Traditionally, Nato’s most senior official and the US President would book-end the closing press conferences. Not this time, Mr Erdogan insisted on hosting his address to the waiting media last, breaking usual protocol. He told the room that his parliament would once again reject Finland and Sweden’s membership if Stockholm didn’t agree to the extradition of 73 people to Turkey. Ms Andersson didn’t learn of his ultimatum until she landed back in Sweden from Spain. The threat still has not been addressed, and while Nato countries swiftly ratify the Nordic countries’ accession protocols, nobody yet knows whether Mr Erdogan will end all hopes of an enlarged Nato.

Donald Trump is likely to announce his much-expected 2024 presidential run from Florida, sources have told The Telegraph, hoping to upstage Republican rival Ron DeSantis.

‘Anti-abortion activists won’t be happy until the US is a theocracy’: Here we take you to Mississippi’s last abortion clinic, which is sounding the alarm as it closes its doors. After a month of chaos for the regime amid fears it has been infiltrated by Israeli spies, Iran’s leadership is purging its powerful Revolutionary Guards. Iran suspects that Israel assassinated two of its nuclear scientists by sending agents to poison their food at dinner parties before vanishing. The plot was reminiscent of the Israeli TV show “Tehran”, in which Mossad agents carry out daring attacks on Iranian targets while deep undercover. Four teenage medics have reportedly been slaughtered in Myanmar, the latest in a series of “horrific acts of violence” allegedly committed by the junta.

July 08

Thursday evening UK news briefing: Boris Johnson resigns – and Sir John Major tells him he must go now Even as he announced his resignation, Boris Johnson retained his defiant nonchalance. “Them’s the breaks,” he said outside No 10, as he blamed the “herd” mentality of his MPs for ousting him, having pleaded with his Cabinet that removing him would be “eccentric”. Watch his speech in full here. + Former Tory prime minister Sir John Major has warned it would be “unwise” for the premier to remain in No 10 as a caretaker, saying Mr Johnson must leave office now “for the wellbeing of the country”.

Theresa May spotted dancing at music festival after Boris Johnson’s resignation

NHS to cull up to 8,000 jobs after ‘explosion’ in central bureaucracy

Stella Assange on life with and without Julian: ‘I thought, this guy needs all the help he can get’

July 09

Kemi Badenoch launches leadership bid with promise for ‘limited government’ Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has put herself forward as a candidate to become the new prime minister, promising “limited government” and “a focus on the essentials”. The MP for Saffron Walden said she supported lower taxes “to boost growth and productivity, and accompanied by tight spending discipline”. … Rishi Sunak declared his much anticipated intention to run, enjoying public backing from Commons Leader Mark Spencer, former Tory Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden, former chief whip Mark Harper, ex-ministers Liam Fox and Andrew Murrison, and MPs Sir Bob Neill and Paul Maynard.

Covid cases in care homes jump 50 per cent in a week as elderly are urged to get boosted

As the dust settles after Boris Johnson’s dramatic resignation, our writers examine how his departure will play out – and explore what could be next for Carrie. Read our hand-picked selection of the week’s highlights below.

Five unmissable stories

‘I’m beginning to fear that Brexit will be crushed.’ Tory chaos is giving Ultra-Remainers a new lease of life, warns Sherelle Jacobs.

‘Unable to even fix its own tanks, Russia’s humiliation is now complete’, argues Ben Marlow.

The Carrie conundrum: What next for the Prime Minister’s wife? Pat Nixon called it “the hardest unpaid job in the world”; Cherie Blair “a strange thing” given “you cannot afford to express any separate views”. Sarah Brown argued that “being the wife of the PM isn’t a job,” and Barbara Bush made the point that: “The First Lady is going to be criticised no matter what she does.” All of which makes the position sound pretty unappealing – though not, perhaps, as unappealing as the position in which Carrie Johnson finds herself now.

‘Nick Kyrgios’ free pass to the men’s final is Wimbledon’s worst nightmare.’ Australia’s bad boy will rub shoulders with royals at the ultimate establishment occasion, writes Oliver Brown.

Sometimes a live show can sweep you clean off your feet. From Blondie to Theresa May, these are the best live performances Telegraph writers have ever seen.

July 10

Foreign church leaders to have more say in choosing next Archbishop of Canterbury Church officials on Saturday voted to increase the number of global representatives on the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC). The body nominates the most esteemed member of the Anglican clergy subject to approval by the Queen and Prime Minister.