Lee Anderson: New Tory deputy chairman would support return of death penalty

The new deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson, has said he would support the return of the death penalty.

In an interview with the Spectator before he was appointed to the role, he argued “nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed”.

The PM said neither he nor the government shared Mr Anderson’s stance.

But Labour accused Rishi Sunak of not being strong enough to stand up to what it called Mr Anderson’s “nonsense”.

In the interview, conducted a few days before he was made deputy chairman on Tuesday, Mr Anderson was asked whether he would support the return of the death penalty.

In response, he said: “Yes. Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed.”

“100% success rate,” he added.

The MP for Ashfield suggested heinous crimes - such as the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby by Islamist extremists in 2013where the perpetrators are clearly

Mr Anderson said that “Nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed” identifiable, should be punishable by the death penalty.

He told the magazine: “You’ll get the certain groups saying: ‘You can never prove it.’

“Well, you can prove it if they have videoed it and are on camera

- like the Lee Rigby killers. I mean: they should have gone, same week. I don’t want to pay for these people.”

The death penalty for murder in the UK was permanently abolished in 1965, while it ended for all crimes in 1998.

The UK is signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, which forbids the restoration of the death penalty.

A recent YouGov survey suggested 30% of people believe the death penalty should be reintroduced in all cases of murder, with the figure rising to 52% in cases of multiple murder.

Prof Tim Bale, from Queen Mary University of London, said Mr Anderson was “almost certainly speaking for the majority of Conservative members”.

A survey of 1,191 members, carried out as part of his work on Tory Party membership after the 2019 general election, found 53% agreed that “for some crimes, the death penalty is the most appropriate sentence”.

Asked about Mr Anderson’s support for bringing back the death penalty, Mr Sunak said: “That’s not my view, that’s not the government’s view.

“But we are united in the Conservative Party in wanting to be absolutely relentless in bearing down on crime.”

Children’s Minister Claire Coutinho also said she did not agree with Mr Anderson on the death penalty but was a “big fan” of the new deputy chairman.

“What I think people respond to when it comes to Lee is he does speak his mind. And I think it’s really important that we have people who have lots of different opinions,” she told LBC Radio.

“And that’s one of the things I like about the Conservative Party frankly, because we are very good at living alongside each other even when we disagree.”

In his role, Mr Anderson will be responsible for preparing for May’s local elections in England, alongside party chairman Greg Hands.

The outspoken MP has attracted controversy in the past for his views on a range of issues.

Last year he made headlines for saying people needed to learn how to cook and budget, rather than use food banks.

He has also criticised the England football team for taking the knee in protest at racism. (BBC)

AROUND seven in 10 people in Haiti back the proposed creation of an international force to help the national police fight violence from armed gangs who have expanded their territory since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, according to a survey carried out in January.

Some 69% of nearly 1,330 people across Haiti said they supported an “international force” – which has been requested by the Haitian government – according to a survey from local business risk management group Agerca and consulting firm DDG.

Nearly 80%, however, said they believed Haiti’s PNH national police needed international support to resolve the problem of armed gangs, most saying it should be deployed immediately.

In October, the United Nations suggested a “rapid action force” be sent to Haiti to combat escalating violence from armed gangs whose turf battles have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

But many have expressed skepticism, citing abuses from past missions and questioning a force backing the administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, which has been without democratically elected representatives since early January.

Most countries have been wary of sending troops, though nearby Jamaica on Tuesday said it would be willing to participate and El Salvador has offered “technical assistance”.

UN envoy to Haiti Helen La Lime last week said she had heard

UK and BVI fail to reach agreement on removing order in council

caution from the United States and Canada, but “not a definite no.”

“Nobody wants to repeat the mistakes of the past,” she said, adding the force would work in partnership with the PNH.

More than a third of those surveyed said since 2021 they knew someone in their neighbourhood, family, or workplace who had been killed. Over 70% said their movements in the capital had been limited by gang presence and 83% said they lost income.

Some 36% said they or someone they knew had since 2021 been victim of a kidnapping, while 28% said this was the case for physical assault, and 9% for sexual assault. A quarter said they had stopped social activities and a fifth said they had left their homes. (Reuters)

A meeting between British Virgin Islands officials and Minister of State for Overseas Territories Lord, Zac Goldsmith, did not result in the United Kingdom Government agreeing to dispose of a court order that would allow it to impose direct rule of the territory.

The meeting between Goldsmith and Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley and other officials took place on Thursday.

The UK sought an Order in Council from the Privy Council last year to ensure that governance concerns, which were raised in a Commission of Inquiry report, are addressed.

If the order is enforced, the BVI’s House of Assembly would be dissolved and sections of the constitution would be suspended for a period of two years. Governor John Rankin and a team would take over governance of the territory until the reforms are completed. Removing the order will fall in the hands of the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly who is Goldsmith’s boss.

In a statement following the meeting, Goldsmith said: “The Premier made clear his strength of feeling about the Order in Council and we too want see these reforms seen through, such that the Order can be lifted.”

“I assure you I will continue to support the British Virgin Islands both in the next few months and after the general election in taking these reforms forward, so that we can realise the Premier’s vision of the BVI as a beacon of democracy.”

Goldsmith has departed the BVI after wrapping up a three-day visit to the territory. (Loopnews)

Wealthy UK family to apologise in Grenada over slave-owning

A UK family will publicly apologise to the people of the Caribbean island of Grenada, where its ancestors had more than 1,000 slaves in the 19th Century.

The aristocratic Trevelyan family, who owned six sugar plantations in Grenada, will also pay reparations.

BBC reporter Laura Trevelyan, a family member, visited Grenada in 2022.

She was shocked that her