Margaret Beckett: why Brexit has to go back to the people

-
The former foreign secretary says Theresa May’s approach to Brexit has been indefensible. Time to take back control

When Tony Blair asked Margaret Beckett to become foreign secretary in May 2006 she was so taken aback that all could she could say to the then prime minister was “fuck”. It was not that she didn’t want the job but more that she had never thought it would be offered to her.

Beckett’s time at the Foreign Office did not last long – just 13 months – and it was far from plain sailing. It ended when Gordon Brown took over from Blair and Beckett returned to the backbenches. But whatever her successes and failures, she will go down in history as the first female foreign secretary. And the aura of parliamentary grandee has surrounded her, increasingly, ever since.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2U93chA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ply in the sky: the new materials to take us beyond concrete | Fiona Harvey

-
Concrete is everywhere, but it’s bad for the planet, generating large amounts of carbon dioxide. Creative alternatives are in the pipeline They call them plyscrapers: the sudden emergence of tall buildings constructed almost entirely from timber. Vancouver , Vienna and Brumunddal in Norway have all claimed recently to have the tallest wooden building in the world, and now Tokyo has its own designs on the informal title. Related: Share your photos of beautiful or ugly concrete Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UeDOmU
Read more

‘Help us or LSO fails’: Sir Simon Rattle’s plea over Covid and Brexit

-
As the orchestra prepares to welcome back live audiences, the conductor urges ministers to act on new touring rules in Europe Sir Simon Rattle and his top team at the London Symphony Orchestra have appealed for government support to help them survive the difficulties created by Brexit and Covid. The orchestra depended on international touring – much of it in Europe – for 40% of its revenue before the coronavirus, with tours cancelled by the pandemic . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3tQnObB
Read more

The 20 best songs of 2020

-
Our writers considered hundreds of contenders – and here are their picks of the year. Listen to all 390 tracks they voted for on our playlist Delivered from a nightmare: why our No 1 song works so well We kick off our end of 2020 music coverage with Guardian critics’ favourite songs, with our album of the year countdown starting tomorrow. As ever, each critic votes for top 20 songs and albums, with points allocated for each placing, and those points tallied to make these lists. There were 390 songs voted for in all – we’ve put ( almost) all of them in a Spotify playlist . Please share your own favourite songs of the year in the comments below, and we’ll hopefully see you in a festival field in 2021 … Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3liPlhp
Read more