This last Week In Politics has seen the government lose another member of the cabinet and more gaffes that continue to highlight ineffectualness of Theresa May's leadership of the Conservative Party. International Development Minister, Priti Patel, resigned over secret meetings with Israeli officials whilst on holiday, Boris Johnson made an astonishing gaffe that proves he's unfit for the foreign office and the extent of tax avoidance was revealed in the Paradise Papers.
Meanwhile the rest of world has seen Donald Trump take a trip to Asia to solidify relations with China and discuss North Korea, the Vatican are to ban cigarettes from next year citing public health and Saudi Arabia continue to crack down on corruption.
UK news
This week it was revealed that International Development Minister, Priti Patel, had been meeting with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in secret whilst on holiday. This was a bid to further relations with the state and with the idea to funnel the international aid budget into the Israeli army. Theresa May's office claimed to have known nothing of the meetings, but it has been revealed since that she may have known. Boris Johnson, whose job it is to secure international relations, was left in the dark over the meetings. However, Priti Patel later resigned from her cabinet position which begs the question, why wasn't she out rightly sacked by Theresa May?
Boris Johnson made an astonishing gaffe that could see 5 years added onto the sentence of British-Iranian, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was on holiday in Iran when she was arrested and jailed. Reports have surfaced that she has been kept in solitary confinement and has endure interrogations over her reasons for being in Iran.
Boris Johnson remarked in a foreign affair select committee that she was training journalists, which is not the case, but Iranian state hardliners and media pounced on those remarks which could see the increase jail sentence. The foreign office has since been negotiating with Iran to try and rectify Johnson's monumental gaffe.
On a side note, Mr Johnson has since angered Spain by heaping praise on bullfighting in a bid to improve Anglo-Spanish relations, a stance that has evidently backfired.
Paradise Papers
Early in the week, the group of journalists who released the Panama Papers have released a second set of papers investigating the murky world of tax avoidance, a scheme which is legal but morally repugnant. Notable figures include the Queen and Prince Charles, the former's estate had an offshore portfolio that included a stake in Brighthouse, a rent-to-buy retailer, the firm were criticised for irresponsible lending and forced to pay £15 million in compensation. Meanwhile, Prince Charles's private estate invested in a Bermuda business set up to trade carbon credits, run by one of his close friends.
Former Conservative Party Treasurer and Chairman, Lord Ashcroft, has been linked to a previously unknown Bermuda trust that made substantial payments to him. Internal correspondence from Appleby revealed the firm was uncomfortable with the trust's management. He has denied controlling the trust. Prominent Brexiteer, Arron Banks, co-owns the Isle of Man-based Conister Bank, which opened accounts for a man whose gambling firm and business partner were being pursued by the US justice department. The Barclay Brothers, who own the Telegraph, obscure their ownership of a company by appointing another company to act as shareholder in their place.
World news
The Vatican said it would ban the sale of cigarettes from next year.
Unbound by Italy's high sales taxes, the Vatican's trade in cheap cigarettes, in its duty-free shops and supermarkets, has long been popular and profitable. Saudi Arabian officials arrested up to 500 people, including prominent royals and businessmen, alleging corruption. The government says more than $100 billion has been embezzled from the kingdom. Critics accuse Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince, of trying to concentrate power.
Donald Trump continued his ten-day sojourn in Asia. He has assured legislators that the North Korea dispute would "all work out". The American administration's claim that new deals worth $250 billion were signed during the China visit were met with scepticism. The agreements were mostly non-binding memoranda of understanding.
Meanwhile in the US, the Congressional Budget Office stated the House Republicans' tax-reform bill would add $1.7 trillion to America's debt: $1.4 trillion in revenue reduction plus debt-servicing costs. Measures include slashing the corporate-tax rate by 15%, limiting interest deductions and repealing the estate tax.