Boy, 15, knifed in 'street fight' in North London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A boy has been stabbed during a street fight in north London.

Emergency crews found a 15-year-old male suffering knife woundsin Derby Road’s junction with Lincoln Road in Enfield.

He was taken to hospital where his condition was being assessed.

One man was arrested at the scene for possession of an offensive weapon, but he is not believed to be involved in the attack on the victim.

The attack happened just after 8.15pm on Wednesday.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to call 101, quoting reference 7476 of October 3. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

London mayor accused of misleading Londoners over delayed Crossrail project

staff reporter(wp/es):

Sadiq Khan was today accused of misleading Londoners over the delayed and over-budget Crossrail scheme.

The Mayor has claimed he knew only two days before a public announcement that the £15.4bn line would not be ready for the Queen to open on December 9.

But a cross-party City Hall committee today said it was “highly likely” Mr Khan had been informed around six weeks earlier about “very likely” delays.

In a highly-critical letter, the London Assembly transport panel told him: “It is arguable that maintaining that you were completely uninformed is misleading.”

Crossrail is now not due to open before Autumn 2019. It has required a £590m bail-out from public funds to cope with spiralling costs.

The 10-year east-west project, also known as the Elizabeth line, has been hit by construction and engineering problems, including delays to stations and an electrical explosion. 

Engineers are now struggling to get software on the new trains to understand three different signalling systems used on different sections of the line, including the tunnel between Paddington and Whitechapel.

Problems were first made public at a TfL board meeting in January. Mr Khan, who chairs the TfL board, halted the discussion and moved it into private session.

Subsequent TfL board discussions about Crossrail have mostly been held in private. 

Transport minister Jo Johnson announced to Parliament on July 24 that an extra £300m was needed to finish the central tunnel, plus £290m on existing rail tracks between Shenfield and Liverpool Street and Paddington and Heathrow.

TfL made a statement to the London Stock Exchange on the same day. Neither statement mentioned the delay in opening.

This was despite Crossrail executives telling the Crossrail board five days earlier that “they could no longer have confidence in the date of opening for December”, according to evidence given to the assembly.

Mr Khan received a face-to-face update from Crossrail on “increasing pressures” on July 26, six weeks before the public announcement.

Industry insiders told the Standard there were repeated indications that the project was running behind schedule.

Crossrail announced its revised opening schedule on August 31. When Mr Khan was called before the assembly on September 6, he said he had only been told on August 29 about the inability to open in December.  

Today’s letter accuses Mr Khan, TfL and the Government of deliberately hiding the extent of the problems from the public.

It questions whether Crossrail waited until it received the £590m bailout before revealing that the opening date would be missed.

It said there had been a “number of worrying decisions being made by all involved in the project, and a continuing lack of openness”. 

This had turned public statements to Parliament and the TfL board “into little more than theatrical performances”. 

The letter said: “We can never again have an absurd situation where the [TfL] board publicly discusses a Crossrail paper suggesting the project is on track, as it did on July 25, before turning off the cameras for the ‘real’ discussion where bad news is shared.”

It said that if Mr Khan and Ministers had been uninformed, this can only have been done to allow them to dodge awkward questions. 

“This is completely inappropriate and damages the reputations of all involved,” the letter said.

It said this could harm the chances of delivering Crossrail 2, the £30bn proposed north-south line linking Surrey and Hertfordshire.

Officials are now locked in talks over who should pay for the overrun. One source suggested the additional bill could reach £1 billion. TfL will lose £20m in Crossrail fares this year.

Transport committee chairwoman Caroline Pidgeon said: “The evidence we have received shows it is highly likely that the Mayor was informed on or soon after July 19 that there was very likely to be a delay.  “It may have been justified to wait for clearer information before a public announcement. However, it is arguable that maintaining that he was completely uninformed is misleading.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Khan said: “The Mayor did not hide his anger and disappointment when Crossrail announced that the central section of the project wouldn’t be opening until Autumn next year - anger and frustration made worse by the length of the delay and how late in the project it was announced. 

“The Mayor has expressed his frustrations directly to the leadership of Crossrail – both privately and during meetings in public.

“The Mayor has now asked Crossrail and TfL to look into whether the joint sponsors [TfL and DfT] should have been made aware of the revised schedule at an earlier date, and whether the right scrutiny and oversight is in place as the project moves to its final phase.”

A Crossrail spokesman said: “Crossrail has been reporting cost and schedule pressures to [the DfT and TfL]. At the Crossrail board on July 19 a schedule risk was flagged and the executive were tasked to report back and present a formal recommendation to a special meeting of the board in August.  

“At the Crossrail board meeting on August 29 it was confirmed that it was now no longer possible to meet the December 2018 opening date. This was communicated to sponsors on August 30 and announced at the earliest opportunity on August 31.”

The Department for Transport declined to comment.

Schoolboy denies claim he had sex with teacher was 'fantasy'

Pic:Wilson later told the boy she was pregnant and that he was the father, the court heard ( PA )
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A schoolboy who says he had sex with a science teacher in an aeroplane toilet has insisted his claim was true and not a fantasy, a court has heard. 

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he had sex with teacher Eleanor Wilson, 29, as they returned from an overseas school trip. 

He denies claims he was infatuated with the teacher, insisting his claim was true and not a fantasy, and said that they carried on seeing each other when they got home. 

The boy told Bristol Crown Court that he and the 29-year-old defendant developed a “bond” while they were on an overseas camping trip in 2015. 

The court heard that Wilson, then aged 26, gave the boy her telephone number which he saved on his phone as “Smurfette”. 

It is alleged that Wilson and the boy began kissing and cuddling in seats at the rear of the plane before she "beckoned" him to the toilets where she performed a sex act on him before having full intercourse.

Anna Midgley, defending, suggested to the boy that the flight would have been busy with other teachers checking on pupils, fellow passengers and cabin crew walking around and what he claims happened did not take place.

"When you came out of the toilet you were close enough together, making the risk that other staff and pupils and cabin staff could have seen you together," she said.

"It's just not true. Nothing had happened," she suggested.

Ms Midgley also suggested the other allegations of kissing, cuddling and holding hands, which allegedly occurred in the boy's bedroom and on visits to Tintern Abbey and the Ashton Court estate, also did not happen.

"Would you accept that you were infatuated with her when you got back from the trip, thinking about her all the time, wanting to be with her and not thinking clearly?" she asked.

"But she never approached you physically or sexually - that might be what you wanted - but it never happened.

"You were thinking about her a lot, and you were infatuated with her, and you had told your friends that things had happened that in fact had not happened.

"You had boasted to your friends and that led to rumours starting and someone started to blackmail her about that. Your parents started to question you and the school started to question you.

"At that point, you couldn't say none of this wasn't true or that it didn't happen and you said you had sex on an aeroplane because that's what you told people."

The boy, who was giving evidence from behind a screen, replied: "That is incorrect."

Wilson, of The Rope Walk, Dursley, Gloucestershire, denies four charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

The jury was told the boy had written down his feelings in a note on his mobile phone after he claims Wilson told him she was pregnant with his child and was having an abortion.

Police, who recovered the note, did not find any other conversations between the boy and Wilson on his phone, the court heard.

The boy told the jury he had deleted them. When asked why, he replied: "Because it was always a risky situation to keep such material on my telephone."

He insisted the contents of the note were true and the details of the alleged incidents at Tintern Abbey and Ashton Court had happened.

Ms Midgley referred to an occasion during the trip when he asked to speak to the defendant alone.

"To Miss Wilson, it would be obvious you were upset and she told you that these feelings brought about by this trip and the reflections about what you wanted to achieve and the trip allowed you to reflect and make your mum proud.

"Do you remember getting more upset? She put her arm around you while you were having those conversations. Nothing more than that.

"You initiated the conversation about your girlfriend. Miss Wilson was saying the important thing was that you were happy and she jokingly said to you: 'Wipe your tears away because girls don't fancy crying boys.' Do you remember her saying that?"

The boy replied: "Possibly."

He agreed that Wilson said to him to "get away from bad influences" and "get on with school work".

Ms Midgley said: "She didn't tell you to end your relationship with your girlfriend?"

He replied: "I do not agree."

The trial continues.

Theresa May will use crucial Tory Conference address to say she sees a future 'full of promise' for Brexit Britain

Political reporter(wp/es):

Theresa May will declare that Britain’s post-Brexit future is “full of promise” as she seeks to rally her fractious party behind her with a keynote conference speech.

The Prime Minister will make a direct appeal to mainstream Labour voters disillusioned by Jeremy Corbyn's left-wing agenda to switch to the "decent, moderate, patriotic" Tories.

It comes as Mrs May faces pressure to announce when she will stand down after senior ministers said it was now a question of “when, not if”, it was reported last night.

Her speech at Conservative Conference today will also come just a day after Boris Johnson received a thunderous standing ovation as he branded her Brexit plans a “constitutional outrage”.

The former foreign secretary’s fierce criticism of Mrs May’s Chequers proposals came at his hotly-anticipated speech at a fringe event at the Birmingham conference yesterday.

Several Cabinet ministers have said they want the Prime Minister to step down immediately after Brexit in March next year, according to the Telegraph.

But others said they are prepared to give her until 2020 if she uses the next party conference to announce her departure date, saying it’s a case of “when, not if”, the newspaper reported.

In the face of this growing pressure surrounding her future, Mrs May will use her keynote speech today to focus on her hopes for a brighter future for the UK after Brexit.

“I passionately believe that our best days lie ahead of us and that our future is full of promise," she will say. "Don't let anyone tell you we don't have what it takes: we have everything we need to succeed."

In a speech entitled "Our Future Is In Our Hands", Mrs May will tell delegates that countries across the world stand ready to trade with the UK.

And she will promise that at this "moment of opportunity" the Conservatives will always act in the "national interest" and put the needs of hard-working people first.

In an appeal to Labour voters to consider switching, Mrs May will say: "Millions of people who have never supported our party in the past are appalled by what Jeremy Corbyn has done to Labour.

"They want to support a party that is decent, moderate and patriotic. One that puts the national interest first. Delivers on the issues they care about. And is comfortable with modern Britain in all its diversity.

"We must show everyone in this country that we are that party.

"A party that conserves the best of our inheritance but is not afraid of change. A party of patriotism but not nationalism. A party that believes in business but is not afraid to hold businesses to account.

"A party that believes in the good that government can do but knows that government will never have all the answers. A party that believes your success in life should not be defined by who you love, your faith, the colour of your skin, who your parents were, or where you were raised - but by your talent and hard work.

"Above all a party of Unionism, not just of four proud nations, but of all our people.

"A party not for the few, not even for the many, but for everyone who is willing to work hard and do their best."

Bosses welcome Philip Hammond’s olive branch towards corporate Britain

Pic:Chancellor Philip Hammond is giving a speech to the 2018 Tory conference in Birmingham ( reuters )
Business correspondent(wp/es):

Business leaders on Monday welcomed Chancellor Philip Hammond’s attempt to repair the Conservatives’ battered relationship with corporate Britain in an emollient conference speech.

Senior bosses have voiced mounting frustration with the Government’s attitude to business as Tories remain fixated on Brexit and the threat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. 

Relations reached a nadir this summer with ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s reported “f**k business” response to concerns over the UK’s EU exit. 

Hammond’s set-piece, billed as the “f**k ‘f**k business’” speech, instead extended the olive branch to companies, with new commitments on the overhaul of the unpopular apprenticeship levy, which has seen the number of apprentices plummet by nearly a third. The CBI’s director general Carolyn Fairbairn voiced hopes that “the conference can represent a change of tone”. 

Donor and former Tory party treasurer Michael Spencer warned: “The big, medium and small business community are genuinely really upset, disappointed and shocked that whenever the PM talks about business she seems to focus on the bad examples, as opposed to the vast majority who have been successful, invested their own money, paid their taxes and contributed to the economy. They are the economy. without them, the country collapses.

“We really need Theresa May to do a reset on her position and I know my views on this are supported in the party.”

Other senior business figures underlined the message that a change of tack from the Tories towards business was overdue after protracted in-fighting over Brexit.

Chris Grigg, chief executive of landlord British Land, said: “The Conservative party has been quite inwardly focused around Brexit recently, and that has come at the cost of their more traditional focus on business. 

“Whatever you think about Brexit, it is clear that it is going to put pressure on companies which have millions of staff in the UK and a choice over how they invest and allocate resources. But when businesses make those observations they have often come in for significant criticism.”

Ian Sutcliffe, the head of housebuilder Countryside Properties, added: “The thing that business requires is policy and direction and an agenda that focuses on the country, not just Brexit. It is over two years now since we had the referendum and the corridors of Westminster have been obsessed with the Brexit issue.”

Chris Pullen, chief executive of Staffline, the UK’s biggest provider of apprentice levy training, welcomed the overhaul. “It’s good the Government recognises it’s had a slow start and is going to make it more fit for purpose.” 

Helen Brocklebank, boss of luxury goods body Walpole, added: “I find it astonishing that Philip Hammond seems to be the lone pro-business voice in the Brexit wilderness. Business is the only thing that will get us out of the fix we find ourselves in.”

Brent Hoberman, executive chairman of technology investor Founders Factory, said: “I am very much hoping they now see business and entrepreneurship is central to what the country needs. They are Tories after all.”
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London bridge sealed off and man arrested after 'suspicious package' found on bus

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A London bridge was sealed off and a man has been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat as a suspicious package was found on a bus.

Traffic and pedestrians were blocked from crossing Kew Bridge in west London as police descended on the scene on Monday evening. 

Worried residents took to social media to share dramatic images as officers swarmed on the bridge, in Kew Road, at about 7.30pm.

Penny Burningham wrote on Twitter: “Kew Bridge Closed at 8pm tonight. It looks like a fire under the bridge Kew Side!"

A man was detained near the bridge. He was arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat and remained in custody overnight.

The package was investigated and found to be non-suspicious, Scotland Yard said.

A Met Police spokesman said: “Officers attended and the package was assessed and deemed non-suspicious.

“A man was detained by police near the scene and arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat. 

“He is currently in custody at a west London police station.”

Boris Johnson 'would delay Brexit by six months' if topples Theresa May to become leader'

Political reporter(wp/es):

Boris Johnson has said he would delay Brexit by at least six months if he topples Theresa May to become Prime Minister, according to reports last night.

It comes as the former foreign secretary prepares deliver an eagerly-anticipated speech at the Conservative conference that his supporters hope will pave way for a leadership bid.

Mr Johnson told senior Tories of his plans to delay the UK’s exit from the bloc if his bid to be Prime Minister is successful, the Sun reported on Monday.

He reportedly said the pause would be used to reset stalled negotiations with the European Union, according to the newspaper.

In his speech at the Tory conference in Birmingham today, Mr Johnson will call on Mrs May to “chuck Chequers” after he earlier controversially described the plan as “deranged”.

Mr Johnson will also use his speech to issue a clarion call to activists to "believe in Conservative values".

In what will undoubtedly be seen as a pitch to replace Mrs May, he will not only restate his opposition to the Prime Minister's handling of Brexit but call on Tories to focus on law and order, tax cuts and house-building in order to defeat Labour.

His call for Tories to stick to their tax-cutting guns will come as a rebuke to Chancellor Philip Hammond, who has openly admitted taxes will rise to help pay for the £20 billion spending boost promised to the NHS.

The Tory gathering is becoming a grudge match between the former foreign secretary and the Chancellor, who launched a savage assault on Mr Johnson in a series of interviews.

Mr Hammond mocked his former Cabinet colleague by mimicking his style of speaking in an interview with the Daily Mail, in which he predicted that Johnson will never become Prime Minister.

Accusing Mr Johnson of lacking the attention to detail to succeed in "grown-up politics", he dismissed the "super-Canada" Brexit deal favoured by the former foreign secretary as a "fantasy world" plan.

Extracts released ahead of Mr Johnson's speech to a fringe meeting suggest he will present himself as ready to stand up for Tory values and lead a fight against Jeremy Corbyn's Labour.

In what may be seen as a swipe at Mrs May's focus on righting "burning injustices" in society, he will urge the party not to "ape Corbyn" but to "take basic conservative ideas and fit them to the problems of today".

Speaking at a fringe meeting hosted by the ConservativeHome website, Mr Johnson will say: "We must on no account follow Corbyn, and start to treat capitalism as a kind of boo word.

"We can't lose our faith in competition and choice and markets but we should restate the truth that there is simply no other system that is so miraculously successful in satisfying human wants and needs.

"We should set our taxes to stimulate investment and growth. We should be constantly aiming not to increase but to cut taxes.

"It is the conservative approach that gets things done, so let's follow our conservative instincts."

Attacking Mr Corbyn's leader's speech to Labour's conference in Liverpool last week, Mr Johnson will say: "It was astonishing that he had absolutely nothing to say about the wealth-creating sector of the economy - the people who get up at the crack of dawn to prepare their shops, the grafters and the grifters, the innovators, the entrepreneurs - he didn't mention any successes.

"We Conservatives know that it is only a strong private sector economy that can pay for superb public services and that is the central symmetry of our one nation Toryism."

Mr Johnson will pay only a flying one-day visit to a conference which has witnessed open warfare within the Tory party over Brexit, which critics say he has done nothing to calm.

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