Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie were seen together at a campaign launch in Westminster. The event was held to keep killer BA pilot Robert Brown behind bars. Speaking to the audience, Carrie stated that allowing Brown’s release, just 13 years into his 26-year-sentence, would be “a real failure in our system”.
Brown had battered his estranged wife to death with a claw hammer in 2010 after she filed for divorce following years of abuse. Mrs Johnson was joined by politicians including former Home Secretary Priti Patel and former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, who called on ministers to block Brown’s release. Boris was there to support her and the cause.
This is the first time the former Tory leader has been seen in public since the leak of 100,000 WhatsApp messages between government ministers and public health advisors during the coronavirus pandemic. Mrs Johnson said she had learned about Brown’s proposed release after meeting with Mrs Parkes and Joanna’s friend Hetti Barkworth-Nanton at an event at Buckingham Palace last year, organised by the Queen Consort.
Ms Simpson’s mother, Diana Parkes, fears Brown still poses a risk to her family and to the public and has called on Dominic Raab to block his release. Mr Raab this week agreed to meet personally with Ms Parkes about the case.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Probation, Justin Russell, said this month that staff shortages were “severely” affecting the service’s ability to manage offenders, including “those who pose a serious threat to the public”.
Mrs Parkes, 84, fears former British Airways pilot Brown could threaten her family and that he may pose a continued danger to women if he is released. It came as pressure grows on Matt Hancock over his text messages.
Leaked messages seemingly showed Mr Hancock rejected the Chief Medical Officer’s call to test all residents going into English care homes for Covid at the start of the pandemic.
Mr Hancock’s representatives have vehemently pushed back against this “distorted” impression, saying he was “supportive of” Whitty’s advice but was told it was “undeliverable” but insisted on testing those coming from hospitals. The messages showed that Sir Chris demanded in April 2020 “testing of all going into care homes”. After initially supporting the guidance, Mr Hancock then appeared to change his mind, telling aides:
“I would rather leave it out and just commit to test & isolate ALL going into care from hospital. I do not think the community commitment adds anything and it muddies the waters”.
Mr Hancock denied the “distorted account” with a spokesman alleging the messages leaked by journalist Ms Oakeshott after she worked on his Pandemic Diaries memoir have been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda”. The spokesman said that “this major error by Isabel Oakeshott and the Telegraph shows why the proper place for analysis like this is the Inquiry, not a partial, agenda-driven leak of confidential documents.”