Latest Boris Johnson news: Britain ‘on the brink of a dystopian economic meltdown’

Veteran broadcaster Andrew Marr has accused the “mentally deranged” Russian leader of hiding behind his country’s nuclear weapons.

Marr, who resigned from his role on the BBC last November, has been reflecting on his interview with the Russian president ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

He said ITV’s Good Morning Great Britain: “He was exceptional. He has this very famous cold cold look that people talk about but I would say if I listen to him because he was interviewed in many different languages ​​at the time he is one of the smartest men I have ever interviewed.

“Over the last 50 years, as a country, we have frankly faced insane foreign leaders or people whose mental stability we were unsure of, and we have faced nuclear threats, but what we have not experienced before is the two things coming together on.” once.

“And that’s why this is such a dangerous moment for us and for the world.”

He continued: “His war machine is not a very warlike war machine. They’re very, very good at killing unarmed civilians, they don’t seem all that good at fighting.

“He’s in real, real trouble in Kyiv. So what’s left for him? Frankly, he still has nuclear weapons left. And that’s why I think we’re going to hear more and more bloodthirsty threats from him and we need, as we say in Scotland, to keep the heat on.”

The government intends to expand the requirements of its visa system for Ukraine to improve access for refugees fleeing the conflict with Russia.

Home Office sources told the BBC they have begun considering a program to extend humanitarian access beyond those who have family members in the UK or whose applications are sponsored.

A senior government source said the need for further action is being monitored by the government.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been ridiculed after his claim that the UK was “pioneer” in sanctioning Russian banks backfired spectacularly.

The cabinet minister took to social media over the weekend to defend the government’s sanctions record after it was criticized for being too slow.

To get his point across, the Tory MP produced a chart showing the UK had sanctioned £258.8bn compared to £240bn in the US and £38.8bn in the EU.

Our political correspondent jon stone has more:

Tory Party businessman and fundraiser Ben Elliot continues to serve clients at his luxury concierge company Quintessentially, despite his ties to a Russian bank recently threatened by British sanctions.

According to a story in The times This morning, Gazprombank, Russia’s third largest bank by assets, is one of Elliot’s main clients.

The father of Gazprombank’s largest shareholder, Yuri Shamalov, was a close associate of Vladimir Putin in the 1990s, the newspaper reports.

A spokesman for Quintessentially said: “The Quintessentially group strongly condemns President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The group continues to actively monitor its member base and corporate clients to ensure that it does not serve any person or entity that appears on the sanctions lists.”

A former climate minister who served under David Cameron is stepping down as CEO of EN+ – a Russian metals company.

The Moscow-based company announced on Monday that Greg Barker has tendered his resignation, the reports FT.

EN+ is linked to Rusal, the largest producer outside of China, which supplies about 6 percent of the world’s aluminum.

“Barker’s resignation and departure from the group will take effect after a brief period during which Lord Barker will assist in the transition of the role of chairman to Christopher Bancroft Burnham, the company’s senior independent director,” EN+ said in a statement.

“The group confirms that it is currently reviewing its strategy regarding Rusal. Among the options being considered is the possibility of spinning off Rusal’s international business.

Russia’s leading forces are being “decimated” and it is no longer inevitable that they win in Ukraine, the British armed forces chief said.

Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said the invasion of Ukraine “is not going well” for the Kremlin as the Russian military may not prove as strong as expected in the face of Ukrainian resistance.

Asked the BBCs sunday morning Speaking on whether Russia’s takeover of Ukraine was ‘inevitable’, Sir Tony said: ‘No. I think we’ve seen a Russian invasion that’s not going well.”

my colleague Chiara Giordano Reports:

A former Foreign Office minister has said Britain risks falling into a “dystopian economic meltdown” should it sanction Russian gas.

Sir Alan Duncan, former deputy to Boris Johnson, said BBC Radio 4 Today’s program: “There’s this auction of outrage, which we all totally understand, against everything to do with Russia.

“So they ban this, ban that and ban everything, but in the end we’re going to end up banning our own supplies.

“Now, of course, we want to disadvantage Russia as an indispensable tool of war. But we don’t want to disadvantage ourselves into some kind of dystopian economic collapse. We’re on the verge of that.

“Now, for example, there are Gazprom subsidiaries that are not sanctioned, that are not incorporated in Russia, that are incorporated in the UK in a case, that are essential to the smooth flow of gas.”

Secretary of State James deftly defended media mogul Lord Lebedev’s place in the House of Lords.

“He’s here as a dual British citizen, he’s a businessman, he was a successful businessman,” Mr Cleverly said BBC Radio 4 Today program.

“I think we have to be a bit careful in suggesting or implying that anyone of Russian origin is somehow unfit to enter public life.”

Lord Lebedev has only spoken once and never voted in Parliament, but Mr Cleverly said: “There are many Members of the House of Lords who are not active Members of the House of Lords. Rather, it contradicts this charge that by not voting on British laws he somehow distorts British politics.”

Europe Secretary James Cleverly has called Russia’s third offer of a ceasefire and safe passage for fleeing civilians “incredibly cynical”.

This comes shortly after two ceasefire agreements between Russia and Ukraine collapsed over the weekend due to escalating violence and shelling.

However, the evacuation routes published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti showed that civilians can only flee to Russia and Belarus.

He said BBC breakfast: “It seems incredibly cynical. There is a view that Vladimir Putin believed that there was a widespread desire among Ukrainians to be closer to Russia, to be more Russian. I think that has been shown to be utter nonsense by the circumstances we are seeing.

“Providing evacuation routes into the arms of the country that is destroying yours is nonsense.”

He added that “the most humanitarian thing the Russians could ultimately do is end this totally illegal, totally unjustified invasion of Ukraine.”