While the Mediterranean refugee crisis may have vanished from the front pages, the tide of human misery continues to wash up on Europe’s shores. Italy is now the main point of arrival, with all those rescued off the coast of Libya brought to Italy, often by private charities.

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER

This morning, our country woke to news of another terrorist attack on the streets of our capital city: the second this month and every bit as sickening as those which have come before.

The Prime Minister said in Downing Street this morning:

At the time of writing, the gas attack on Idlib province in Northern Syria has left 72 dead and 200 injured. What is certain is that the specific symptoms shown by the wounded and dying have led doctors and experts to identify the use of sarin gas.  Use of chemical weapons is a war crime.

I am concerned by a report in the Times that the Royal Marines may be cut to meet a £10 billion shortfall over the next decade. This would be quite unacceptable and I hope this speculation is unfounded. The article specified that one of the three, frontline Commando units may be axed.

The views expressed here are entirely my own, although I have cleared them with Alexander Blackman’s wife, Claire, and his QC.

This afternoon at about 1500 we were voting in the Commons when word reached us that there had been an incident and proceedings were suspended. No one knew what had happened, but it was clearly serious as the Chamber and Division Lobbies were locked down, with hundreds of MPs trapped inside.

How disappointed I was to hear my former employer, with whom I had 10 happy years, putting out more post-Brexit spin this morning.
The BBC’s Today programme led with Theresa May’s first outing as Prime Minister to the G20.