Portrait of the Week - 4 July 2019

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Boris Johnson, the bookies’ favourite for the leadership of the Conservative party, would, if he became prime minister, ‘show the public sector some love’ said his supporter Matt Hancock. Jeremy Hunt, his rival for the leadership, said: ‘If you’re a sheep farmer in Shropshire or a fisherman in Peterhead… I will mitigate the impact of no-deal Brexit on you.’ The 160,000 members of the Conservative party, few of them public-sector workers, and even fewer sheep farmers or fisherfolk, were sent postal ballots from 6 July to vote for the new leader. The Speaker chose not to select an amendment by Dame Margaret Beckett and Dominic Grieve intended to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement by depriving some public services of funding in the event. Serco, the outsourcing company, was fined £19 million after charging the government for tagging prisoners who were no longer alive. Siteserv, a recycling company, was fined £40,000 for allowing 2,000 tons of refuse to combust spontaneously and burn for two weeks at a depot in Cowbridge, Glamorgan.