一 | The UK government has tabled a no-confidence motion in itself after blocking an earlier similar bid by the Labour Party which also mentioned Boris Johnson in its wording, reported Sky News.,Johnson stepped down as Tory leader on 7 July, putting in motion a leadership race. But he said he would remain as PM until his successor was announced on 5 September.,"Labour were given the option to table a straightforward vote of no confidence in the government in keeping with convention. However, they chose not to,” a government spokeswoman was cited as saying.,‘Playing Politics’,The opposition’s motion had been tabled on Tuesday, with a vote expected to take place on Wednesday.,"This House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government while the Rt Hon Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip [Boris Johnson] remains Prime Minister," Labour’s motion read.,Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer explained the need for a no-confidence vote in Johnson and his government to prevent the caretaker PM from "clinging on for a few months" after Johnson's own MPs had forced him to resign in the wake of the latest scandal.,"We have put down a vote of no confidence, and challenged any Tory MP who in the past few days has said 'I can't serve Boris Johnson because you can't trust a word the man says'. Can they really vote to say he should stay in power for another few weeks?" Starmer said.,However, Downing Street blocked the move, saying it would allow time for a vote of no-confidence in the government, but not the PM.,In accordance with parliamentary conventions, ministers should ‘allow time for MPs to vote on a motion’ from the official opposition on lack of confidence in the government.,“[Labour] have chosen to play politics by tabling a vote of no confidence in the government and the prime minister. As the prime minister has already resigned and a leadership process is underway we do not feel this is a valuable use of parliamentary time. Should Labour amend their motion appropriately, they can have the next business day for it to be debated," Downing Street stated.,Further explaining the motion for a confidence vote in the government on 18 July, the government spokeswoman added that No 10 had tabled a motion which gives the House the opportunity to decide whether it has confidence in the government.,"The government will always allow time for appropriate House matters while ensuring that it delivers parliamentary business to help improve people's everyday life," the spokeswoman for No 10 said.,According to the PM’s press secretary, Johnson intended to open the debate ahead of the vote on Monday. It was also added that Labour’s own motion was “not good use of parliamentary time”.,‘Brazen Hypocrisy’,The Labour Party immediately accused the government of "running scared", claiming Tories were "changing the rules to protect their own dodgy mates".,"The motion that we tabled was in order, the clerks ruled it in order, we had precedent based on the 1965 vote of no confidence with Ted Heath and Harold Wilson. If the government wants to table a different motion, that's obviously up to them,” a Labour spokesman was quoted as saying, adding:,"But what's clear is that the government was concerned it would lose the vote on the motion that we had put forward, otherwise why are they putting forward this alternative motion on Monday? We look forward to the dozens of Conservative MPs who have already expressed in writing that they have no confidence in Boris Johnson, to vote accordingly next week because to do anything else would be brazen hypocrisy.",'He's disgraced. He doesn't enjoy the confidence of this House and if he simply tries to prevent the House coming to that decision, it's because he's a coward'@RhonddaBryant attacks @BorisJohnson for rejecting a vote of no confidence in the government https://t.co/okW5bKdIp0 pic.twitter.com/55T1RBfnto— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) July 12, 2022,If Labour's original no-confidence motion was passed by MPs, Johnson’s immediate removal from office could potentially have triggered a general election.,However, according to cited Labour sources, the opposition was only seeking to oust Johnson. To secure the simple majority in parliament needed for the move to succeed, Labour would have required the support of some Tory MPs.,Race for Tory Leadership Heats Up as Six Candidates Face Second Voting Stage05:23 GMT,However, now that the race for the Conservative Party leadership is underway, with a new PM to be named on 5 September, the previously vociferous chorus of dissent against Johnson has reportedly grown quieter.,According to analysts cited by UK media, Tory MPs are more likely to back the government's motion on Monday as it is worded in a manner that will not constitute an endorsement of Johnson.。 While extensive, international negotiations have now led to the release of four hostages captured by Hamas, scores of foreign nationals in Gaza, including as many as 600 Americans, are still being blocked by the U.S.-designated terrorist group from crossing into Egypt, according to Biden administration officials."To date, at least, Hamas has blocked them from leaving, showing once again its total disregard for civilians of any kind who are stuck in Gaza," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a televised interview Sunday.On Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller clarified that the U.S. now assessed that after weeks of negotiations with Egypt and Israel aimed at securing safe passage for the Americans, only Hamas stood in the way."We do believe that Egypt is ready to process American citizens if they can make it to Egyptian authorities. Hamas just has to stop blocking their exit," Miller said.Miller also said that while U.S. officials were not in direct communication with Hamas, they have been urging Hamas to step aside in messages sent through "a number of partners."The Biden administration has been working since soon after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel to reopen the Rafah gate -- the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt -- in order to move aid into the area and allow foreign nationals to leave.While a limited number of trucks carrying food, water and medicine were able to enter Gaza for the first time on Saturday, so far none of the foreign nationals has been allowed to leave.Miller explained that "a number of civilians, some American citizens" flocked to the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing when it was first opened, but none were able to leave because Hamas "was there blocking anyone from coming through the gate from the Gaza side out to the Egyptian side."According to U.S. officials, the Egyptian government has also been hesitant to allow civilians to exit Gaza through the Rafah gate because of the country's intense concern over security threats posed by terrorist activities on the Sinai Peninsula.Egyptian officials are also likely eager to avoid the optics of thousands of people pouring across the border from Gaza -- wary the country might appear complicit in what its president and other Middle Eastern leaders have said would be an "ethnic cleansing" of Gaza.While securing Egypt's cooperation in eventually facilitating the departure of American citizens would be a diplomatic achievement for the administration, it does not yet appear that Cairo has signaled it will extend the same opportunity to the parents, children, siblings, and partners of U.S. nationals in Gaza.Miller said it was still the administration's goal that the immediate family members of American citizens crossing through the Rafah gate would be allowed to depart as well, but that it was "an ongoing conversation" with Egypt.With a potential Israeli ground incursion looming, the already dire circumstances facing Americans and their loved ones inside Gaza may soon get even worse.Abood Okal, a 36-year-old American, has been stranded in Gaza with his wife and 1-year-old son since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, told his lawyer, Sammy Nabulsi, that the family has been huddled in a home with 40 other people, sleeping on the floor, sharing meager amounts of food, and that for an entire day, they had been forced to drink salt water to survive.Nabulsi said in an interview with ABC News Live on Monday that Okal's family had been instructed by the State Department to go to the Rafah crossing four different times, but on each occasion no one had been allowed to pass through the gate."I think the holdup is the United States isn't focused on this effort at all," said Nabulsi. "It's unacceptable to me. It should be unacceptable to every single American citizen is this entire country."Although the State Department asserts that Hamas is preventing them from fleeing to safety, Miller said Americans stranded in Gaza are "in a different situation" from the around 220 individuals the Israeli Defense Forces believes are still being held hostage by the group."I am not at all trying to minimize the situation," Miller said, acknowledging Americans like Okal and his family are facing "deplorable" circumstances and vowing that U.S. officials are "working intensively' to get them out.The administration has not provided any number or estimate of how many of the 500 to 600 Americans thought to be trapped in Gaza have reached out to the State Department for help."We have a list of Americans who are registered with us, and when we have any information about the possibility of transiting outside of Gaza, we're providing it to all of them," Miller said.。
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