Clinging on to power in the middle of an economic and political maelstrom, Liz Truss faces her most demanding Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
A measure of whether Britain’s prime minister remains in office for at least this week will be determined by the support she receives from Conservative MPs.
The 45-minute debate, where friend and foe hold the prime minister to account, will probably determine Ms Truss’s immediate future.
With elections to the 1922 Committee completed late on Tuesday night, the powerful grouping of backbench MPs could well set new rules to trigger a confidence vote in Ms Truss’s leadership.
A weak performance will instantly be seized upon as a validation to oust her following the economic catastrophe caused by her mini-budget less than a month ago.
The portends are not good. Ms Truss will stand up at midday hours after the latest inflation figures showed them running at a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent.
In just her third PMQs since taking office last month, Ms Truss will be questioned for the first time on the unravelling of the disastrous budget.
A well-trodden phrase suggests that a week is a long time in politics. Seven days ago Ms Truss was defending her energy price cap policy to keep household bills below £2,500 ($2,818) for the next two years. Her income tax cut of 1p was the cornerstone for growth and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was in complete agreement.
It did not, however, appear that those sitting behind Ms Truss were at all convinced. Nor were the markets.
But Ms Truss bought time by sacking her friend Mr Kwarteng and replacing him with the respected moderate Jeremy Hunt.
He steadied the ship ― and the markets ― by ditching the tax bonanza while warning of cuts to government spending to make up for a £40 billion shortfall in finances.
That shored up the City traders but not his colleagues. Challenged by Sir Keir Starmer to answer an urgent question on the economic debacle, Ms Truss sent in her place former leadership rival Penny Mordaunt.
Towards the end of an accomplished defence of the prime minister’s absence, memorably quipping “she’s not hiding under a desk”, her leader appeared in the Commons in one of the more bizarre moments in British political history.
While Ms Mordaunt had pleaded a matter in the national interest had required Ms Truss’s attention, the prime minister suddenly appeared towards the end of the debate. She then sat with a fixed, almost vacant stare and rictus smile, as Mr Hunt then unravelled her catastrophic economic plan.
That avoidance strategy will end at midday, when Mr Starmer raises the first of six questions to the prime minister.
Humane as he is, the Labour leader will likely use sharp questions honed by from his courtroom days, but not so cut throat that they will illicit sympathy for his opponent.
Labour probably want Ms Truss to remain in office, because her presence currently guarantees them a landslide general election victory, such is her lack of popularity.
Her leadership rating is minus 70, worse than Boris Johnson at his nadir. The Conservatives are 36 per cent behind in the latest election survey. Two thirds of Tory members want Ms Truss to go ― the same proportion that voted for her last month.
There is only so long that Conservative MPs can wear the blows that on current trajectory will mean many are ejected from their £84,000 salaries into the economic wasteland of their leader’s making.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Without Remorse
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B Jordan
4/5
Lexus LX700h specs
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Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
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The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
