News diary 5 – 11 June: Harry gives MGN evidence, BBC journalists go on strike

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Prince Harry outside High Court, where he will return to give hacking evidence — Prince Harry leaving the Royal Courts Of Justice on Monday 27 March 2023. Picture: PA Wire/James Manning

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Leading the week

Prince Harry is back in London next week to give evidence in his High Court battle with Mirror Group Newspapers. The Duke is due in court from Monday (5 June) when his case opens and is expected to begin giving evidence on Tuesday (6 June), marking the first time a royal has been in the witness box in over 20 years.

Harry, along with a number of celebrities including Ian Wright, Cheryl, and the estate of George Michael, claims The Mirror used unlawful information gathering tactics to obtain information on him between 1996 and 2011. Central to MGN’s defence is that the prince has brought proceedings too late, and it denies allegations of voicemail interception.

The case is just one of three battles Harry is fighting with the British tabloid press. He is seeking at least £200,000 in damages from The Sun over allegations that the paper hacked his phone and hired private investigators to obtain information on him. A hearing in that case, which also addresses the specific claim that executives working for Rupert Murdoch made a deal with the royal family to avoid legal action, will be heard later this month. He is also waiting to see if a case brought against the Daily Mail will move forward after the latest hearing in March.

The High Court could also see further drama next week if the government’s battle against the Covid inquiry and Baroness Hallett’s request for all unredacted diaries and messages from Boris Johnson gets a quick hearing.

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While Johnson has offered up the unredacted materials directly, the Cabinet Office said yesterday it is seeking a judicial review on principle over the question of the inquiry’s power to request “unambiguously irrelevant” documents from other ministers.

It’s a crunch week for Britain’s biggest business lobbying group as CBI members gather on Tuesday (6 June) to vote on proposals for the organisation’s future purpose.

The meeting comes after a series of high-profile firms and political and industry bodies severed ties with the group following the dismissal in April of former director general Tony Danker and claims of widespread sexual misconduct by other senior figures, including an allegation of rape at a CBI event.

Danker was replaced by former chief economist Rain Newton-Smith, who said this week that the CBI could still “have a voice’”on UK economic issues as the group published the prospectus which its members will consider at Tuesday’s EGM, including the creation of a new Chief People Officer and the establishment of an external expert Culture Advisory Committee.

The CBI’s new leadership will hope that these steps can convince members that it still has a role to play in the business world, particularly with a general election campaign on the horizon. But suggestions that the group’s work hadn’t been missed during its pause show that the vote is far from a foregone conclusion, while reports that it’s preparing to lay off staff and has considered the prospect of insolvency will have many questioning the CBI’s future whatever result is announced next week.

Looking Abroad

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes his first official visit to Washington on Thursday (8 June) to meet with US President Joe Biden, with Ukraine, energy security and developments in Northern Ireland all on the agenda.

The talks follow Biden’s visit to Belfast in April, when Downing Street was forced to deny a meeting between the two had been downgraded and which Biden later said was to make sure “the Brits didn’t screw around” – expect a statement on a shared commitment to restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland, where no progress has been made since Biden’s visit.

The pair are also due to discuss the risks of artificial intelligence in the wake of a letter published by industry experts this week which warned that AI could pose an “extinction risk” on par with pandemics and nuclear war. Sunak will reportedly use the visit to announce the UK’s plans for regulation as the government looks to balance the benefits of the technology with mitigating the risks posed by uncontrolled development.

There’s some speculation that AI could also feature at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which opens on Monday (5 June) in Cupertino. The tech giant has been relatively silent on generative AI while rivals including Microsoft, Google and Meta have launched new AI-powered services, and WWDC could give us a peek at how Apple sees the technology working for their business, particularly the development of its virtual assistant, Siri.

The bigger story, though, is that Apple is expected to use Monday’s keynote to launch its highly-anticipated mixed reality headset, thought to be called Reality Pro.

The $3,000 AR/VR headset is rumoured to be able to run all of Apple’s existing apps and include a new portal for watching VR sports, and leaked tech specs suggest a far more powerful device than what’s currently on the market. Apple is also expected to launch the latest version of its operating system, iOS17, and a new range of Macs at the conference, which runs until Friday (9 June).