Senior Conservatives have criticised Nadine Dorries’ claim that Boris Johnson was ousted in a “ruthless coup” – with one Tory MP labelling her comments “plain stupid”.
Warning that the prime minster’s removal had “unleashed the hounds of hell”, the culture secretary claimed that his “defenestration” had been “largely led” by Rishi Sunak, and defended recently mocking the ex-chancellor’s expensive attire given that “judgment is a huge issue” in the current leadership race.
As the contest to replace the PM continued, the remaining two candidates embarked upon tours of the nation, both unveiling plans to crack down violence against women and girls. Mr Sunak proposed a new “down-blousing” offence, while Liz Truss offered a law against misogynistic street harassment.
The ex-chancellor also said he would create a new emergency task force to hunt down grooming gangs, as well as tighten the law to ensure perpetrators remain behind bars for longer, while the foreign secretary announced that she would create a new stand-alone criminal offence for street harrassment.
Rees-Mogg calls for fracking and more North Sea oil extraction
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said “we need to be extracting as much as we possibly can from our North Sea oil fields”.
The Cabinet Office minister was asked on the BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme whether the extraordinary profits that energy companies have made should be redistributed given the pain many households are feeling on energy.
Mr Rees-Mogg replied: “I think what we need to be doing is getting more gas out of the ground, we need to be extracting as much as we possibly can from our North Sea oil fields.
“And we need to extract shale gas from the United Kingdom because if you have a strong domestic market you are less affected by the international price, which has been the experience of the United States, and you also increase energy security.
“If that is going to happen, it’s going to need investment by the energy companies, and investment is going to be much less likely if you apply retrospective taxes to them.”
On energy companies restarting dividends, he said: “Dividends go to the people in the companies who are individuals or their representative pension funds, so I think hostility to dividends is not a wise economic policy.”
Sunak’s housing pledge ‘is just rhetoric’ and ‘will further force up house prices’
Rishi Sunak’s new housing policy (see post at 11:14) of building on brownfield sites and further protecting green belt areas is “just rhetoric” and will do nothing to solve the housing crisis, an academic has said.
“We already don’t build on the green belt. It’s a complete myth. The area of green belt has hardly changed since 1973,” Professor Paul Cheshire, from the London School of Economics, told the Press Association.
Adding that building on brownfield sites first has been policy since the 1990s, he said: “The problem is for young people, or even middle-aged people, it’s really bad news because there’s a commitment to do it and it will further put up house prices and further increase the volatility of the housing market.”
Conservative voters are more likely to be homeowners and, referring to a by-election defeat for which planning policies were partly blamed, he added: “It’s just noise, it’s just rhetoric. He’s appealing to Conservative members post Chesham and Amersham.
“Rishi Sunak isn’t an idiot. He understands what the consequences of rationing supply are going to be.”
Opinion | The Labour Party should get off Twitter – before it’s too late
Labour is “obsessed by what’s happening on Twitter and it is hurting the party”, argues Sunny Hundal, the deputy editor of Independent Voices.
He writes: “If the party wants to come across as moderate, nuanced and less hysterical, getting its MPs to stop using Twitter would be a great start.
“The Labour Party has to choose between appealing to people on Twitter, or the wider public. If it wants to get elected it needs to do the latter.”
You can read his thinking in full here:
Opinion: The Labour Party should get off Twitter – before it’s too late
The party has to choose between appealing to people on Twitter, or the wider public
All ideas on cost of living crisis come from Labour, claims Starmer
All of the ideas to ease the cost-of-living crisis come from Labour, Sir Keir Starmer has claimed.
Speaking to reporters in Birmingham, the Labour leader said: “In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, most families are saying, ‘what are you going to do to help us pay our bills?’
“Which is why we said: ‘look, you’ve got to have a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies in the North Sea, use the profits they didn’t expect to make to help people with their bills’.
“There are other things that we would do. We wouldn’t have introduced the national insurance tax. You shouldn’t be adding tax to people in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. We want a massive programme to insulate homes. I’ve seen it for myself, how that helps people with their bills.
“And so we’ve got a lot to say on the cost-of-living crisis. And Labour has been leading the way on this. All of the ideas on the cost-of-living crisis come from us. And if we were in government, we would be making sure people are actually able to pay their bills, which is the thing that for many, many people is keeping them up at night.”
Truss’s union plans ‘completely wrong’, Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer has said Liz Truss’s plans to quash workers’ rights to take effective industrial action are “completely wrong”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Facing a row over his own policy of banning Labour frontbenchers from joining picket lines, Sir Keir told reporters in Birmingham: “I think she [Liz Truss] is completely wrong about that. What we need to do is to improve the rights of working people.
“That’s why we’ve drafted a whole set of employment rights from day one for working people. What we want is an election so that we can give the country the change it really needs. We don’t need just a change of the leader at the top of the Tory party.
“They’ve been in power for 12 years. They are the problem, not the solution.”
Pressed again on whether he would support co-ordinated action from the trade unions, Sir Keir said: “It’s quite right for trade unions to stick up for their members and to fight for their members. Of course, it is. And it’s their members who are really struggling under this cost-of-living crisis … I’m fully supportive of that, working with our trade unions.”
Rees-Mogg responds to Martin Lewis’s plea for cost of living crisis plan
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said it will be the responsibility of the new prime minister to develop plans to ease the cost of living crisis – after MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis urged Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to coordinate urgent plans now ahead of the feared energy price cap rise in October.
Mr Rees-Mogg told the BBC: “Well, obviously the government has put in support for families already. There’s been £37 billion of support that’s been announced, and families will already have received £326. So things are happening already.
“There will be a new prime minister on 6 September, and it will be his or her responsibility to develop further plans, but I think everybody recognises that there are going to be further plans. I don’t think that is a point of dispute.”
He added: “Both of those candidates have announced plans as to what they would do in outline, so there’s already a discussion on this. And the price cap will be announced later so I think it’s sensible to announce the full set of plans when the price cap is announced, and you have a full idea of what is going to happen.”
Labour’s relationship with Unite will be ‘future’ of the party, Starmer insists
The relationship between the Unite union and Labour will be “the future” of the party, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted.
Asked if he is worried about the prospect of the Unite union withdrawing their funding from the Labour Party over his hardline stance on frontbench MPs joining picket lines, Sir Keir told reporters in Birmingham: “The Unite Union and the Labour Party have a very strong relationship.
“I am a member of the Unite union. That relationship is historic, it is present, and it will be the future of the Labour Party.”
Yesterday, Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham described the sacking of Sam Tarry for joining the RMT’s picket line at London Euston “another insult to the trade union movement”, which she said would be “laughable if it were not so serious”.
But the Labour leader said: “I think any trade union leader would understand the need for collective responsibility in a political party.
“It’s very important that we have that responsibility because we want to win an election and when we do win that election, we can then, working with our trade unions, implement those employment rights that we have already drafted and agreed. That is going to be a massive step forward for working people.”
Starmer: Labour will take ‘each case as it comes’ on shadow ministers joining picket lines
Labour is taking “each case as it comes” on shadow ministers joining picket lines, Sir Keir Starmer has said – claiming that Sam Tarry was sacked yesterday for having booked media appearances without permission and “made up policy on the hoof”.
Speaking in Birmingham, Sir Keir said: “We take each case as it comes. I want to see these issues resolved.
He added: “Of course, as far as the industrial action is concerned, I completely understand the frustration of so many working people who’ve seen the prices go up, seen inflation through the roof, and their wages haven’t gone up.
“So the Labour Party will always be on the side of working people, but we need collective responsibility, as any organisation does.”
Sir Keir continued: “Obviously, the Labour Party’s relationship with the trade unions is historic. They’re part of our movement. They always have been, always will be.”
UK car production slumps by a fifth as firms hit by parts shortages
In news that will trouble ministers, UK car production slumped by a fifth in the first six months of 2022 – as manufacturers battled with upheaval in global supply chains, soaring costs and a shortage of skilled workers and microchips.
Almost 100,000 fewer vehicles rolled of production lines between January and June compared to the same period a year earlier, new industry figures show – leaving production lower than during Covid lockdowns in 2020 and in the 2009 global financial crisis.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said parts shortages had put supply chains under “extreme pressures”, impacting production more severely than expected.
Our business reporter Ben Chapman has more details here:
UK car production slumps by a fifth as firms hit by parts shortages
Almost 100,000 fewer vehicles rolled of production lines between January and June
Senior Tories reject Nadine Dorries’ claim of a ‘coup’ against Boris Johnson
Senior Conservatives have contested Nadine Dorries’ claim this morning that Boris Johnson was the victim of a “coup”, which she claimed was largely led by Rishi Sunak.
Describing the culture secretary as having “an exuberant range of language”, Victoria Atkins – who resigned as justice minister during the implosion of Mr Johnson’s government – told Sky News: “I wouldn’t use language like that.”
Tory grandee Sir Roger Gale said: “Loyalty is a fine thing Nadine Dorries but Mr Johnson was not removed by ‘a coup’.”
And Simon Hoare MP said it was “plain stupid” to label Mr Johnson’s democratic removal a “coup”, adding: “As I’ve said before: it was, unfortunately, suicide, not homicide.”
