Tory leadership – live: Liz Truss civil service anti-semitism claims ‘abhorrent’

Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss’s vow to tackle “woke” civil service culture that “strays into antisemitism” have been strongly condemned by government staff and union leaders.

The FDA organisation representing civil servants said the “inflammatory” comments were “insulting and abhorrent” – saying they “go further than the usual dog-whistle politics” of the Conservative leadership election.

Adam Forrest and Anna Isaac report:

Workers for the Post Office, BT and Openreach are all set to stage fresh strikes in a dispute over pay, continuing the summer of industrial action by hundreds of thousands of union members.

More on this story as it comes in here:

More than 21,000 people have been brought to safety to the UK from Afghanistan, the government has said.

This includes British nationals and their families, Afghans who worked for the UK, and people identified as high-risk, such as women’s rights campaigners, journalists and members of the LGBT+ community.

The update was provided following calls for information on the arrival of Afghan refugees ahead of the one-year anniversary of Taliban forces taking over the country by capturing Kabul on August 15 2021.

A separate up-to-date total for the number of Afghan refugees who have arrived in the UK was not given.

The total includes about 15,000 people who were evacuated during Operation Pitting, the initial British military rescue mission.

About 5,000 people have been brought to safety since the evacuation in August last year.

And about 2,000 locally employed Afghan staff and their families were taken out of the country before Operation Pitting under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), which launched in April 2021.

So far, 10,000 people have been brought to the UK under Arap.

The government is considering ways to give further help to businesses struggling under the weight of their energy bills.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said that it is “essential” to help heavy industry to cut production costs. He is proposing that the government increases the exemption from some environmental and policy costs that certain companies were given in March.

The new proposal – published as part of a consultation – would increase the exemption from 85 per cent to cover 100 per cent of the costs.

Kwarteng said: “With global energy prices at record highs, it is essential we explore what more we can do to deliver a competitive future for those strategic industries so we can cut production costs and protect jobs across the UK.”

August Graham reports:

Presenter Jeremy Kyle described Nicola Sturgeon as “that horrible woman up north” as he attacked Scotland’s first minister over her campaign for independence.

He wrongly suggested that the Tory Party’s handling of the cost of living crisis could see Ms Sturgeon end up in “power in a minute” and that he would be “happy” to see Scotland leave the UK.

Watch the clip below:

Liz Truss’s claims that she will tackle “woke” Civil Service culture that “strays into antisemitism” are “inflammatory” and will be viewed as “insulting and abhorrent”, a union leader has warned.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, which represents civil servants, said: “The Conservatives have been in government for more than 12 years now and, for most of that time, Liz Truss has been a minister.

“So, accusations of ‘Civil Service wokeism’ are a little ironic, given it’s essentially a criticism of their own leadership.

“However, Truss’s accusation of antisemitism goes further than the usual dog-whistle politics that has been on display during this leadership campaign when it comes to the Civil Service.

“She provides no evidence for her accusation that many civil servants will find both insulting and abhorrent.

“A prime minister is also minister for the Civil Service, and throwing around such unfounded inflammatory accusations illustrates a lack of leadership, the very thing that she claims to be demonstrating.”

He still has plenty of time to reflect on possibly the most pyrotechnic political self-immolations of all time, writes Tom Peck.

Read Tom’s article here:

Boris Johnson has refused to say whether he will continue to ignore calls from his former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The Tory leadership contender – who resignation last month help spark the cabinet revolt which ended Mr Johnson’s premiership – revealed the PM was no longer returning his calls and messages.

Grilled about the fall-out and whether he had spoken to Johnson since he quit, Sunak told a hustings event: “I haven’t – I’ve messaged and called but, unsurprisingly, he hasn’t returned my calls.”

Read the full story below:

It seems an eon since Johnson announced on 7 July – now 36 days ago – that he was stepping down and would hand over to a new Tory leader after the election of a successor, writes politics editor, Andrew Woodcock.

Read Andrew’s piece in full here:

The Rishi Sunak campaign has criticised Liz Truss over her comments on windfall taxes, our politics correspondent, Adam Forrest, reports.

Truss backer Therese Coffey refused six times this morning to say whether or not Truss will keep the existing windfall tax on oil and gas giants.

Truss told a hustings event last night that windfall taxes were about “bashing business”.

A Sunak campaign spokesman said scrapping the existing energy profits levy on oil and gas profits would blow “a further £5bn black hole in her plans”.

They added: “Hiding behind vague assertions will weary the public facing massive bill hikes in weeks. People need certainty now about whether they will get any extra help and when, and Truss needs to be honest about how it would be paid for.”