Boris Johnson closed the Conservative Party conference today with a keynote speech praising the NHS, confirming the need for a new Tory economic model, and launching an offensive on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
He also unveiled a £3,000 “levelling up premium” to encourage talented maths and science teachers to go and work in disadvantaged areas – the only policy he announced in 45 minutes. However, as it turns out, an almost identical scheme was first announced in 2019 then scrapped the following year.
Sam Freedman, a former Department for Education (DfE) adviser, said the old programme was “pretty similar” to what was announced today, “but they just stuck levelling up at the front of it”. He told The Independent: “Now we’ve got an overheating labour market, recruitment has fallen through the floor and they’ve just thought we’ve got a real problem again so they’ve just unscrapped some of the financial perks.”
It comes amid a wave of criticism for the PM’s address, which Labour chair Anneliese Dodds branded “empty”, The Spectator’s Katy Balls said was “big on rhetoric rather than policy, and The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar called “the most policy-lite – and joke-heavy – speech I can remember covering”.
Mr Johnson found time to condemn the “woke culture” threatening to “cancel” historical figures too. Using Winston Churchill as an example – after the former war prime minister was accused of being a racist last year – he said the Tories would not let people “erase Britain’s history”.
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Patel accused of ‘weaponising violence against women’ after speech
Priti Patel has been accused of weaponising violence against women to justify new laws that will “curtail freedom and deepen inequality.”
The End Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition, which includes Rape Crisis, Refuge, Women’s Aid and other organisations supporting victims, called for laws championed by the home secretary in her Conservative Party conference speech to be scrapped, reports our home affairs correspondent Lizzie Dearden.
Ms Patel announced an inquiry into Sarah Everard’s murderer, saying that “such unconscionable crimes and acts of violence against women and girls have no place in our society”. She then went on to endorse the infamous Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which a huge number of women and girls denounced after police officers became violent towards them at a vigil held for Sarah back in March.
EVAW have actually called for the bill, which contains new restrictions on protest and laws that discriminate against Travellers, to be dropped.
PM’s ‘vacuous’ speech ignored many crises facing UK, says Dodds
Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, has described Boris Johnson’s speech as vacuous and said it ignored crises affecting Britons such as cuts to Universal Credit.
In a statement she said:
“Boris Johnson’s vacuous speech summed up this whole Conservative conference. The PM talked more about beavers than he did about action to tackle the multiple crises facing working people up and down the country.
Far from getting a grip on the spiralling costs of energy, fuel and food, the Tories are actively making things worse – cutting incomes today for 6 million families by over £1,000 a year.
Britain deserves a fairer, greener and more secure future. Last week Labour set out how we can get there. This week it’s clear that after over a decade in power the Conservatives don’t have a clue.”
In a tweet, she added: “Cancel the cut.”
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds
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Watch: Matt Hancock avoids questions from Owen Jones at Tory conference
UC cut ‘biggest overnight benefit reduction in UK history’
George Eaton, of The New Statesman, shared the following graphic, revealing only cuts to unemployment benefits in the 1930s come close to the size of UC cuts taking effect today.
PM unveils £3,000 boost for teachers – after scrapping almost identical scheme
Following my post earlier (2.42pm), here’s our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn on the newly-unveiled “levelling up premium” for teachers – which, as it turns out, was actually unveiled in 2019 and then scrapped.
Labour condemns Johnson’s ‘empty speech’
Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour Party, has blasted the PM’s “empty” conference speech, pointing to the fact Boris Johnson “quipped his way through an empty speech” on the same day his government went ahead with reversing the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit payments.
Watch: Johnson jokes about number of children Rees-Mogg has
Benefits minister sings about ‘having time of my life’ as UC cut comes into force
Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey was captured singing “I’ve had the time of my life” only an hour after the £20-a-week cut to universal credit came into force.
The benefits minister was filmed partying at a Conference Party conference karaoke event around 1am on Wednesday – the day her department began cutting the incomes of millions of households, reports Adam Forrest.
Labour condemned the timing of Ms Coffey’s revelry – pointing to the lyrics of Bill and McKenna Medley’s 1987 power ballad (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life. Nadia Whittome MP said: “Do you know who aren’t having the time of their lives? The six million low-income families whose universal credit she’s just cut by £1,000 [a year].”
Zahawi admits teacher ‘level up premium’ new version of old policy
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, appears to have confirmed the only policy Boris Johnson announced in his speech today was not a new one – rather it is a U-turn to enforce a measure announced in 2019 and recently scrapped.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Mr Zahawi was asked if the “levelling up premium” for maths and science teachers was effectively just a U-turn, or a return to an old policy. He replied:
“If we have policies that work, I’m a pragmatist when it comes to these things; if something has worked, then why not, when you have teacher shortages in core subjects, focused very much on particular parts of the country that really need them, focused very much on years 1 to 5, then let’s try and encourage those teachers to stay in the profession or join the profession.
“So it is a good announcement.”
Sam Freedman, former Department for Education (DfE) adviser, said the following:
How did political commentators find PM’s speech?
The reviews are in and the verdict is, mostly, negative.
