Markus Andrews

Tom Tugendhat has said that Boris Johnson is not an honest man, breaking with other Tory leadership rivals who were unable to give a straight verdict on the prime minister’s integrity.The foreign affairs committee chair won the first round of applause of the night from the audience at Channel 4’s live debate for his response to the question – posed to each of the five candidates – of whether Mr Johnson was honest.Following lengthy answers by each candidate save for Kemi Badenoch, who laughed and said “sometimes”, Mr Tugendhat began shaking his head and replied “no” before host Krishnan Guru-Murthy had finished asking him the question.Mr Tugendhat narrowly survived the second round of voting among Tory MPs on Thursday, after securing just 32 votes – five more than the attorney general Suella Braverman, who was eliminated.But the former army officer’s campaign insisted he was “in it to win it” and was looking forward to the three televised leadership debates – in which frontrunners such as Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, and to a lesser extent Liz Truss, appeared to have more to lose.RecommendedPromising Channel 4 viewers a “clean start”, which is his campaign slogan, and calling for “a break from those Johnson years”, Mr Tugendhat said: “I’ve been holding a mirror to many of our actions and asking those in our party, those in our leadership positions, to ask themselves ‘is that what the public really expects?’“Are you serving the people of the United Kingdom or are you serving your career? Because that’s the real question tonight. That’s the real question for all of us.”The debate saw candidates clash over taxes, with ex-chancellor Mr Sunak accusing Ms Truss of touting economic “fairytales”, and striving to paint himself as a sole realist among the contenders, willing to take tough decisions such as hiking National Insurance to better fund the NHS and social care.But this central pillar of Mr Sunak’s campaign risked being somewhat undermined, after Mr Tugendhat claimed the former chancellor had told him privately he was only raising National Insurance “because the boss wants it”. As he grappled with the question of whether his boss in Downing Street was dishonest, Mr Sunak said: “I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible and ultimately I reached the conclusion that I couldn’t, and that’s why I resigned.“There were a number of reasons that I resigned but trust and honesty was part of that.”Ms Mordaunt – who was fired by Mr Johnson as defence secretary in 2019 over her support for his then-leadership rival Jeremy Hunt – said that “there have been some really severe issues” and that Mr Johnson “has paid a price for that”.Ms Truss, who as foreign secretary was in Indonesia during the implosion of Mr Johnson’s government and remained silent until after he announced his plans to resign, said the prime minister had “been very clear himself that he made mistakes in government” and she had taken his explanation for inaccurate statements over the Partygate scandal “at face value”.RecommendedShe added: “I stood by Boris Johnson, of course, I raised issues with him in private, but I supported him for the leadership election. I was part of his Cabinet and I owed him my loyalty.”A snap poll of 1,159 viewers by Opinium found that 36 per cent believed Mr Tugendhat had performed best in the debate, placing him 11 points ahead of the frontrunner Mr Sunak. Ms Truss, meanwhile, appeared to have a disastrous outing, as polling broken down by voter-intention found that just 10 per cent of those who voted Tory in 2019 thought she had performed best – a figure which fell even lower among the general population. More

Trans rights, the net-zero carbon target, and whether Boris Johnson is honest were key talking points during the first Tory leadership debate.Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch clashed over Ms Mordaunt’s stance on gender identity, while former chancellor Rishi Sunak took aim at the other candidates over their “fairytale” tax cut plans.Here are the key points raised during the hour-and-a-half long debate aired on Channel 4:Only Tom Tugendhat directly said he did not think Boris Johnson was trustworthy.The candidates were asked to reply yes or no over whether they believed the outgoing prime minister was honest.RecommendedMs Badenoch said Mr Johnson was “sometimes” honest, while Ms Mordaunt said he has “paid a price” for “some really severe issues” with his premiership.The recent chancellor, Mr Sunak, said: “I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible and ultimately I reached the conclusion that I couldn’t, and that’s why I resigned… There were a number of reasons that I resigned but trust and honesty was part of that.” More

‘Borrowing your way out of inflation is a fairytale’: Sunak and Truss clash over economy planTory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has said Boris Johnson is not honest, receiving loud applause as the candidates go head-to-head in the first televised debate.The five contenders to become the UK’s next prime minister clashed in a debate that could determine who wins the backing of Conservative MPs and members.Rishi Sunak, who came out on top of Thursday’s voting, hit out at Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt on how they would pay for their economic plans.He told the Channel 4 debate: “I wanted to be honest with you and everyone else in the country about the challenges we face economically with inflation, and be responsible about dealing with them, even if it wasn’t politically convenient for me.”But Mr Tugendhat sought to undermine Mr Sunak’s assertions when he claimed the ex-chancellor had told him privately that he had only increased National Insurance because Mr Johnson wanted him to.A snap Opinium poll found 36 per cent of viewers believed Mr Tugendhat performed best – while just 10 per cent of Tory voters said the same of Ms Truss.RecommendedShow latest update

1657932000Truss ‘implosion’ could significantly ‘move the dial’ on race, expert suggestsLiz Truss’s “implosion” in tonight’s could significantly “move the dial” on the leadership race, an expert in political forecasting has suggested.Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams, who heads Nottingham Business School’s political forecasting unit, tweeted: “If she survives this, let’s just call off debates in future.”Andy Gregory16 July 2022 01:401657928160In his latest column, our associate editor Sean O’Grady says that there’s “no doubt who lost” tonight’s leadership debate. He writes:“The Apprentice episode from hell couldn’t finish soon enough for her. Good team leader? Not poor old Liz Truss on Team Blue Horizon. Or Liz “trussed up and handed her sorry ass on a plate by Rishi Sunak”, as things turned out. “So wooden she should have been sponsored by Cuprinol, the foreign secretary never actually evinced a groan from the audience (although they may well have been dying inside, the same as she was), but she certainly didn’t get them pumped up either. An indifferent public speaker at the best of times, she’s sadly just as bad as she was when she did that YouTube favourite, the “disgraceful cheese” speech a few years back. “Boris Johnson must be fuming. This is supposed to be his secret wonder weapon, his “Stop Sunak” candidate, and he chose badly, as so often. Truss is a politician so frightened by a camera and a live audience of actual floating voters that she can’t even get herself pumped up. Maybe she’s a great laugh in private over a few drinks, and compelling in cabinet committees, but she’s a dud on the telly.”You can read his analysis in full here: More

The Tory leadership candidates have clashed over “fairytale” tax cuts, trans laws and whether Boris Johnson is “honest” in the first live TV debate of the contest.The 90-minute discussion also saw some of the contenders attack climate emergency policies – while all appeared to rule out significant further immediate help with soaring energy bills.In lively exchanges, former chancellor Rishi Sunak ripped into the tax-slashing plans of his rivals, warning that they would fuel inflation and leave everyone “poorer”.Outsider Kemi Badenoch questioned race favourite Penny Mordaunt’s truthfulness when she denied trying to make it easier for people to self-identify as a different gender.While the foreign secretary Liz Truss stumbled over answers, the candidate most likely to be knocked out next – Tom Tugendhat – won applause for being the only one to say outright that Mr Johnson is dishonest.Recommended More

A top contender to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused opponents of “mudslinging” as the Conservative Party leadership contest ended a bruising first week on Friday with five candidates remainingPenny Mordaunt, a junior government minister and Royal Navy reservist who is little known to the general public, has surged to become the bookies’ favorite to become Britain’s next prime minister. Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak remains the official frontrunner, with the most support from Conservative lawmakers in the voting so far. Voting by Conservative legislators is due to continue next week until there are two candidates, who will face a runoff vote among all Conservative party members. The winner of the party race is to be announced on Sept. 5 and will automatically become prime minister.Mordaunt is second, while Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is in third place and seeking to become the unity candidate for those on the party’s right wing who worry that Sunak lacks commitment to cutting taxes.The contest has turned nasty. RecommendedJacob Rees-Mogg, a Cabinet minister who supports Truss, called Sunak a “socialist” because of the billions he spent to keep the economy afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Another Truss supporter, former Brexit negotiator David Frost, claimed Mordaunt “did not master the detail” when she worked in his department and had to be moved to another job.Mordaunt urged the party to run “a positive contest.”“I don’t want mudslinging,” she said, adding that opponents were “trying to stop me getting into the final two,” when a winner will be decided by Conservative Party members. Since Johnson resigned as party leader on July 7 after months of ethics scandals, a field of 11 candidates to replace him has been winnowed down to five.Sunak, whose resignation as finance minister last week helped topple Johnson, is running as an experienced minster who can guide the country through the economic turbulence caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. But he is facing attack from Johnson allies who consider him a turncoat.Truss is touting her international experience, as Britain’s top diplomat and a former trade secretary, and is vowing to take a tough line with the European Union in post-Brexit trade spats.Mordaunt’s chief selling points are an air of normality and a distance from the scandal-tarnished Johnson administration. She did not serve in Johnson’s Cabinet.Also in the race are former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, a rising star of the party’s libertarian right, and centrist backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat. Both are under pressure to drop out and throw their support behind one of the three front-runners but say they will fight on and try to build support through televised candidates’ debates over the weekend.Johnson won the Conservatives a commanding parliamentary majority in 2019, but has been beset by accusations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules. He remains in office until his replacement is chosen.Despite the clashes between the Conservative candidates, they agree on most issues. None of the contenders is seeking closer ties with the EU, and none has renounced Johnson’s most contentious policies: legislation to rip up parts of the U.K.’s Brexit deal with the bloc, and a plan to send some asylum-seekers arriving in Britain to Rwanda that is being challenged in the courts.Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the issues most important to Conservatives — above all Brexit — did not reflect the priorities of the country as a whole. That could be a problem for the party at the next national election, due by 2024.“There’s always a potential mismatch between what a party wants — because a party is much more ideological — and what voters want,” Bale said. “(The Conservative Party) has elevated Brexit to sacred levels, and I think that sometimes blinds them to the economic realities that this country is facing.”Recommended___Follow all of AP’s coverage of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More

Boris Johnson’s spokesperson was on Friday unable to say whether the prime minister would take part an emergency Cobra meeting about the extreme heatwave about to hit the UK.The prime minister is working from his country mansion of Chequers, where he is reportedly set to host a “thank you” party for supporters over the weekend.In a briefing to journalist in Westminster on Friday prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “Cobra met yesterday and officials from across Government will continue to meet regularly both today and throughout the weekend.”Asked whether the PM would be involved, the spokesman said: “As always the Prime Minister is kept up to date with all the latest information.”And pressed whether he would be joining talks from Chequers, they replied: “He’s kept thoroughly updated on the latest situation.”RecommendedIt comes amid speculation that Mr Johnson has already mentally checked out of the top job while a successor is being picked.Pushed the possibility of a bash at the 16th century country grace and favour pad, Downing Street did not deny that Boris Johnson is hosting a party for supporters at Chequers over the weekend.Asked about reports, a No 10 spokesman said: “As is usual practice, any political events would be for my political colleagues, it wouldn’t be a question for me, but I confirmed that the PM will be in Chequers over the weekend.”The news comes amid claims from opposition parties that day-to-day government has “ground to a halt” while a Tory successor for Mr Johnson is picked.Ministers like Home Secretary Priti Patel and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab have bailed on meetings and committee hearings while reams of government legislation has been put on ice. More

Conservative leadership race: Who is Penny Mordaunt?Penny Mordaunt has told Tory grassroots members that the polling shows she is the only leadership candidate who will be able to defeat Labour at a General Election.She told the online hustings: “In every poll in our party and in the country I top it. I win against Keir Starmer in London. “I poll the highest in both Red Wall and Blue Wall seats. I lead with women, with young people and I also have the best reach in Scotland.”During the debate, hosted by Conservative Home, the remaining five Tory leadership candidates set out differing approaches to the cost-of-living crisis, the Ukraine war, restoring trust and housing.Liz Truss vowed to axe the scheduled corporation tax hike from 19% to 25% next year in her pitch for the Tory leadership. Ms Truss said: “I would reverse the national insurance rise, I opposed it in cabinet at the time because I thought it was a mistake, I think it’s even more of a mistake now when we’re facing such strong economic headwinds.“I would also have a temporary moratorium on the green energy level to cut £153 from people’s energy bills.RecommendedShow latest update

1657896342Who do you think will win the Tory leadership race? Have your sayThe Tory leadership hopefuls have been whittled down to five and are preparing for two live televised debates before another vote on Monday.And we want to know who you think is going to win the contest to be party leader and therefore our next prime minister.Let us know by clicking the link below and voting in the poll. More

A Conservative MP has claimed that people taking precautions during the heatwave are “snowflakes” and “cowards”.John Hayes, who was previously a government minister at the climate change department, suggested that fear of the heat was everything wrong with modern Britain and “the state in which we now live”.It comes as forecasts hit a record-breaking 40 degrees of heat on Monday and Tuesday, amid Met Office warnings that people should stay inside and avoid the sun.But Sir John, a Brexiteer who voted against reintroducing Covid restrictions told the Telegraph: “This is not a brave new world but a cowardly new world where we live in a country where we are frightened of the heat. “It is not surprising that in snowflake Britain, the snowflakes are melting. Thankfully, most of us are not snowflakes.Recommended More