Markus Andrews

Sajid Javid has warned fellow Tories of 1997-style “oblivion” unless they change course as he launched his leadership campaign, saying: “Voters have lost faith in us.”The former health secretary cast himself as the most experienced candidate in the race – having held two of the three big offices of state – and the only one with a detailed economic plan for recovery.Urging the party to pick a leader with “integrity”, Mr Javid pointed to the 1997 landslide defeat and said: “I fear that party was on a trajectory to the same electoral oblivion.“This is a wake up and smell the coffee moment,” he said, adding: “Sleaze, scandal, internal warfare. We’ve seen this movie before, we know how it ends.”But Mr Javid faced difficult questions over his past tax-avoiding non-dom status – refusing to explain three times why he held the status and whether it was in a tax haven.RecommendedHe argued that, as an international banker, he had an “international job and travelled a lot”, claiming he had been “transparent” about his tax affairs, despite the unanswered questions.Mr Javid also attacked the almost-vicious nature of the early campaign, with its “poisonous gossip” and “attack memos”, saying: “This isn’t House of Cards or Game of Thrones.”And, asked about staying in Mr Johnson’s cabinet for so long, he replied: “Perhaps I should have left earlier. But I didn’t see anyone else leave any earlier than me,” In fact, the party chair Oliver Dowden quit before him.He appeared to acknowledge his lack of charisma, a frequent criticism, saying: “No one is the full package. I know I’m not.”But he pointed to the return of a strong team of people, adding: “If we can get back to seeing this job as the first among equals, we can transition from a team of rivals to an unrivalled team.”Mr Javid was also questioned over his U-turn in arguing for the National Insurance hike to fund better health and social care – only to call for it to be scrapped, now he is running for leader.He said the decision was “right and fair” when it was announced, but said: “The circumstances have changed. When the circumstances change in terms of amount of money coming into treasury it is right to respond.”On his tax affairs, Mr Javid said: “I lived in the [United] States, I lived in the UK, I lived in Singapore, I was tax resident in different countries, as part of my job. It had an impact on my statuses. That’s not unusual.“I had a tax adviser, accountants that would help me with my international taxes, I moved around a lot.Recommended“And the test for me was to make sure that, whatever you do, when it comes to your taxes, your personal tax affairs, that is always correct, proper, within all the rules, and that was met at all times.“So I am perfectly happy about that. And I am certain that I’ve never had an issue with HMRC. I’ve never had a tax investigation. I’ve always been transparent, fully transparent, with the tax authorities.” More

The race to succeed Boris Johnson has begun in earnest with several of the candidates pledging significant tax cuts costing billions of pounds if they become the next Conservative leader.The pledges have led to a former Tory chancellor, Lord Lamont, warning of the danger of the leadership race descending “into a sort of Dutch auction of tax cuts which are not necessarily affordable”.But the contenders’ own financial affairs are also coming under increasing scrutiny, leading to some suggesting they will publish their tax returns if they proceed to the final two next week. Nadhim ZahawiHitting out at what he described as “smears” over his tax affairs afterThe Independent reported his finances were being investigated by HMRC, the newly appointed chancellor has vowed to publish his tax returns annually if he makes the final two.Recommended“If I am prime minister, I will publish them going forward,” he told Sky News, but suggested he would not publish those from previous years.“I don’t think being retrospective is right. I was in business before, I came out of that, of course, now I’m in politics.”Sajid JavidThe former health secretary, who has previously admitted holding non dom tax status for six years before he entered politics, suggested on BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that he would also publish his tax returns. More

Conservative Party leadership contenders have been urged to ignore the “siren voices” pushing them to ditch the UK government’s plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.A group of net zero sceptics on the Tory back benches are hoping to move Boris Johnson’s would-be successors away from green policies, as climate change shapes up to be a major battle in the contest to choose the next prime minister.Senior Tory MP Steve Baker – founder of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of backbenchers – has suggested that he would push for the next PM to dismantle the government’s climate agenda.Some in the party fear top contenders such as Nadhim Zahawi and Liz Truss could be pressured into prioritising tax cuts over investment in renewable energy, as well as committing to an expansion of oil and gas production.Tory peer Zac Goldsmith, who has attacked Rishi Sunak’s environmental record, told The Independent it would be better to have a Labour government than a leader who “deprioritises” action on net zero.Lord Goldsmith added: “It would be a catastrophic error for Conservatives to select a candidate who deprioritises these issues, but if they do, then we can only hope voters replace the party at the [next] available election.”RecommendedChris Skidmore, a senior backbencher who chairs the Tories’ rival Net Zero Support Group, has vowed to push candidates to uphold Britain’s climate commitments.“We can’t put net zero at risk,” the former energy minister told The Independent. “I devoutly believe net zero is a vote winner. If we go soft on net zero, then a candidate has to know they will struggle to win a general election.”Warning contenders to ignore the “siren voices” of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, Mr Skidmore pointed to recent polling which shows that ditching net zero could cost the Tories 1.3 million votes.“I’m absolutely determined to make sure net zero policies are put forward,” said the MP, who signed the commitment to achieving zero carbon emissions by 2050 into law when he was energy minister in 2019.Mr Skidmore added: “It’s a policy that unites the red wall in the north and blue-wall seats in the south, because there are plans to deliver massive investment in renewable energy in red-wall seats.” More

The chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has attempted to turbo-charge his leadership bid with a raft of tax cut pledges, despite warnings from a Tory grandee they risk fuelling inflation.In a speech to Conservative activists, Mr Zahawi promised to cut the basic rate of tax to 19p and then 18p next year and the year after. He also pledged to scrap VAT and green levies on energy bills for two years, reverse the planned corporation tax rise and ensure tax falls as a percentage of GDP every year if he became prime minister.But former chancellor Lord Lamont criticised Tory leadership candidates “thinking that you can grow your way out of inflation” and argued that “unfunded, irresponsible tax cuts” would drive up interest rates and lead to a weaker pound.RecommendedThe Conservative peer told Radio 4’s World At One programme: “You can’t grow your way out of inflation, you’re just likely to add to it if you attempt to do that.”And there’s a real danger if you cut taxes, let’s say cut VAT in order to increase spending, to boost the economy, all you get is a very temporary boost and then you get more inflation”.He added: “I don’t suppose many people want to see interest rates above the level of inflation, but if we start giving unfunded, irresponsible tax cuts, the Bank of England will be faced with difficult choices indeed”.As Tory leadership candidates line up to pledge large tax cuts, experts warned the promises were “not serious”.Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said that some “individual” taxes could be reduced “at the margins” but warned the kind of large-scale cuts being discussed “aren’t plausible”.He said: “You are not going to be cutting corporation tax by 10 percentage points and cutting national insurance and income tax.”The trade-off in terms of slashing public services like the NHS and defence is something politicians are unlikely to be willing to do.”Carl Emmerson, the deputy director of the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said soaring inflation meant the government already had less scope for change than when it set out its spending plans last October.He said: “When you are setting public sector pay deals, you might find the kind of pay awards that workers might expect – and the kind of awards that pay bodies might recommend – could lead you to decide that it’s difficult to maintain current spending levels, let alone trim them.”The war in Ukraine meant ministers faced extra pressure on the budget, he added.Almost all the Tory leadership candidates have committed to significant tax cuts.RecommendedSeveral have pledged not just to scrap a planned rise in corporation tax to 25%, but also to reduce it to 15%. More

Sajid Javid, a candidate in the Conservative party leadership contest, has declined to say where he held an offshore trust.Mr Javid retained the trust while he was an MP and a PPS in the Treasury – a ministerial aide who acts as the chancellor’s eyes and ears in parliament.On Sunday, Mr Javid joined Nadhim Zahawi MP, another leadership contender and now chancellor, in saying he would agree to make his tax affairs public if elected as leader.Mr Javid said in an interview with BBC Sunday Morning when asked about publishing his tax returns: “I have no issue with transparency like that. I think if I get the final two, the final two candidates should be quite open about their tax affairs.”However, Mr Javid – who resigned as Health Secretary last week – has today declined to say in which location his offshore trust was actually held.RecommendedHe previously said he dissolved the trust when he became a government minister in 2012 and incurred 50 per cent income tax “on those assets” – the “heaviest possible tax burden”.Mr Javid also said in April that he had always declared the information required by tax, government and parliamentary authorities.The former chancellor revealed that he had used non-dom status up to 2009 earlier this year. This is an entirely legal mechanism that allows people to reduce their UK tax bill on their worldwide income. He told the BBC that he had used non-dom status on his tax returns for about “four or five years” in the 2000s.Mr Javid issued a statement clarifying his tax affairs in April, after The Independent revealed that Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, had used the same route to minimise her UK tax bill. Ms Murty subsequently announced that she would pay UK taxes on her worldwide income.The ministerial code states that although PPSs are not technically members of the government “they must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their role as a parliamentary private secretary, and their private interests”.Mr Javid’s trust was not listed in his entry in the register of members’ interests in 2011, but he did declare a shareholding in Deutsche Bank, his former employer.In April, a spokesman for Mr Javid declined to say if the assets in the trust – which Mr Javid said in a statement he dissolved in 2012 – included these Deutsche Bank shares as well as other assets, including shares in different companies. They also declined to say whether this trust was operated as a blind trust or under a blind management arrangement, or say where it was located.RecommendedDuring his time as a banker, Mr Javid was linked to Dark Blue Investments, an employee benefit trust via which staff were paid share bonuses via specially created entities in order to avoid income tax. The supreme court ruled that tax ought to be paid on these bonuses.Experts have also queried Mr Javid’s use of non-dom status, given that he was born in the UK and therefore would have had to declare that he did not intend to live in the country in the long term in order to use the mechanism.Tax transparency has become a flashpoint amid the leadership campaigns after Mr Zahawi claimed that he was the subject of a smear campaign.He has vowed to publish his tax returns if he wins the race and becomes prime minister, following The Independent’s revelation that HMRC experts are investigating his financial affairs.The leadership hopeful claimed to be the victim of a “smear” campaign – but vowed to “answer any questions that HMRC has of me” and publish his accounts annually if he succeeds Boris Johnson at No 10. More

A crowded field of contenders is vying to replace Boris Johnson as the next Conservative Party leader and British prime minister.A look at the 11 people who have thrown their hats into the ring: ___RISHI SUNAK, FORMER TREASURY CHIEFSunak, 42, is the best-known of the Conservatives’ leadership contenders and a bookmakers’ favorite to succeed Johnson.RecommendedHe became a household name after becoming Treasury chief in 2020, handing out billions of pounds to help businesses and workers during the coronavirus pandemic. But he has faced criticism for not doing enough to ease the growing cost-of-living crisis. His popularity also took a dive after he was fined by police for attending one of the lockdown-flouting parties at Downing Street.___LIZ TRUSS, FOREIGN SECRETARYTruss, 46, took on the high-profile Cabinet post in September after serving as trade minister. She is also the U.K.’s lead negotiator with the European Union on issues following Brexit.Truss, who is popular with many Conservatives, said she wants to cut tax “from day one” and reverse an income tax hike.___PENNY MORDAUNT, TRADE MINISTERMordaunt, 49, is regarded by bookmakers as a party favorite to win. She was the first woman to serve as U.K. defense secretary, though she was dismissed by Johnson shortly after he became prime minister in 2019 because she had backed another candidate, Jeremy Hunt. Mordaunt, a former reality TV contestant, played a prominent role in the pro-Brexit campaign in 2016. ___SAJID JAVID, FORMER HEALTH SECRETARYJavid, 52, has wide experience in government having held the posts of health secretary, Treasury chief and home secretary as well as leading departments for business, culture and housing.The son of a bus driver who arrived in England from Pakistan, Javid made it to the final four in the contest to replace Theresa May as Tory leader in 2019.___NADHIM ZAHAWI, TREASURY CHIEFZahawi, 55, came to prominence as vaccine minister during the pandemic. A co-founder of the market research firm YouGov, Zahawi was elected to Parliament in 2010. He was born in Iraq to a Kurdish family and came to the U.K. as a child when his parents fled Iraq under Saddam Hussein.___GRANT SHAPPS, TRANSPORT SECRETARYShapps, 53, was a Johnson loyalist. He has served as Cabinet minister under both Johnson and his predecessor David Cameron, and was co-chairman of the Conservative Party from 2012 to 2015.Like many others in the contest, he has also pledged to curb taxes.___JEREMY HUNT, FORMER CABINET MINISTERHunt, who has served as both health and foreign secretary, ran against Johnson in the 2019 leadership race. He lost heavily, and was dumped from the Cabinet.Hunt, 55, has remained a lawmaker and kept himself in the public eye by grilling the government’s pandemic policies as head of Parliament’s Health and Social Care Select Committee.___TOM TUGENDHAT, COMMONS FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRTugendhat, a 48-year-old lawmaker and former soldier, has never served in government but heads the influential foreign affairs committee in Parliament. He is seen as a centrist and has billed his candidacy as a clean start. He said he is consulting a “broad coalition” of colleagues to bridge the divides in government.___SUELLA BRAVERMAN, ATTORNEY GENERALBraverman is a lawmaker and barrister who became England’s attorney general in 2020. A euroskeptic and Brexiteer, Braverman, 42, says she wants to deliver “all of the great opportunities of Brexit” — including a tougher line on immigration and leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. ___KEMI BADENOCH, FORMER EQUALITIES MINISTERBadenoch, a former banker, says she wants to lower taxes and lead a “limited government focused on essentials”.The 42-year-old lawmaker was considered an outsider for the race, but her profile has been boosted by an endorsement from party heavyweight Michael Gove.___REHMAN CHISHTI, FOREIGN OFFICE MINISTERChishti, a former lawyer, is the least known of the contenders. Born in Pakistan, he has an unusual political background, having previously stood as a candidate for the opposition Labour Party in the 2005 general election. The 43-year-old joined the Conservatives in 2007.Recommended___Follow all of AP’s coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More

Boris Johnson has admitted that his support would damage the chances of any candidate vying to replace him as prime minister. Speaking for the first time since he was forced to announce his resignation, Mr Johnson also brushed aside questions about whether he felt betrayed.At the weekend his sister Rachel Johnson suggested that the loss of the premiership was like a bereavement.During his resignation speech outside Downing Street Mr Johnson himself accused his opponents of succumbing to a “herd mentality”. But asked on an official visit to the Francis Crick Institute in London if he felt a sense of betrayal, Mr Johnson told Sky News: “I don’t want to say any more about all that.”RecommendedHe added that his resignation had happened and there was now a “contest under way”. But in a sign he is aware of just how toxic his reputation has become among Tory MPs, he added: “I wouldn’t want to damage anybody’s chances by offering my support.” “I just have to get on and, in the last few days or weeks of the job, the constitutional function of the prime minister in this situation is to discharge the mandate, to continue to discharge the mandate, and that’s what I’m doing.”Getting involved is “not the job of the prime minister at this stage. The job of the prime minister at this stage is to let the party decide.“But, he added: “I’m sure the outcome will be good.”Mr Johnson was forced to resign after Tory MPs lined up to say they could no longer serve in his government following a series of scandals, including partygate.Mr Johnson narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in his abilities as Conservative leader only last month.But when a former senior civil servant said that he had known of claims against a Tory MP before he appointed him deputy chief whip it proved the final straw for many. Two members of the cabinet, Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak, resigned in protest, followed by a series of ministers within 24 hours. By Thursday Mr Johnson was forced to accept that his time in Downing Street was over, less than three years after he won an 80 seat majority at a general election. MPs will meet tonight to discuss the timetable to choose his successor. They are expected to whittle down a crowded field of candidates to a final two within the next fortnight. RecommendedThey will then spend the summer attending hustings around the country to allow Tory party members to grill them on their proposals, before a final vote. A new leader is expected to be installed by September. More

Candidates to replace Boris Johnson as Britain’s prime minister are scattering tax-cutting promises to their Conservative Party electorate, as party officials prepare Monday to quickly narrow the crowded field of almost a dozen candidates.Little-known junior minister Rehman Chishti became the 11th candidate to declare he wanted to succeed Johnson, who quit as party leader on Thursday amid a party revolt triggered by months of ethics scandals. Other contenders include Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi, former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, and backbench lawmakers Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch.The new leader will be chosen in a two-stage election, in which the 358 Conservative lawmakers reduce the race to two candidates through a series of elimination votes. The final pair will be put to a postal ballot of all party members across the country. Under Britain’s parliamentary system the next party leader will automatically become prime minister without the need for a general election.The party’s 1922 Committee, which runs leadership contests, is set to elect a new executive on Monday, which will lay out rules for the contest. The committee wants to complete the parliamentary stage of the election by the time lawmakers break for the summer on July 21. That would mean a summer second round with a new leader in place by the time the House of Commons returns on Sept. 5.One key decision by the committee will be how many nominations a candidate will need to get onto the first ballot. At the last leadership contest in 2019 it was eight, but the threshold is expected to be 20 or more this time — a move that could eliminate some contenders immediately.RecommendedMany Conservatives are wary of leaving Johnson in office for too long, concerned a lame-duck leader is the last thing the country needs with war raging in Ukraine, food and energy price increases driving inflation to levels not seen in decades, and growing labor unrest. Some also worry Johnson — brought down by scandals over money, rule-breaking and his handling of sexual misconduct allegations against lawmakers — could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister. In the wide-open leadership contest, contenders are striving to set themselves apart from the perceived front-runner, former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who so far has the backing of more than three dozen lawmakers.Many have repudiated tax increases Sunak introduced to shore up U.K. finances battered by the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit — a 1.25% income-tax rise for millions of workers, and an increase in corporation tax next year from 19% to 25%. Most candidates say they will scrap one or both.“I want to cut all taxes,” said Hunt, who pledged to slash corporation tax to 15%. “The Treasury’s own numbers say that you’ll get half the money back that you invest in cutting corporation tax because of increased business activity.”Truss said she would stat cutting taxes “from day one,” and Tugendhat said he would “lower taxes across every aspect of society.”Sunak, whose resignation on Tuesday helped topple Johnson, has cast himself as the candidate of fiscal probity, and warned rivals not to tell the public “comforting fairy-tales” that will make the country worse off in the long run.The internal party battle has already turned fractious, with rivals criticizing Sunak’s record as finance minister, and Zahawi, the current Treasury chief, having to fend off claims he was being investigated over his tax affairs.Zahawi said he was being “smeared” and said he was unaware of any investigation by the tax office or other bodies.“I’m not aware of this. I’ve always declared my taxes — I’ve paid my taxes in the U.K.,” he told Sky News.Oddsmakers say Sunak is likely to be one of the final two contenders, but the race is likely to be highly unpredictable. Both Tugendhat, a former soldier on the party’s center-left, and right-wing rising star Badenoch have secured big-name support and could surprise more experienced rivals.Johnson clung to power for months despite 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 was fined by police for attending one of the parties — the first prime minister ever sanctioned for breaking the law in office — but went on to survive a no-confidence vote last month in Parliament, even though 41% of Conservative lawmakers tried to oust him.But Johnson was brought down by one scandal too many — this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct.Recommended___Follow all of AP’s coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More