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Tory leadership contender Nadhim Zahawi has sparked a backlash after appearing to suggest he would force government departments to cut runnings costs by 20 per cent in order to fund tax slashing measures.The newly appointed chancellor, who launched his leadership bid over the weekend, later clarified, however, that he was backing an existing policy unveiled by Boris Johnson to cut the size of the civil service by a fifth.Just days into his new role, Mr Zahawi floated reversing his predecessor’s Rishi Sunak’s planned hike in corporation tax, which would raise billions, and reducing income tax if he wins the contest to replace Boris Johnson.He said on Monday he wanted to “bring down the cost of government to give me the headroom to make those changes”, telling Sky News: “Nothing’s off the table”.Pressed on how he would fund tax cuts, Mr Zahawi said that while he was education secretary he engaged in the “tough exercise” of reducing the cost of the department by 20 per cent while delivering manifesto pledges.RecommendedSparking confusion, he told Sky News: “I think it’s only right that across government we do this exercise, it’s an important exercise. It’s only right that we exercise fiscal discipline when it comes to public-sector pay.“Why? Because if we do that, we can bear down on inflation. That in itself brings down inflation.”Asked whether he wanted to reach the 20 per cent goal in every department, Mr Zahawi said: “Well, that’s what I want to make sure we get to; that will give me the headroom to be able to deliver tax cuts which I want to deliver.”Critics seized on his comments, with Labour’s shadow business secretary saying: “The most notable feature of the contest so far is this sort of fantasy economics”. The left-wing campaign group Momentum added: “It’s austerity make two, all to pay for a mass transfer of wealth to the richest”.But after Mr Zahawi’s interview was aired, his campaign team told The Independent the chancellor was referring to an existing controversial policy unveiled by Boris Johnson to reduce the civil service headcount.The outgoing prime minister was warned of strike action after telling his cabinet in May that he wanted to reduce the civil service headcount by a fifth — a reduction of 91,000 staff — to reduce the cost of government.During the interview, Mr Zahawi also pledged to publish his tax returns if he wins the leadership contest after The Independent revealed 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 wins the race to be the next prime minister.The cabinet minister sidestepped questions over his personal wealth, however, saying “it’s not right to go into numbers because I will probably get it wrong” when asked just how wealthy he is.Jeremy Hunt, the former Tory cabinet minister, another of the 11 candidates running to succeed Mr Johnson, also stressed on Monday that he hoped to “cut all taxes” and reduce the cost of government.RecommendedAsked about rival Mr Zahawi’s proposals, Mr Hunt said: “It’s always possible to make efficiencies and I think it’s something we should always be looking at.”He added: “But I think the fundamental thing is how do we move ourselves from being an economy that’s becoming one of the higher-taxed economies for businesses, making it more difficult for businesses to get off the ground, to one which people say if you’re going to set up a business, it has to be in Britain.” More

Liz Truss has launched her bid to become Conservative Party leader and prime minister – the 10th to do so – with a promise to cut taxes.The foreign secretary announced her decision to run in the Tory leadership to replace Boris Johnson in an article in The Telegraph.She wrote: “I will fight the election as a Conservative and govern as a Conservative.”The senior Cabinet minister, who is widely expected to be a front-runner in the race to become the next PM, said she would reverse a controversial national insurance hike that had been brought in by her leadership rival, former chancellor Rishi Sunak.She promised to “start cutting taxes from day one” to help with the cost of living crisis that has seen record prices for energy, food, and fuel, amid inflation soaring to 9.1 per cent – its highest rate in 40 years.RecommendedIn addition to Ms Truss and Mr Sunak, the other Tory MPs that have announced their intention to run are former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, transport secretary Grant Shapps, trade minister Penny Mordaunt, former minister Kemi Badenoch and senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat.Ms Truss‘s pledge to scrap the national insurance rise, which came into effect in April, mirrors that of Mr Javid.The levy was introduced by Mr Sunak under Mr Johnson’s government to raise funds for the NHS and social care after the Covid pandemic.But the rise has proved controversial, especially at a time when many households are struggling to make ends meet.In her newspaper article, Ms Truss argued that “it isn’t right to be putting up taxes now” and, that as prime minister, she would take “immediate action” to assist with living costs.In hinting that she would consider making changes to Mr Sunak’s plans to hike corporation tax in April 2023, she said she would “keep [the] tax competitive”.The foreign secretary said she would “get the private sector growing faster than the public sector, with a long-term plan to bring down the size of the state and the tax burden”.She wrote: “Under my leadership, I would start cutting taxes from day one to take immediate action to help people deal with the cost of living.“I would reverse the national insurance increase that came in during April, make sure we keep corporation tax competitive so we can attract business and investment into Britain, and put the Covid debt on a longer-term footing.”Ms Truss said her plan would get the country back on track toward becoming a “high-growth and high-productivity powerhouse”.“It is built on a clear and longstanding Conservative philosophy, including bold supply-side reform,” she added.The MP for South West Norfolk said she would bring “clear and decisive leadership” to Downing Street, adding: “Colleagues know I mean what I say and only make promises I can keep. I can be trusted to deliver.”RecommendedMs Truss said the Tories can win the next election, but acknowledged it will be “an uphill battle”, in what could be a reference to a number of scandals – such as Partygate – under Mr Johnson’s government.Earlier on Sunday, Ms Mordaunt revealed that she will compete to become PM and said – in an apparent jibe toward Mr Johnson – that the UK’s leadership “needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship”. More

Former levelling up secretary Michael Gove has backed Kemi Badenoch in the Tory leadership race. He described the ex-minister as “brave, principled, brilliant and kind”, and said she “didn’t flinch” after leading on the government’s response to Tony Sewell’s controversial Commission on Racial and Ethnic disparities report.Mr Gove said: “Kemi doesn’t just win the argument, she delivers – on getting the Whitehall machine to embark on new policies and on levelling up Britain.“Now she has the opportunity to use her first class brain to fix the big problems facing our country.”Writing in The Sun, he added: “As a Tory leader, she would be Sir Keir Starmer’s worst nightmare.Recommended“There is so much we need to fix. From processing passports and driving licences to defence procurement and science investment – we need someone with Kemi’s focus, intellect and no-bulls*** drive.”The former equalities minister has promised “limited government” and “a focus on the essentials”.She supports lower taxes “to boost growth and productivity, accompanied by tight spending discipline”.Writing in The Times, she also hit out at “identity politics” and said Boris Johnson was “a symptom of the problems we face, not the cause of them”.She said governing Britain today requires “a nimble centre-right vision” that “can achieve things despite entrenched opposition from a cultural establishment that will not accept that the world has moved on from Blairism”.PA More

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has vowed to publish his tax returns if he wins the Conservative Party leadership contest 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.Conservative Party leadership candidates Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt have also pledged to open up their tax affairs if they make it to the final stage of the Tory leadership race.Mr Javid said he had “no issue” with tax transparency, and pointed out that he had “never been investigated” in an apparent swipe at his rival.Suggesting that political enemies were trying to thwart his bid to become PM, Mr Zahawi told Sky News on Sunday that he had not been aware of an investigation.“So I was clearly being smeared. I was being told that the Serious Fraud Office, that the National Crime Agency, that HMRC are looking into me,” he said, adding: “I was not aware of this, I have always paid my taxes, I have declared my taxes in the UK.”RecommendedPromising to cooperate with authorities, Mr Zahawi added: “I will answer any questions that HMRC has of me.”The chancellor added: “But I will go further. I am going to make a commitment today that, if I am prime minister, I think the right thing to do is publish my accounts annually.”The Independent revealed that Mr Zahawi’s finances had been investigated by the National Crime Agency in 2020. Inquiries were also made by the Serious Fraud Office before the investigation was passed to HMRC, which falls under the department which Mr Zahawi now runs. A senior Whitehall source, as revealed by The Independent on Saturday, confirmed that the tax probe is currently “unresolved”.The Independent also revealed that Boris Johnson, home secretary Priti Patel and the Cabinet Office were all informed of the investigations.The Observer separately reported that the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team alerted Boris Johnson to a HMRC “flag” about Mr Zahawi’s finances before he was promoted.In a statement on Sunday evening, Mr Zahawi said: “There have been news stories over the last few days which are inaccurate, unfair and clearly smears.”He added: “These smears have falsely claimed that the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency and HMRC are looking into me. Let me be absolutely clear. I am not aware of this. I have not been told that this is the case.“I have always declared my financial interests and paid my taxes in the UK. If there are questions, of course, I will answer any questions HMRC has of me.”Earlier on Sunday, Mr Javid, who quit Mr Johnson’s government earlier this week, told the BBC that he believes that the final two leadership candidates should be “quite open” about their tax affairs.He also sought to defend his own use of non-domicile tax status, which allowed him to avoid paying UK tax on his overseas income, before he entered politics.It emerged earlier this year that the former health secretary had enjoyed non-dom tax status in the early 2000s when he was working for Deutsche Bank.Asked how long he had taken advantage of such arrangements, Mr Javid told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “I think for about for four or five years, before public life, it was the 2000s.”The former cabinet minister, believed to have qualified for the scheme because his father was born in Pakistan, said: “I had a job that was very international … that is why my tax affairs were very international.”The Independent first revealed in April that then chancellor Rishi Sunak’s wife avoided UK tax on her overseas income through her non-dom status.Mr Hunt said that neither he nor his wife had ever benefited from non-domicile tax status – contrasting himself to both Mr Sunak and Mr Javid.“I’m very happy, if I proceed to the final two, to publish my tax affairs, if that’s what both candidates do,” said Mr Hunt. “I’m not going to speak for other candidates, but for myself I would have no problem with it.”RecommendedIt comes as Tory leadership candidates battle to outdo each other over tax cuts. Foreign secretary Liz Truss is poised to enter the race on Monday with a pledge to reverse Mr Sunak’s national insurance rise.Mr Javid claimed his plans for £39bn worth of tax cuts per year, including a reversal of the national insurance hike, would be fully funded. He promised to set out the details in a “scorecard” in the coming days.Responding to Mr Javid and Mr Hunt’s plans to cut corporation tax to 15 per cent, Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: “This is nuts. We’re talking £30bn odd. This is going to be one expensive leadership election.” More

Liz Truss is poised to the enter an increasingly bitter Conservative leadership race, as top contenders lurched to the right on Brexit, immigration and tax policy in a desperate bid for backers.The foreign secretary is expected to launch her bid with a pledge to reverse Rishi Sunak’s national insurance rise, despite economists warning that the tax cuts proposed by the former chancellor’s rivals are “nuts” and potentially inflationary.Sajid Javid, Tom Tugendhat and Jeremy Hunt all backed the highly controversial plan to put asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda, with Mr Hunt saying he hoped the “offshoring” could be expanded to more countries.Despite being viewed as moderates from the One Nation wing of the party, Mr Tugendhat and Mr Hunt also vowed to push on with Boris Johnson’s plan to rip up Brexit agreements with the EU through the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.Describing Brexit as a “revolution” that could not be overturned, Mr Tugendhat vowed to make sure Northern Ireland was “fully and completely part of the UK single market”.Mr Hunt also backed the bill and suggested that he regretted supporting the Remain campaign – saying he would be “very tempted” to vote Leave if he could go back to 2016. He also said he would make ardent Brexiteer Esther McVey his deputy prime minister if he won the contest.RecommendedIt came as right-wing Brexiteer Suella Braverman attempted to outdo her leadership rivals by promising to take the UK out of the “jurisdiction” of the European Court of Human Rights.The attorney general said it was “unacceptable” for the Strasbourg court to have blocked the first attempted Rwanda flight last month, though it is not clear whether she intends to withdraw the UK from its commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court oversees.Ms Truss is set to promise a reversal of Mr Sunak’s April national insurance increase as part of a “low tax” vow set out in her formal leadership launch on Monday.Paul Johnson, the head of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said on Twitter that critics of the idea were correct to point out that cutting taxes does not “magically” boost growth. But Tory rivals pushed to outflank Mr Sunak, who has warned against “fairytale” promises, with various pledges.Mr Javid claimed his plans for £39bn worth of income and corporation tax cuts per year would be fully funded, saying he would ask all departments to make savings. He promised to set out the details in a “scorecard” in the coming days.Responding to Mr Javid and Mr Hunt’s plans to cut corporation tax to 15 per cent, Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: “This is nuts. We’re talking £30bn odd. This is going to be one expensive leadership election.”Labour branded the increasingly acrimonious contest a “chaotic catwalk”, as Tory MPs opposed to Mr Sunak circulated a so-called “dirty dossier” designed to stop support building for his campaign.The 424-word memo shared on Tory WhatsApp groups pointed out that Mr Sunak had registered his campaign website in December, and that he “secretly” held a US green card. It also questioned his explanation for his wife’s non-dom tax status, which was revealed by The Independent in April.One Tory source told The Independent that the memo shared by some MPs was part of a campaign among right-wingers loyal to Mr Johnson to stop the contest becoming a “coronation” for Mr Sunak.Sajid Javid had ‘no idea’ Rishi Sunak also wanted to resign at the same timeThe former chancellor’s campaign continued to pick up momentum, however, as ex-ministers Simon Hart and Helen Whately backed him and pushed the number of endorsements past 30, putting him out in front of the field.Grant Shapps appeared to attack the frontrunner in an interview with The Sunday Times, saying: “I have not spent the last few turbulent years plotting … I have not been mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back.”And loyal Johnson ally Zac Goldsmith also attacked Mr Sunak over his record on the environment, though he denied any personal animosity towards the former chancellor.Lord Goldsmith claimed that Mark Spencer – one of Mr Sunak’s senior campaign backers – had been lined up for a key role as environment secretary if the ex-chancellor wins the contest. “He will be our very own little Bolsonaro,” he said of Mr Spencer.Mr Javid, who quit Mr Johnson’s government just minutes before Mr Sunak on Tuesday evening, denied plotting with the former chancellor to get rid of the PM.Asked if he had agreed a resignation plan with Mr Sunak, the ex-health secretary told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “Not at all. This was a decision made by me.”Penny Mordaunt picked up a flurry of endorsements after launching her campaign on Sunday with an unusually bombastic video on Twitter. The Royal Navy reservist’s video featured images of soldiers and fighter planes set to the patriotic rugby anthem “World in Union”.The video raised eyebrows over a sequence showing Oscar Pistorius, the South African athlete found guilty of murder, alongside British Paralympic champion Jonnie Peacock. It was later reposted without the Paralympic sequence after Mr Peacock told her he “officially requested to be removed from this video”.RecommendedLib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the Tory candidates were all “pursuing the same divisive agenda as Johnson, and trying to out bid each other with appalling policies and culture wars”, adding: “It truly is Boris Johnson’s Conservative party now.” The Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee of backbenchers, which sets the rules for the first stage of the contest, will set out the exact timetable after a meeting on Monday. Bob Blackman, who sits on the executive, said that nominations would close on Tuesday evening, followed by a process to whittle candidates down to a final two by 21 July. More

Potential successors to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rushed to differentiate themselves from an increasingly crowded field on Sunday as the governing Conservative Party was expected to set a tight timetable for the election.Candidates released slick campaign videos on social media and appeared on Sunday morning political talk shows to make their cases to the public. Several promised tax cuts, appealing to rank-and-file Conservative party members for whom low taxes are a mantra.Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday after more than 50 members of his Cabinet and lower level officials resigned from his government, many citing concerns that his ethical lapses had undermined the government’s credibility.That triggered the internal Conservative Party contest to pick a new party leader. Under Britain’s parliamentary government, the next party leader will automatically become prime minister without the need for a general election.International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was the latest to announce her bid on Sunday, saying the U.K. “needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.” Former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt joined one of the most open leadership races in recent history late Saturday.RecommendedOther contenders include frontrunner Rishi Sunak, the former Treasury chief, and Nadim Zahawi, who took Sunak’s job as chancellor of the exchequer last week. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss hasn’t formally announced but is expected to join the race.The race comes after Johnson, 58, was brought down by a series of scandals, the most recent involving his decision to promote a lawmaker who had been accused of sexual misconduct to a senior position in his government. An influential Conservative party committee is expected to lay out the rules for the leadership contest on Monday, with news reports suggesting that Conservative lawmakers will narrow the field to two before Parliament breaks for its summer recess on July 21. Party members around the country will then vote on the final choice before the end of August, the Times of London reported.Johnson has said he will remain prime minister until his successor is chosen. But many want him to go now, with even some Conservative politicians worried that he could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister. As politicians took to the airwaves to endorse candidates on Sunday, many sought to distance their favorites from the turmoil of the Johnson years by stressing traits such as “integrity’’ and “honesty.”Karan Bilimoria, the former president of the Confederation of British Industry, said the decision should be made as quickly as possible because businesses that are still struggling to overcome the impact of the pandemic and are now facing the growing possibility of a recession need help now.“We have got to get through this period as quickly as possible and find a good leader who can then rebuild trust,’’ he told Times Radio. “It is rebuilding the trust with the country as well. The country has lost that trust and business is very worried.”Recommended___Follow all AP stories on British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson. More

The Conservative Party leadership race to succeed Boris Johnson has descended into acrimony, as MPs opposed to Rishi Sunak circulated a so-called “dirty dossier” designed to stop support building for his campaign.The memo circulated on Tory WhatsApp group reportedly attacks the former chancellor personally and accused him of having a “big tax and big spend agenda”.According to The Telegraph, which first reported the “mucky memo”, the 424-word anti-Sunak missive was written by someone on the Thatcherite right of the party.It is said to point out that Mr Sunak registered his campaign website in December, “secretly” held a US green card and questioned his remarks explaining his wife’s non-dom tax status, as revealed by The Independent in April.One Tory source told The Independent the memo shared by some MPs was part of a campaign among right-wingers to stop the contest becoming a “coronation” for Mr Sunak.Tory MPs say some Johnson loyalists who remained in government posts or accepted ministerial jobs this week were still angry at Mr Sunak for his “treachery” in helping oust the PM from No 10.RecommendedGrant Shapps appeared to attack the ex-chancellor in an interview with the Sunday Times. “I have not spent the last few turbulent years plotting … I have not been mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back.”It come as loyal Johnson ally Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative peer who remains an environment minister, attacked Mr Sunak over his record on the environment.In an astonishing outburst on Twitter, he also likened the Tories’ Commons leader Mark Spencer to Brazilian populist president Jair Bolsonaro.Lord Goldsmith claimed Mr Spencer – one of Mr Sunak’s senior campaign backers – had been lined up for a key role as environment secretary if the ex-chancellor wins the contest. “He will be our very own little Bolsonaro,” he said.The peer denied being motivated by hatred for Mr Sunak, but attacked his record on the environment.“If Rishi had a record on the environment, or made believable commitments to continue our environmental role globally, I would of course support him,” Lord Goldsmith added.Leadership contender Sajid Javid, who quit Mr Johnson’s government just minutes before Mr Sunak on Tuesday evening, denied plotting with the former chancellor to get rid of the PM. Asked if he agreed a plan with Mr Sunak, the ex-health secretary told BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “Not at all … this was a decision made by me.” He added: “Once you lose confidence in your boss, your prime minister, I don’t think you can hide that.”Meanwhile, Tory leadership campaign teams are reportedly drawing up dossiers full of compromising allegations against rival candidates and their aides.At least two rival campaign teams are claimed to have handed Labour digital dossiers packed with lurid allegations against potential opponents, according to the Sunday Times – with even candidates’ staffers supposedly targeted.RecommendedThe dossiers are rumoured to include allegations about extramarital affairs use of tax dodges and illicit drugs, with at least one private investigator reportedly hired to probe some candidates’ financial arrangements.Labour MP Chris Bryant tweeted: “The stories circulating about the various leadership candidates are so lurid they’re difficult to credit, but even more bizarre is the fact Tory MPs are circulating them.” More

Penny Mordaunt has been accused of ‘throwing trans people under the bus’ after a midnight Twitter thread posted hours before launching her Tory leadership bid. The Portsmouth North MP sought to address her position on trans rights after criticism from right-wingers who claim her preview comments on the issue threaten her chances of replacing Boris Johnson. While serving as equalities minister in 2018, Ms Mordaunt said “trans women are women and trans men are men” and pledged to do more so that “LGBT people can thrive in the UK”. On Saturday, as speculation mounted about her potential leadership bid, Campaign group Conservatives for Women branded the MP “a committed warrior for the trans lobby”, adding her apparently supportive views “raise questions over her judgment”. In response, Ms Mordaunt took to social media the same night to answer a question written out in large capital letters: “Do I know what a woman is?” Recommended“I am biologically a woman,” she wrote. “If I have a hysterectomy or mastectomy, I am still a woman. And I am legally a woman..“Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female. That DOES NOT mean they are biological women, like me.”The thread went on to list her “track record” of work on “gender equality”, including launching an inquiry into a surge in girls referred to trans services and changing maternity legislation to use female – instead of gender netural – terms.In the same thread she criticised what she called ‘the trans orthodoxy’ and praised Sharron Davies, who has faced accusations of ‘transphobia’ after she came out against trans athletes competing in women’s sporting events. “Some want to damage my reputation for whatever reason,” the MP wrote. “They want to depict me as ‘woke’’’”“I’ve fought for women’s rights all my life. I would NEVER do anything to undermine them. I will continue to protect them.“And those that purport to be champions of women while misrepresenting and undermining them might like to think again.”RecommendedThe thread met with backlash from LGBT supporters on Twitter and claims her attempt to draw a line under the issue had backfired. Author and activist Christine Burns MBE wrote: “A study of QTs to Penny Mordaunt’s desperate anti-trans tweet indicates that she’s pleased very few. “She’s not pleased anyone who wants to hear about actual issues. And she’s not pleased the transphobes who just recall what she’s said before. She’s actually REDUCED her support.”Political commentator Owen Jones added: “Penny Mordaunt has gone from rightly comparing transphobia to the old anti-gay moral panic to throwing trans people under a bus to advance her own career.” More