Markus Andrews

Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat has become the first candidate in the race to succeed Boris Johnson.The chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC), a Tory centrist who has never served in government, said he would offer the party a “fresh start”.Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the former soldier said: “I am putting together a broad coalition of colleagues that will bring new energy and ideas to government and, finally, to bridge the Brexit divide that has dominated our recent history.“I have served before – in the military, and now in parliament. Now I hope to answer the call once again as prime minister. It’s time for a clean start. It’s time for renewal.”At least four Tory MPs had endorsed Mr Tugendhat before he went public with his bid. Damian Green, a former minister, said: “I’m supporting Tom Tugendhat. Recommended“We need a clean start, a fresh start, we need to get on with resetting the Conservative Party and resetting government more widely in this country so that it gets back to being properly run, observing the conventions, supporting the institutions that we have in this country.”Mr Tugendhat was openly critical of the man he hopes to replace in the months before Mr Johnson resigned. He clashed with the outgoing prime minister in FAC hearings and condemned Britain’s hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.The Tonbridge and Malling MP hinted he would run back in January when the future of Mr Johnson’s leadership was thrown into doubt by revelations of parties in Downing Street. Mr Tugendhat said he would “go for it” if the opportunity arose and questioned the reticence of colleagues to admit their ambitions. “I don’t think you should be embarrassed to want to serve your country, I was very proud to serve my country. Of course I want to have an influence that helps to shape the country for the best,” he said.Though he may be little known outside Westminster, Mr Tugendhat has made himself known among colleagues for his hawkish views on China. He co-founded and remains co-chair of the China Research Goup of MPs which calls for greater caution in Britain’s dealings with the rising eastern superpower.His competitors in the Tory leadership race were uncertain: Suella Braverman said she would run but had not formally announced a bid by Thursday evening.Tory heavyweight Michael Gove ruled out a third run at the leadership after his previous failures. Dominic Raab, Mr Johnson’s deputy, also said he would not stand.Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss were all thought to be considering bids, with Ms Mordaunt the bookies’ favourite among them. The PA news agency reported that former health secretary Sajid Javid and transport secretary Grant Shapps were also considering standing. Brexit hardliner Steve Baker said he was “seriously considering” throwing his hat into the ring.RecommendedBen Wallace, the defence secretary, was also likely to announce a leadership bid after coming top of a poll of Conservative members, the small electorate who will ultimately decide the next leader.Mr Tugendhat and Mr Junt were the favourites in a poll of readers of The Independent, respectively taking 24 per cent and 22 per cent of the vote. More

Nadine Dorries’ call for the time limit for abortions to be reduced by four weeks has provoked outrage among health care professionals. The culture secretary argued the legal cut-off point for pregnancy terminations in the UK – which is 24 weeks – should be reduced by a month.But the Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, who is also the patient safety minister, told Times Radio she is pro-choice – as well as also calling for the rule which stipulates two doctors need to consent to an abortion must be axed.Katherine O’Brien, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK’s leading abortion provider, told The Independent Ms Dorries’ calls to curb the abortion time limit were “abhorrent”.She said: “It was absolutely extraordinary at a moment of huge political crisis, a cabinet member had chosen this as an opportunity to attack abortion rights. “When the government collapses around her, she decides to attack abortion rights. It is also extraordinary as just last week Dominic Raab said abortion was a settled issue in this country yet government members in the highest offices are looking to restrict abortion.”RecommendedMs O’Brien noted women who seek abortions after the 20-week cut-off point are “often in the most incredibly difficult of circumstances”.She added: “They may have had a diagnosis of foetal anomaly with a very much wanted pregnancy or they may be young girls who haven’t had regular periods so don’t realise that they are pregnant.”Ms O’Brien argued Ms Dorries’ position on the abortion time limit demonstrates “a complete lack of understanding for the reasons people have abortions post 20 weeks”.“Nobody wants to have an abortion,” she added. “Let alone a late-term abortion that involves surgery. It is a difficult procedure. It is not something anyone wants to go through.”RecommendedMs Dorries has repeatedly called for the time limit for abortions to be curtailed from 24 weeks down to 20 and sought to overhaul legislation to relinquish abortion providers’ part in counselling women.Louise McCudden, of MSI Reproductive Choices UK, another leading abortion provider, said: “There is no clinical justification or evidence base for reducing the abortion time limit, and this would contradict guidance from the World Health Organisation.“The vast majority of abortions happen under 10 weeks. The extremely rare cases that do take place over 20 weeks are usually complex and sensitive cases, such as fatal foetal abnormality or young girls who have been raped or taken a longer time to realise they were pregnant.“Criminalising women and health providers in these situations benefits no one. Rather than restricting time limits, we should be looking at ways to better protect women and girls against our outdated abortion laws.”A study, carried out by YouGov and MSI Reproductive Choices UK, previously found nine in 10 UK adults think women should be able to access abortion services in Britain and specifically identify as being “pro-choice”.Commenting on Ms Dorries’ comments, Pam Lowe, a sociologist who specialises in anti-abortion activism in the UK, said: “The anti-abortion movement often focuses on issues such as reducing the time limit as a step-by-step strategy to restrict abortion more generally.”Dr Lowe, a senior lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, argued this form of “tactic was successfully used by” anti-abortion groups in many states in America.She added: “Despite what some believe, abortions later in pregnancy are not feckless decisions by irresponsible women, but usually due to circumstances outside of their control, such as a complication in pregnancy or difficulties in accessing abortion services earlier.”RecommendedWhile Dani Anderson, of the Abortion Support Network, insisted that “no medical basis” exists for an amendment to the legal limit for having an abortion.“Reducing the limit will cause serious risk to women’s lives,” she added. “Second-trimester abortions are a vital part of medical care and what we need now is the decriminalisation of abortion, rather than following in America’s footsteps and restricting access even further.”In the UK, abortions are allowed up to 23 weeks and six days of pregnancy but can be performed later if continuing with the pregnancy poses a significant risk to the life of the woman or there are serious foetal abnormalities.Abortions are still deemed a criminal act in England, Scotland and Wales under the 1967 Abortion Act. If any medical professional delivers an abortion out of the terms of the act, they are at risk of facing criminal punishment.Legislation passed in 1861 means any woman who ends a pregnancy without getting legal permission from two doctors, who must agree continuing with it would be risky for the woman’s physical or mental health, can face up to life imprisonment. But abortion providers, charities, medical bodies, and MPs have spent years demanding abortion is decriminalised in the UK.The criticism levied at Ms Dorries comes after the US Supreme Court dismantled Roe v Wade – the landmark decision that legalised abortion nationwide in 1973 – at the end of last month. More

Conservative MP Will Quince has agreed to return to his old job as children’s minister only one day after resigning in protest at having to defend Boris Johnson over the Chris Pincher scandal.The MP for Colchester quit the government on Wednesday – angry at being given assurances that the PM did not know specific sexual misconduct claims which were then “found to be inaccurate”.But on Thursday Mr Quince was again named children’s minister at the Department for Education, as No 10 moved to fill vacant ministerial positions in a bid to show government could still function with a caretaker PM.Having finally announced his resignation at lunchtime, Mr Johnson bowed to cabinet pressure and promised no major policy shifts in his dying days in office, amid Tory unease at his interim period in charge over the summer.In a further bid to show stability, the PM has appointed Johnny Mercer MP as minister for veterans’, while Edward Timpson becomes the new solicitor general following Alex Chalk’s resignation.Stephen McPartland was named minister for security at the Home Office, Graham Stuart becomes a Foreign Office minister and Marcus Jones is a minister at the Department for Levelling Up.RecommendedEarlier on Thursday, Mr Johnson named Greg Clark as levelling up secretary, Robert Buckland as Welsh secretary, and James Cleverly as education secretary as he filled major vacant cabinet posts.Shailesh Vara became the new Northern Ireland secretary after Brandon Lewis quit, while Kit Malthouse will be the new Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster after Steve Barclay was moved to cover departing health secretary Sajid Javid.Amid the merry-go-round, former Tory MP John Major led demands for Mr Johnson to be forced out immediately to avoid further damage to the country.Sir John said he was worried that Mr Johnson would still have the power to make vital domestic and foreign policy decisions, and suggested deputy prime minister Dominic Raab could be made an acting PM.A No 10 readout of Thursday’s cabinet meeting stated he had “made clear the government would not seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction”.Senior Tory MP Nus Ghani, deputy chair of the 1922 Committee, said Mr Raab should take over from Mr Johnson on an interim basis. George Freeman, who quit as science minister, and rebel MP Aaron Bell also both called for a caretaker PM.However, one senior Tory figure ridiculed Sir John’s “not very wise” idea, and said people should accept a leadership contest should be complete by early September.“Over August very little happens in government – in some ways it couldn’t fall at a better time,” they told The Independent. “Calm down and get on with the process of a replacement.”Despite frustration about Mr Johnson’s messy exit, another red wall MP told The Independent there was no real “appetite” among backbenchers to push for Mr Raab to take over.RecommendedSir Bob Neill said in the Commons there is a “serious question mark” over how long a caretaker PM could remain if there were concerns about effective government, adding: “Might it be in everybody’s interests to speed up the transition?”Despite several vacant junior ministerial posts remaining, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis told MPs: “Government business will continue to function … Other secretaries of state can deal with the issues for other departments.” More

The pound rose against the dollar after Boris Johnson announced he is to be replaced as prime minister. Sterling gained more than 0.4 per cent to $1.2 as traders priced in the prospect of an end to months of chaos under Mr Johnson’s leadership. He will remain in place while the Conservative Party selects a new leader.As markets reacted to the news, sterling regained some of the ground it lost this week but remains more than 10 per cent down against the US currency.The pound hit a two-year low against the dollar on Tuesday amid growing fears for the future of Britain’s economy.The dollar has strengthened in response to a series of large interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve.RecommendedA weak pound is serving to push up prices for goods that the UK imports, such as energy, food and manufactured products.Consumer price inflation hit 9.1 per cent in May and is expected to surge to 11 per cent later this year, meaning households face big falls in living standards as wages fail to keep up with the rising cost of essential goods.While new leadership of the country promises to bring some measure of political stability, the new prime minister will still face a long list of economic problems. Consumer confidence has hit its lowest level on record according to a long-running survey by Growth from Knowledge (GfK), while car sales fell to their lowest level for any June since 1996. The construction industry is also slowing down, new industry figures show.The Bank of England said on Tuesday that the prospects for the UK economy had “deteriorated materially” since Russia invaded Ukraine. More

Boris Johnson has bowed to cabinet pressure and promised no major policy shifts in his dying days in office, after Tory alarm at his two-month caretaker period.He pledged that “major changes of direction” – including tax cuts – should be left to his successor, even as he rejected demands to leave No 10 immediately.Within minutes of Mr Johnson confirming he will eventually step down, concern grew over what Dominic Cummings warned could be “carnage” to come.Sir John Major led demands for him to be forced out to avoid further damage to the country after what some Tory MPs called a Trump-style attempt to cling to power.In a Downing Street speech criticised for a lack of humility or apology, Mr Johnson vowed to stay in power “until a new leader is in place”, which is likely to be early September.RecommendedBut at a cabinet meeting later on Thursday, he abandoned hopes of ripping up policy, including by slashing income tax in the wake of Rishi Sunak’s resignation as chancellor.A No 10 readout of the meeting stated he had “made clear the government would not seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction”.Instead, it would “focus on delivering the agenda on which the government was elected”, adding Mr Johnson “said major fiscal decisions should be left for the next prime minister”.One cabinet minister told The Independent that some members had agreed to serve Mr Johnson only after securing “conditions” from the prime minister, in particular on the economy.“We made clear there were conditions to us joining his cabinet, that he does not try anything in the time he has left. Especially no tax cuts,” the minister said.Theresa May also warned Mr Johnson to behave, noting she had observed convention by passing only the cross-party net zero climate legislation after announcing her resignation.“I was still there as prime minister, able to do some things, but, crucially you have to restrict yourself what you do during that period of time for several reasons,” she told an event.Even with the apparent “conditions” imposed on Mr Johnson, and a new cabinet formed within hours, the government faces a huge struggle to function effectively in the weeks to come.Dozens of ministerial posts remain unfilled, as the country remains mired in a cost of living crisis and a legal fight with the EU over the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, and as war grinds on in Ukraine.“The government is not functioning at the moment. Basic things are not happening,” said Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, adding: “They are not able to get the machinery of government running.”Delivering his resignation speech, Mr Johnson fuelled fears of what he will do in his remaining months in power, as he protested that the party’s decision to remove him was “eccentric”.“The herd is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves,” he said of Tory MPs – adding he would give his successor “as much support as I can”.Andrea Jenkyns, an MP and arch-Johnson supporter, told TV cameras as she left Downing Street: “They’ll regret it like they did with Thatcher. This will be a mistake.”George Freeman, who had quit as science minister earlier, pleaded with his colleagues to recognise Mr Johnson would not “govern for three months in quiet humility and contrition”.“The prime minister has to accept that it’s over and hand in the seals of office this weekend,” he argued – warning of “insecurity and chaos” if he did not.Sir John called leaving Mr Johnson in post “unwise and maybe unsustainable”, pointing to his retained power over domestic and foreign policy, and suggesting Dominic Raab be the caretaker.Keir Starmer vowed to stage a Commons vote to try to force out the prime minister immediately, if Conservative MPs failed to “get rid of him”, saying: “He can’t cling on in this way.”But it would take several dozen rebel Tories for the vote to succeed – and the party’s newly elected 1922 Committee is not expected to move against him, when it is formed on Monday.RecommendedIt will set the leadership election timetable, with a rapid first round of voting by Tory MPs to start whittling down around a dozen expected candidates to just two.The party’s members then pick the next prime minister from that shortlist, after hustings in August. More

Conservative candidates at local by-elections are trying to boost their fortunes by boasting about Boris Johnson’s resignation on their leafletsThe prime minister has for months been regarded as a drag on Tory support in some parts of the country and activists have wasted no time in capitalising on his resignation.One leaflet, apparently for a by-election this week in a ward in north London, carries a picture of the prime minister with “He’s out!” written in large letters.The campaigning literature, apparently produced just hours after the news in Westminster broke says: “Last May many of you told us you couldn’t vote Conservative while Boris Johnson was prime minister.”We Camden Conservatives took up your call. It took longer than we wanted by MESSAGE RECEIVED!” Recommended”The Conservatives have listened and Boris Johnson has resigned as PM. WE now ask you to come back to us and give us another change. It’s ok to vote Conservative again, starting today in Hampstead Town.”Tulip Siddiq, the local Labour MP for the area, described the campaigning tactic as “absolutely shameless”.”I initially thought this was a Labour leaflet when I saw the photo and the caption,” she said. “This is actually the Tory leaflet that the local Conservative Party are putting out in the Hampstead by-election today.”She shared a picture of the leaflet, which carries the legally protected text indicating that it is official Tory election literature. The leaflet is unlikely to have been produced centrally and appears to have been put together by local candidates.Hampstead Town is a marginal ward on Camden London Borough Council and in May 2022 Labour took one of the two seats – narrowly missing out on the second. In 2018 it returned three Conservatives before being reduced to a two-member seat.The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the elected Labour councillor just months after May’s election. RecommendedAt the May local elections, in which Mr Johnson’s party received a drubbing, many local Tory candidates described themselves as “Local Conservatives” in apparent bids to distance themselves from the unpopular occupant in No 10.The approach was in stark contrasts to other campaigns, such as 2017, where Tory central office repeatedly referred to candidates as “Theresa May’s team”. More

President Joe Biden on Thursday said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that he would step down as the UK’s head of government once Conservative Party members choose a successor will not put a damper on the close relationship between Washington and London.In a statement to The Independent, Mr Biden did not mention Mr Johnson or his impending exit from Number 10 Downing Street, but said the US and UK remain “the closest of friends and Allies” and stressed that “the special relationship” between the American and British people “remains strong and enduring”. “I look forward to continuing our close cooperation with the government of the United Kingdom, as well as our Allies and partners around the world, on a range of important priorities,” Mr Biden said. “That includes maintaining a strong and united approach to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Putin’s brutal war on their democracy, and holding Russia accountable for its actions”.The outgoing British leader, who was born in the US but renounced his American citizenship years ago, has had a warm relationship with Mr Biden since the American president assumed office in January 2021.At the 2021 Group of Seven summit in Cornwall — one of Mr Biden’s first trips abroad as president — Mr Johnson described his American counterpart as “a breath of fresh air” as the two men signed a “New Atlantic Charter” which “reaffirm[ed] their commitment to work together to realise our vision for a more peaceful and prosperous future” by building on the alliance cemented by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill more than eight decades prior. Mr Johnson has also praised Mr Biden’s willingness to tackle climate change as an existential threat to humanity during a September 2021 visit to the White House.RecommendedThe two leaders have also worked closely together as they coordinated the west’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. They also caused a row when the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia announced last year that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarines made with American and British technology. The move so incensed French President Emanuel Macron that he temporarily recalled the nation’s ambassador to the United States. But despite the friendly relations between the two leaders, White House officials have declined to weigh in on Mr Johnson’s political troubles, which they’ve characterised as an internal British matter that is out-of-bounds for public comment. More

Ben Wallace has declined to say whether he will run for the Conservative Party leadership, insisting that he will continue to focus on his job as defence secretary.Mr Wallace, coming top among poll of Tory members to succeed Boris Johnson as leader after his resignation on Thursday, spoke during a visit to a training centre for Ukrainian troops in north of England.The defence secretary said he was convinced that the political turmoil in the Britain would not lead to any lessening of support for Ukraine, stressing that he had built up a cross-party consensus on the issue.“I don’t think there is a risk of that at all. I have strived throughout this process to build a cross-party consensus on Ukraine. I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been supported by everyone from the SNP [Scottish National Party] and the Labour leader, the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats in our policy towards Ukraine.“Not a week goes by when I don’t reach out to them or talk to those parties. Also we have agreed that it is important to continue the efforts for Ukraine as it strives to defend itself from its awful illegal invasion”, he said.RecommendedAn ally of Mr Wallace pointed out that while the defence decretary was visiting Ukrainian troops being trained, Liz Truss, viewed as one of his main rivals from the Tory leadership, failed to take a chance to confront Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, about the invasion at a G20 meeting. More