UK Politics

Tory candidates say no to Boris Johnson cabinet returnConservative rivals clashed over tax policies in the second live debate on ITV this evening in their bid to be the new prime minister.Rishi Sunak scolded Liz Truss’ “something-for-nothing” economics while explaining how he plans to tackle the cost-of-living crisis during ITV’s latest leadership debate.The secretary of state said: “Rishi, you have raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years. That is not going to drive economic growth.”Adding: “The fact is that raising taxes at this moment will choke off economic growth.Mr Sunak responded: “I’d love to stand here and say, ‘I’ll cut this tax, I’ll cut that tax, and it’ll all be okay’. But you know what? It won’t … This something for nothing economics isn’t conservative – it’s socialism.”The five contenders to replace Boris Johnson were asked whether they would let him sit at their cabinet table during the ITV leadership debate, and none of them raised their hands.RecommendedShow latest update

1658109644All five candidates rule out snap general electionThe five Tory leadership candidates all ruled out calling a snap election to secure a mandate from the public if they became prime minister.Asked if she would call an election, Penny Mordaunt told the ITV debate: “No, we all stood on the same manifesto, we all have to come together and it’s a shared manifesto and a shared vision.”Tom Tugendhat said: “No, we have a manifesto to deliver and I intend to deliver it. By showing leadership and commitment we can bring the party together, bring the country together, end this disunity and actually have a clean start.”Kemi Badenoch said: “We need to give people some stability, they are tired of all the upheaval.”Liz Truss said: “No to a general election, we need 100% of all of our effort on delivering for the people of Britain, I’m the person who can do that.”Rishi Sunak said: “We face an enormous economic challenge and we now need someone who has got the grip and the experience to deal with that, and that should be the priority going forward for the next leader.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 July 2022 03:001658106000Tory leadership candidates asked if they would ‘sit down with Putin’Tory leadership candidates asked if they would ‘sit down with Putin’Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 July 2022 02:001658102400Sunak defends wife’s previous non-dom status Rishi Sunak defended his wife Akshata’s previous non-domiciled tax status and her family’s wealth during the ITV debate. Mr Sunak said he is “really proud” of how his billionaire father-in-law NR Narayana Murthy, who launched IT services company Infosys, made his fortune.Mr Sunak said: “So I’ve always been a completely normal UK taxpayer, my wife is from another country so she’s treated differently, but she explained that in the spring and she resolved that issue, but there is commentary about my wife’s family’s wealth.“So let me just address that head on, because I’m actually incredibly proud of what my parents-in-law built.“My father-in-law came from absolutely nothing, just had a dream and a couple of hundreds pounds that my mother-in-law’s savings provided him, and with that he went on to build one of the world’s largest, most respected, most successful companies that by the way employs thousands of people here in the United Kingdom.“It’s an incredibly Conservative story, actually it’s a story I’m really proud of and as prime minister I want to ensure that we can create more stories like theirs here at home.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 July 2022 01:001658098977Badenoch says voters are ‘sick and tired’ of BrexitKemi Badenoch said voters are “sick and tired of us banging on about Brexit”, as she called herself the “wild card candidate” in the Tory leadership race.She told the ITV debate: “It’s time to move on from Brexit, we left the EU… we got Brexit done, now it’s time to take advantage of the opportunities.”She added: “We have left the EU, the public are sick and tired of us banging on about Brexit.“We need start talking about the future of our country, and I am the wild card candidate here, I think a lot of people cannot move on from it, it is time for us to do that.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain18 July 2022 00:021658097000Sunak on supporting BrexitRishi Sunak burnished his credentials as a Brexiteer during the second televised Tory leadership hustings.Mr Sunak told the ITV debate: “I was really proud to support Brexit, at the time there was a lot of pressure put on me and others to not do so and they said our career would be in peril but I did the thing I thought was right for the country.“You asked about support, I’m actually really delighted to have the support of very senior Brexiters like Liam Fox or Dominic Raab or Theresa Villiers, as well as support from across the party.“But what’s important now is that we deliver on the benefits of Brexit.”He added: “What I want is that same energy devoted to Brexit across all departments of Government and that’s what I will deliver as prime minister.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain17 July 2022 23:301658096366‘Penny that’s not true!’ Tory candidates attack Mordaunt over claim only she could beat LabourConservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt was accused by her rivals of misleading the public during a feisty TV debate, as she claimed polling showed that only she could win the next general election.All four of the other candidates pushed back immediately against her assertion – crying out that it was “not true” to say polling showed she alone could triumph against Keir Starmer’s Labour party, writes Adam Forrest.Ms Mordaunt told the ITV debate: “I think there’s a couple of things we need in order to win the next general election – one of them is me as the prime minister.” More

Rishi Sunak accused Liz Truss of offering a “socialist” fantasy plan during a heated ITV television debate in which the Tory leadership rivals repeatedly clashed on the economy, Brexit and their upbringings.The foreign secretary, under pressure after a poor performance during Friday’s debate, launched a series of attacks on the former chancellor – suggesting he had no plan for growth and was responsible for putting Britain on the path to recession.“Rishi, you have raised taxes to highest levels in 70 years. That is not going to drive economic growth,” she said. Ms Truss added: “If he has a plan for growth, why haven’t we seen it over the past two years?”Mr Sunak fired back: “I’d love to stand here and say, ‘I’ll cut this tax, I’ll cut that tax, and it’ll all be okay’. But you know what? It won’t … This something for nothing economics isn’t conservative – it’s socialism.”The ex-chancellor also lashed out at trade minister Penny Mordaunt after she said tax cuts could be paid for by easing fiscal rules so government borrowing could fund day-to-day spending.“It’s not just wrong, it’s dangerous,” said Mr Sunak. “You know what? Even Jeremy Corbyn didn’t suggest that we should go that far … If we’re not for sound money, what is the point of the Conservative Party?”RecommendedNone of the Tory leadership hopefuls said they would give Boris Johnson a job in cabinet if they became prime minister, and all five ruled out calling a snap general election if they win the contest and enter No 10.Mr Sunak, Ms Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat all rounded on Ms Mordaunt after she claimed that “the polling shows that I’m the only one that can beat Keir Starmer and take the fight to Labour”.The other Tory leadership candidates cried out, “Not true”. Mr Sunak said: “Penny, that’s simply not true”, before Mr Tugendhat laughed and added: “Penny I respect you deeply, but that’s simply not true.”But the debate was marked by a series of fiery exchanges between Mr Sunak and Ms Truss, as the ex-chancellor played up his Brexiteer credentials and the foreign secretary positioned herself as the tax-cutting champion of the right.The ex-chancellor had made a dig at Ms Truss being a Remainer in a satirical, black-and-white campaign video on social media shared on Twitter just ahead of the debate – boasting that he was “a real Brexiteer from day one”.Keen to keep as many Brexiteers onside as possible, Mr Sunak smiled and challenged Ms Truss: “You’ve been both a Liberal Democrat and a Remainer. I was just wondering which one you regretted most?”Ms Truss defended her “journey” from a young Lib Dem supporter to loyal Tory, and said she had put her “shoulder to the wheel” in defence of Brexit. She also contrasted her own comprehensive school education to Mr Sunak’s privileged upbringing.“I saw [pupils] not get the opportunities – not get the proper educational standards that you might have got at your school Rishi,” said Ms Truss, in a far more combative mood than her subdued performance during the Channel 4 debate on Friday.Addressing questions about the huge wealth of his wife’s family, Mr Sunak said he was “proud” of their success. “My father in law came from absolutely nothing … he went on to build one of the world’s largest, most respected, most successful companies. It’s an incredibly Conservative story.”The ex-chancellor gave the strongest backing for the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. But even he caveated his support by adding: “We need to bring people with us and if we go too hard and too fast then we will lose people,” he said.Ms Truss said she wanted to deliver net zero in a way that “doesn’t harm people and businesses”. Ms Badenoch suggested net zero could “bankrupt this country”, while Ms Mordaunt said the target “mustn’t clobber people”.A snap Opinium poll of voters who watched the debate showed Mr Sunak won, with 24 per cent saying he performed best, followed by Mr Tugendhat (19 per cent) Ms Mordaunt (17 per cent), Ms Truss (15 per cent) and Ms Badenoch (12 per cent).The latest debate comes as MPs prepare for the third round of voting on Monday, which will see the remaining candidates whittled down from five to four when results come in around 8pm.A ConservativeHome survey of the Tory grassroots published on Sunday night suggested Ms Badenoch’s popularity with members may be rising, while Ms Morduant’s star may be starting to wane.The former equalities minister, who has positioned herself as the anti-woke candidate, would win a head-to-head contest against all four of the other contenders, according to the website’s latest online survey. Ms Mordaunt, only narrowly behind Mr Sunak in the push to make it to the final two after the second ballot of MPs, claimed to be the victim of “smears” following fresh claims about her views on transgender issues.The Sunday Times said it had seen government papers which appeared to suggest Ms Mordaunt was in favour of removing at least one element of the medical process required for transgender people to legally transition.It said another paper from February 2020 confirmed that the government’s support for self-identification ended after she was replaced as the minister in charge of equalities.But Ms Mordaunt claimed on BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that she had never advocated ending the requirement for trans people to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before they could legally change gender.“This is the type of toxic politics people want to get away from,” she said. “My colleagues are very angry and upset that this is how the leadership contest is being dragged down.”RecommendedHowever, Ms Badenoch’s campaign manager Tory MP Lee Rowley told Sky News: “Penny has a set of questions to answer.” And Suella Braverman, who fell out of the contest at the second round, said Ms Badenoch is too “woke” to become PM.Former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who is backing Ms Truss, also took aim at Ms Mordaunt, saying: “I don’t know what her achievements are.”Ms Mordaunt also repeated her notorious claim from the 2016 Brexit referendum that the UK was unable to stop Turkey joining the EU – insisting the veto would not have been used. 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A plan for Boris Johnson to appoint 39 new Tory-supporting peers to ram through controversial Brexit legislation has been condemned as a “bung to mates”.Labour and the Liberal Democrats have attacked the secret proposal – called “Project Homer” – put forward by the consultancy group run by the prime minister’s controversial adviser Lynton Crosby. Seen by ITV News, it says Mr Johnson would have avoided half of the defeats he has suffered in the House of Lords if the Conservatives had around 40 additional committed peers. It also proposes improving peers’ loyalty to the government by offering other honours or posts as envoys or advisers – or even dinner at Chequers, the prime minister’s luxury rural retreat.Labour’s Lords leader Angela Smith condemned appointing “more and more chums”, while Richard Newby, her Lib Dem counterpart, demanded “urgent reform to prevent this ridiculous practice”.Recommended“Any attempt to hand out a swathe of new peerages to Johnson loyalists would show that the soon to be ex-prime minister is desperate to live out the fantasy that his resignation is just ‘business as usual’,” Lord Newby said.“Boris Johnson should not be able to bung his mates a peerage as a golden goodbye.”The confidential document is revealed as Mr Johnson is known to be putting together a list of resignation honours to be announced when he leaves Downing Street in September. His key cabinet ally Nadine Dorries is tipped for a peerage, as is a second ultra-loyal minister Nigel Adams – potentially threatening the next prime minister with tricky by-elections in Mid Bedfordshire and Selby & Ainsty respectively. But a separate list of “political peerages” is also due within weeks, with Paul Dacre, the former Daily Mail editor, and billionaire Tory donor Michael Hintze expected to be ennobled. The creation of 39 peers at one time would be unprecedented and ignore what is supposed to be a cross-party agreement to slim down the bloated upper house. The document comes from the C|T group, run by Sir Lynton and whose senior executive David Canzini currently works in No 10 as Mr Johnson’s deputy chief of staff. ITV News said it raised the alarm over the likely blocking of bills to tear up the Northern Ireland protocol and for a bonfire of retained EU rules, avoiding full parliamentary scrutiny.It also devised a strategy to counter criticism of the appointments by suggesting peerages for people from the north and midlands, which are under-represented in the Lords.A No 10 spokesperson said: “This is not a government document and does not represent government policy. Unsolicited advice is often received – and disregarded.”The Independent attempted to contact the C|T group. Its spokesperson told ITV News: “The document you refer to was simply an early working copy of a discussion paper prepared for a think tank.Recommended“It was not circulated outside of a small group of individuals and was not prepared for any audience outside of that small group of people, to aid discussion.The statement described as “incongruous” any suggestion that it would be wrong to make the Lords “more representative” or that peers should “commit fully and actively to their democratic role and have no conflicts which would prevent them from doing so”. More

Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt is too “woke” to lead the Tory party or become prime minister, one of her former leadership rivals has claimed.Attorney general Suella Braverman, who was dumped out of the race last week, once again took aim at the Ms Mordaunt over her stance on trans rights.On Times Radio she said she was “honoured” that the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act that was passed in Parliament that allowed her to take maternity last year without resigning as the government’s chief law officer.She said that Ms Mordaunt was the Bill minister at the time and the wording described her as a “pregnant person”, which Ms Braverman said she found “pretty offensive” and “denying her womanhood”.Ms Braverman, who has come out in support of Liz Truss’s campaign since she was elimated from the leadership race, alleged that Ms Mordaunt resisted any changes to the wording of the legislation and wanted “pregnant person” and “resisted the inclusion of the word woman”.RecommendedWhen asked if she thought Ms Mordaunt, the bookies frontrunner for the leadership, was “too woke” to lead the Tory party or becoming prime minister, she responded: “My view of Penny is that she is woke, yes. “I have no disrespect for her for her woke views, but I think we should call it out for what it is.”She did not add any qualifiying information about what she meant by the word “woke” or clarify if Ms Mordaunt’s views on trans rights were her only “woke” beliefs.Ms Braverman added: “I have a very high opinion of Penny I have to say, I think she’s a remarkable lady, she’s a contituecy neighbour of mine, she’s a very effective local politician and a bit of an effective minister.“But I disagree with her on her views on trans ideology, gender ideology and the definition of a woman.”Ms Mordaunt’s views on trans rights have been the subject of sustained attention by her leadership rivals amid claims she pursued a policy of self-identification for trans people.The Sunday Times said it had seen government papers which appeared to suggest Ms Mordaunt was in favour of removing at least one element of the medical process required for transgender people to legally transition.However, Ms Mordaunt told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme that she had never advocated ending the requirement for trans people to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before they could legally change gender.“This has been rebutted many times. We all know what is going on. This is the type of toxic politics people want to get away from,” she said.“We did a consultation. We asked healthcare professionals what they thought about the situation. That is the section I looked after. I managed that consultation. We didn’t actually on my shift produce a policy.Recommended“There is a number of smears going on in the papers. My colleagues are very angry and upset that this is how the leadership contest is being dragged down.”Additional reporting by PA More

Tom Tugendhat has called the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda “a totem”, but said he would keep it if he wins the Tory leadership race.The outsider argued it is more important to “close down the roots” of people trafficking across the Mediterranean and avoided saying the policy – involving a £120m upfront payment and unknown further costs – is value for money.But the candidate promising “a clean start” after the Boris Johnson years joined with all his rivals in saying Priti Patel’s hardline plan should be given time to establish if it can work.“Let’s be absolutely clear. It is a totem that is necessary,” Mr Tugendhat told the BBC, suggesting it has symbolic value.“The way it will work is by showing extremely clearly that Britain simply does not tolerate human trafficking and the misery of slavery.”RecommendedIt was put to Mr Tugendhat that – with 607 people having crossed the Channel in small boats in July alone – the policy is “not working” as a deterrent, as claimed.It is also costing £120m yet “not a single person has been sent there yet”, presenter Sophie Raworth pointed out, asking: “Is it good value for the taxpayer?”But the candidate seen as the centrist in the race said: “This policy has barely been introduced. So I’m afraid I’m going to give it a bit more time.”Mr Tugendhat called for Royal Navy vessels to patrol the Mediterranean “helping our Italian and French partners”, saying: “I’ve already met with various Libyan leaders to talk about this.”He said: “We need to close down the route through Libya, we need to be extremely clear that those North African routes simply cannot continue.”Mr Tugendhat, the only contender to say outright that the prime minister is dishonest in Friday’s TV debate, stepped up his criticism of the outgoing prime minister’s behaviour.He called his much-fluctuating account of what happened over the illegal No 10 parties “rather more fictional than reality”.And he said: “What we need to see is a clean start. That is the most essential issue. In two years’ time we are going to be facing Keir Starmer in a general election.“We need to make sure that all the attack lines that have been used against us in the last three years don’t come back in a general election.Recommended“We need to make sure absolutely that what we are able to deliver is championing Conservative policies and deliver a Conservative vision for the future.”Mr Tugendhat is the candidate most likely to be knocked out in the third ballot of Tory MPs on Monday evening. More

Britain’s armed forces chief has dismissed speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not well” or could be assassinated as “wishful thinking”.The UK Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin was asked if President Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine in February, could be “toppled” or face “regime change”.But he told Sophie Raworth on BBC One’s Sunday Morning show: “I think some of the comments that he’s not well or that actually surely somebody’s going to assassinate him or take him out, I think they’re wishful thinking.“As military professionals we see a relatively stable regime in Russia, President Putin has been able to quash any opposition, we see a hierarchy that is invested in President Putin and so nobody at the top has got the motivation to challenge President Putin, and that is bleak.”He said the “challenge of Russia is going to endure” potentially for “decades in terms of Russia as a threat”, and the next prime minister should know that Russia is “the biggest threat” to the UK.RecommendedHe added: “So the biggest threat is Russia, and that’s Russia in all its guises when you look at it militarily.“Its land forces are probably less of a threat in the short term because of that degradation, that depletion that we’re seeing with their struggle in Ukraine.“But Russia continues to be a nuclear power, it’s got cyber capabilities, it’s got space capabilities, and it’s got particular programmes under water so it can threaten the underwater cables that allow the world’s information to transit around the whole globe.”On what Britain’s armed forces would look like if defence spending increased to 3% of GDP, he said: “I think they would be even more modern and they would have even more punch and they would have even more impact around the world, and that’s clearly a choice for government.”Reflecting on a recent visit to Kyiv, he said Ukraine’s army “absolutely” believed it will win the war.He added: “They plan to restore the whole of their territory in terms of Ukraine, and they see a Russia that is struggling, a Russia that we assess has lost more than 30% of its land combat effectiveness.

We will always give them a brief on the current situation so they are aware of where we have our armed forcesAdmiral Sir Tony Radakin on how he will brief the next PM“What that actually means is 50,000 Russian soldiers that have either died or been injured in this conflict, nearly 1,700 Russian tanks destroyed, nearly 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles that belong to Russia destroyed.”On how he will brief the next Prime Minister, he added: “We will always give them a brief on the current situation so they are aware of where we have our armed forces.Recommended“That’s dominated by Ukraine and the support that we are providing to Ukraine but we also try to step back and give a wider threat picture.“And then we have to remind the Prime Minister of the extraordinary responsibility they have with the UK as a nuclear power, and that is part of the initiation for a new British Prime Minister.” More

Penny Mordaunt has repeated her notorious false claim that the UK was unable to stop Turkey joining the EU – insisting the veto would not have been used.The Tory leadership contender, who also faces accusations of dishonesty over her stance on trans rights, was accused of ignoring “actual facts” that the EU treaty granted a block on new members.Confronted with an interview from the 2016 Brexit referendum – when the Leave campaign was seeking to stir up alarm about migrants from Turkey – Ms Mordaunt replied: “The clip says it as I see it.”On the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, it was pointed out to the favourite candidate of Tory members that Article 49 of the EU treaty granted a veto on any country joining the bloc.But she argued the crucial factor was David Cameron’s signal to Turkey that he wanted the country to join, claiming: “The British people did not have a say.”RecommendedMs Mordaunt said: “David Cameron had given undertakings to Turkey that the United Kingdom would support its accession to the EU.“Just because there’s a provision in a treaty doesn’t mean that the UK could ever have used that.“And to have gone back on what was government policy in those undertakings he has given to Turkey – a key NATO ally – would have been crazy.”However, Mr Cameron had said publicly that he believed Turkish accession to the EU was decades away, rather than a possibility in the near future.It is believed he had suggested he would not trigger the UK’s veto to avoid a backlash from the country with security implications – while also knowing another EU country would use theirs.In the interview, Ms Mordaunt also dismissed claims that she attempted to push through a change to allow people to change gender without a medical diagnosis as “smears”.“This has been rebutted many times. We all know what is going on. This is the type of toxic politics people want to get away from,” she said.“We did a consultation. We asked healthcare professionals what they thought about the situation. That is the section I looked after. I managed that consultation. We didn’t actually, on my shift, produce a policy.”Ms Mordaunt also described her proposals to halve VAT on petrol and raise tax thresholds as “modest” changes – in contrast to some of her rivals’ dramatic tax-slashing plans.Recommended“We need to demonstrate that there is some immediate targeted support going to people. We would have to adjust our tax forecasts, but this is absolutely necessary,” she said.She admitted borrowing for day-to-day spending would have to rise, saying: “We will have to do that for some time. The important thing is that debt [to GDP] ratio will fall over time.” More

Rishi Sunak dismisses question about Boris Johnson’s Chequers party amid heatwave emergencyPenny Mordaunt has admitted that her plans to cut taxes will lead to increased government borrowing.Ms Mordaunt said her proposals to halve VAT on petrol and raise tax thresholds represented a “modest” set of changes to help people struggling with the rising cost of living.“We need to demonstrate that there is some immediate targeted support going to people. We would have to adjust our tax forecasts but this is absolutely necessary, I think,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.“There is plenty of headroom to do this. This is, compared to other candidates, a very modest set of targeted support I have announced to help people.” She acknowledged that would mean borrowing to fund day-to-day spending.Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is pledging to scrap hundreds of remaining EU laws and regulations if he wins the race for the Tory crown in a fresh pitch to win over Brexiteers.The former chancellor has said he would appoint a Brexit minister to go through the remaining 2,400 EU laws still on the statute book.It comes as the remaining five contenders still in the contest are preparing for the second televised debate to be screened on ITV on Sunday evening.Show latest update

1658069145The 10 economic commitments we need from the next Tory leaderThe harsh truth is that whatever their aspirations are, they can only be successful if the economy is successful, writes Hamish McRae. More