UK Politics

Just five candidates remain in the Conservative Party leadership race following Thursday’s second round of voting.Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, attorney general Suella Braverman, ex-health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt and transport secretary Grant Shapps have already dropped out after failing to amass the support needed.That leaves ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak as the front-runner to replace Boris Johnson, the very man whose resignation last week marked the beginning of the end for the scandal-hit prime minister. Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt, foreign secretary Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat make up the rest of the pack.The contest now reaches its TV debate stage, with the surviving quintet squaring up three times in five days to thrash out their policy positions on key areas of national concern such as the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and the recent resurgence of coronavirus.RecommendedThe first clash takes place this evening (Friday 15 July) and will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 7.30pm, running for 90 minutes and hosted by anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy.The second, on Sunday 17 July, will be broadcast on ITV at 7pm and run for an hour, with more details expected from the broadcaster soon. It will also be available on the ITV Hub.The third and final session takes place on the evening of Tuesday 19 July by which point further candidates will have been eliminated after a further round of voting on Monday.This last instalment will be aired on Sky News at 8pm and mediated by Kay Burley.The Independent will cover all three debates live on our site, bringing you all the latest breaking news updates.They will also be broadcast as they happen on the channels concerned and on YouTube. More

The Conservative Party leadership race is already down to its final five and becoming increasingly heated, as supporters of foreign secretary Liz Truss are accused of briefing against junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt, currently in second place.The front-runner to replace Boris Johnson remains ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, whose resignation last week marked the beginning of the end for the scandal-hit prime minister. Ms Mordaunt, Ms Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat make up the rest of the pack after the second round of voting on Thursday.Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, attorney general Suella Braverman, ex-health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt and transport secretary Grant Shapps have all dropped out after failing to amass the support needed. More

The Conservative Party leadership race is already down to its final five and becoming increasingly heated, as supporters of foreign secretary Liz Truss are accused of briefing against junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt, currently in second place.The front-runner to replace Boris Johnson remains ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, whose resignation last week marked the beginning of the end for the scandal-hit prime minister. Ms Mordaunt, Ms Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat make up the rest of the pack after the second round of voting on Thursday.Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, attorney general Suella Braverman, ex-health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt and transport secretary Grant Shapps have all dropped out after failing to amass the support needed. More

Tory MPs have already voted twice in their leadership contest, and will soon be voting in their third round.Under Conservative party rules, MPs will keep voting and eliminating the candidate with the least support until there are just two left.Those final two will be put to the entire party membership in a head-to-head contest.Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi were the fist two candidates eliminated in the first round of the contest, which took place on Wednesday 13th July.Then on Thursday 14th July MPs held a second ballot, eliminating right-wing candidate Suella Braverman.RecommendedAt each stage so far Rishi Sunak has topped the ballot, with Penny Mordaunt coming in second and Liz Truss third.The other two candidates are Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch.The next phase of the contest will take place on Monday 18th July, where a third ballot will be held to eliminate another candidate. Results are expected by 8pm.The fourth ballot will take place on Tuesday 19th, with results at 3pm, and the fifth ballot on Wednesday 20th, with results at 4pm.There will then be two candidates left for members to vote on over the summer. Boris Johnson’s successor will be announced on 5 September. More

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

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

Keir Starmer has dropped a policy pledge to end private sector outsourcing in the NHS, disappointing some Labour supporters.In an interview on Thursday night the opposition leader was asked whether he stood by a leadership campaign commitment to end private sector involvement in the health service. He replied: “Well look, there is some private provision in the NHS and we’re likely to have to continue with that.” The statement is the latest campaign promise to be repudiating by Sir Keir following U-turns on tuition fees, free movement, and public ownership.Responding to a question from LBC presenter Andrew Marr, Sir Keir added: “I’m not going to resile from my belief in the NHS as a public health provider. My wife worked for the NHS, my mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked in the NHS, it runs through our blood.”RecommendedMr Marr replied: “That was a very specific pledge, however, which has now gone.”Labour left-wingers said members had “gotten used to Keir Starmer breaking his word” and offering them “reheated Blairism”.It comes after Sir Keir’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting in January this year said a Labour government would make more use of private providers – apparently contradicting the leader’s earlier promise.The policy is a reversal from that of previous leaders Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, who promised to protect the NHS from privatisation. Sir Keir made 10 pledges to Labour members laying out his policy platform during the 2019 leadership contest.The pledge on common ownership said that “public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders,” elaborating that he would “end outsourcing in our NHS” among other services.A number of the 10 pledges have been explicitly repudiated as the opposition leader tacks to the right, including on tuition fees, nationalising utilities, and taxation.In his LBC interview Sir Keir appeared to suggest that he believed breaking the pledges could help him become prime minister.”I would say this, just about those pledges. We went through the hustings that all the Tory candidates are going through now,” he said.”Everybody at every hustings had a closing speech and my closing speech was the same every single time: if we don’t win all the things that all the candidates are saying will never come to pass.”So I made it clear that anyone voting for me as leader of the Labour Party would have somebody who is laser-like focused on winning an election. That was my pitch to our Labour Party members.”The Labour leader also repudiated previous Labour manifestoes, stating in June: “We’re starting from scratch. The slate is wiped clean.” During the leadership campaign he said the 2017 manifesto should be “our foundational document”.A spokesperson for the left-wing campaign group Momentum said: “Labour members have gotten used to Keir Starmer breaking his word – we were promised unity, integrity and radicalism, and given factionalism, deception and reheated Blairism instead. Recommended”But Keir’s acceptance of private provision in the NHS, coming soon after Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the same, is particularly disturbing. “It was a radical Labour government who established the NHS as a lasting and cherished public good – but creeping privatisation is designed to undermine this achievement, and transition to a US-style, profiteering Wild West health system. This agenda is highly unpopular and deeply damaging – there can be no justification for Labour adopting it.” More

The Tory leadership hopefuls have been whittled down to five and are preparing for two live televised debates before another vote on Monday. And we want to know who you think is going to win the contest to be party leader and therefore our next prime minister.Penny Mordaunt narrowed the gap with frontrunner Rishi Sunak and increased her lead over Liz Truss in the second round of voting by Tory MPs on Thursday.The former defence secretary won 83 votes, while the former chancellor won 101 – a gap of 18, three lower than the gap after the first round.Suella Braverman, who was knocked out of the contest, announced she would now back Ms Truss, and if her supporters did the same, the foreign secretary would rival Ms Mordaunt for support.Meanwhile, former Brexit minister Lord Frost has thrown his support behind Ms Truss and urged Kemi Badenoch to pull out of the Tory leadership contest and back the foreign secretary.RecommendedHe called for “unity among free marketeers” and praised Ms Badenoch but said she should withdraw “in return for a serious job in a Truss administration”.Tom Tugendhat has vowed to fight on, despite receiving the backing of just 32 Conservative MPs.Elsewhere, Ms Truss has been accused of “black-ops” in her desperate fight to stay in the race, as the party’s right-wing boosted her chances of being the next prime minister. Two leading supporters of the foreign secretary branded key rival Ms Mordaunt unfit to be prime minister as the contest turned nasty and undermined her claim to be fighting a clean campaign. The Tory infighting comes as one senior Truss supporter revealed frustration with MPs who have failed to vote for her as promised, telling The Independent: “This is the most duplicitous lying electorate you have ever come across.”The next round of voting is due on Monday, with subsequent rounds if required until two candidates are left, who will then battle it out over the summer to win the support of Conservative members. Their choice of the next prime minister will be announced on September 5.Who do you think will win the Tory leadership contest? Let us know by voting in the poll and then come back soon to see the results. More