UK Politics

The right-wing of the Conservative Party should unite behind Liz Truss, senior backer Therese Coffey has said as the foreign secretary struggles to keep pace with the frontrunners.Ms Truss only nabbed 50 votes in the first ballot of the Tory race, falling behind rivals Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, as she prepares to set out her pitch as a tax-cutter on Thursday morning.The work and pensions secretary – who called Ms Truss a “fantastic lady” – said it was time for supporters of Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman to fall in behind the foreign secretary.In a plea to unite those on the right, Ms Coffey claimed “emotions” were still raw and said it may “take a little bit of time” for rival camps to acknowledge Ms Truss had the best chance of making it into the final two.The cabinet minister told Sky News: “The reason why I think supporters of Kemi and Suella should come and join Liz is because a lot of their policies are in a very similar direction.”RecommendedSome Brexiteers MPs were understood to be trying to persuade ardent Brexiteer Ms Braverman – who only squeaked through with 32 votes – to withdraw.Ms Badenoch, who has strong support from anti-woke MPs, picked up a more impressive 40 votes and is not expected to back out at the second round of voting today.The rival camps of Ms Truss and Ms Mordaunt engaged in a furious briefing war last night, after the outsider shook up the race by running a close second to Mr Sunak – gaining 67 to his 88.And a shock YouGov survey showed that Ms Mordaunt would defeat Sunak by 67 per cent to 28 per cent among party members – a huge margin. A Ms Mordaunt versus Ms Truss match-up is closer, at 55 per cent versus 37 per cent.An ally of Ms Truss told The Times it was not the time for a prime minister who required “stabilisers”, while an ally of Ms Mordaunt accused Ms Truss of pursuing a “dog-whistle, anti-woke Faragist campaign”.The foreign secretary’s backers have been accused of running a campaign to damage Mr Sunak’s chances in the contest – criticising the former chancellor’s “economically damaging” policies.In a campaign speech on Thursday, Ms Truss will detail her economic plan, which includes reversing April’s National Insurance rate rise, lowering corporation tax and enacting supply-side reforms.Despite being a Johnson loyalist, Ms Truss kept her powder dry as the Tory top brass turned on the mortally wounded PM last week, though she did cut short a foreign trip to Indonesia to head back to Westminster as he announced his resignation.The 46-year-old has made little secret of her leadership ambitions, with a series of high-profile interventions and photo opportunities in which she appeared to be channelling late Margaret Thatcher.The former-Remainer-turned-ardent-Brexiteer’s threats to tear up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU play well with sections of the party.Ms Truss has appealed to Brexiteers by claiming she was a “reluctant Remainer” at the 2016 Brexit referendum. “If I could vote now, I would vote to leave the European Union,” she told The Spectator.She added: “I was a reluctant Remainer. I was loyal to the prime minister at the time, David Cameron.”Conservative MPs in the European Research Group (ERG) are split over which candidate will best champion the Brexit cause, with ERG chair Mark Francois backing Ms Truss.RecommendedContrasting her experience with that of relative newcomer Ms Mordaunt, Ms Truss is expected to say: “I am ready to be prime minister on day one. I can lead, make tough decisions and rise to the moment.”The second round of voting by Tory MPs takes place between 11.30am and 1.30pm, with a result announced at 3pm. More

‘I have grave reservations’: Lord Frost questions Penny Mordaunt’s leadership abilitySuella Braverman has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race in the second round of voting, as Rishi Sunak topped the ballot with more than 100 backers.Penny Mordaunt increased her lead over Liz Truss, with 83 votes to the foreign secretary’s 64 – while Tom Tugendhat vowed to fight on despite receiving the backing of just 32 Conservative MPs.Lord Frost earlier launched a brutal attack on Ms Mordaunt after polling placed her as the favourite among the Tory faithful to succeed Boris Johnson, with the former Brexit minister claiming he had asked for her to be removed as his deputy during talks with the EU.Alleging that the former defence secretary “did not master the detail that was necessary” during negotiations and “wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the EU” when the situation merited it, the Conservative peer said he was now “gravely concerned”.Ms Truss will now be hoping to hoover up Ms Braverman’s support – with the results likely to amplify calls from her allies who earlier urged those supporting Kemi Badenoch to “join Liz” instead.RecommendedShow latest update

1657810161Truss ‘faces narrow path’ to final two, as Tory MPs ‘want a fresh face’Here is some reaction from journalists to the results, and what they could mean for the next stages of the race.Liz Truss faces a narrow path to make it into the last two, The Times’ political editor believes.Tom Newton-Dunn of TalkTV suggests that the dispersion of the results in today’s vote indicates that “the majority of MPs still want a fresh face”.And Stephen Bush of the Financial Times argues that “the only candidates you can say had an unalloyed good result” are Kemi Badenoch and Penny Mordaunt.Andy Gregory14 July 2022 15:491657809343Penny Mordaunt slightly increases lead over Liz Truss and picks up most new votesThe margin between Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss has seen a slight increase – with the foreign secretary coming 19 votes behind her rival in the second round.Ms Truss will be hoping to hoover up votes belonging to newly-eliminated Suella Braverman as she seeks to close the gap – which has grown from 67-50 in the first round, to 83-64 in the second.Picking up 16 new votes, Ms Mordaunt increased her vote share in the second round by more than any other candidate:Andy Gregory14 July 2022 15:351657808593Watch: Suella Braverman eliminated from raceHere is the moment that Suella Braverman was knocked out of the race:Tory leadership: Suella Braverman eliminated from race as Sunak leads in second ballotAndy Gregory14 July 2022 15:231657808525Tugendhat vows to fight on after receiving just 32 votesTom Tugendhat has insisted that his “campaign for a clean start” continues – despite him receiving just 32 votes in the second round of the leadership race.“We need trust back in our politics. I will be putting my vision for Britain forward to the public at the TV debates next week,” the foreign affairs committee chair said.Andy Gregory14 July 2022 15:221657807993Liz Truss campaign claims she is attracting support from across Tory PartyLiz Truss’s leadership election team claimed she is attracting a wide range of support from across the Tory party, as they indicted Suella Braverman’s supporters should now back the foreign secretary.“Suella Braverman ran a campaign that she can rightly be proud of,” a spokeswoman for Ms Truss said.“As Liz set out in her speech now is the time for MPs to unite behind the candidate who will cut taxes, deliver the real economic change we need, continue to deliver the benefits of Brexit and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine.“Liz Truss has the experience to deliver from day one, grow our economy and support working families and then beat Labour.”Andy Gregory14 July 2022 15:131657807529Sunak receives more than 100 votes in second round of votingOur deputy political correspondent Rob Merrick has this breaking report on the results of the second Tory leadership vote: More

A Conservative leadership candidate has said the Online Safety Bill in its current form should not become law after it emerged the Bill’s final stages have been delayed until the autumn.Former minister Kemi Badenoch said the postponement was the “right move”, adding that if she is elected as leader of the Tories she will “ensure the Bill doesn’t overreach”.In response to reports it was being deferred, Ms Badenoch tweeted: “This would be the right move. The Bill is in no fit state to become law.“If I’m elected Prime Minister I will ensure the Bill doesn’t overreach. We should not be legislating for hurt feelings.”RecommendedCulture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is spearheading the Bill and is backing Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to be the next leader of the Tories, replied: “Which part of the Bill legislates for hurt feelings, Kemi?”The legislation was provisionally due to go before Parliament next week but the PA news agency understands it has been delayed to allow for a confidence vote in the Government and the next stage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to take place ahead of recess.However, sources have said the Bill is expected to be tabled in the autumn once the new prime minister has taken office.Campaigners have warned that the delay could be detrimental in the fight to keep children safe online.Andy Burrows, head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, said: “The Online Safety Bill is a crucial piece of legislation that is fundamentally about protecting children from harm and abuse that is taking place on an industrial scale on social media.“Any delay will mean families continue to pay the price for the failure and inaction of tech firms who have allowed harm to fester rather than get their house in order.“Online regulation is therefore vital to force their hand and delivering this legislation should be a cornerstone of any Government’s duty to keep the most vulnerable in our society safe.”Tim Cairns, senior policy officer at social policy charity Care, added: “Care completely understands the free speech concerns associated with certain provisions in the Online Safety Bill, and we share fears that a requirement to police ‘legal but harmful’ speech would devastate free expression online. However, other aspects of this legislation are unquestionably laudable.“We are living in an era when safeguarding in the online sphere does not have parity with safeguarding in the offline world. Care is particularly concerned about the array of disturbing and harmful content children encounter online, including pornography, which they can access with ease. More

Conservative party leadership frontrunner Rishi Sunak has promised to run the economy like Margaret Thatcher if he suceeds Boris Johnson at No 10.The former chancellor, who has clashed with other contenders for refusing to promise immediate tax cuts, has said his economic vision amounted to “common sense Thatcherism”.Mr Sunak on Tuesday evening joined seven other contenders on the ballot paper as Tory MPs begin voting on Wednesday to elect a successor to the prime minister. More

The Conservative Party’s vice chairman Sir Mike Penning has resigned from his position in order to campaign publicly for leadership contender Penny Mordaunt.“As vice-chair I was unable to declare who I would like to vote for,” he told Sky News. “I stepped down this afternoon”.Sir Mike said his constituents wanted a “fresh start”, suggesting the “momentum” is now with Ms Mordaunt, who launched her campaign on Wednesday claiming she is the candidate Labour “fears the most”.“Penny has all the attributes that we’re looking for now, she’s very down to earth, she’s served her country as defence secretary and in the Royal Navy, and particularly in my constituency she will go down very well,” he added.RecommendedSir Mike’s remarks came just moments Ms Mordaunt emerged second in the first ballot of MPs, with chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt both eliminated from the contest.Rishi Sunak won the most support from colleagues, with 88 MPs backing his leadership bid, but he was closely followed by Ms Mordaunt on 67 while Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, was in third place with 50.Earlier, Ms Mordaunt emerged as the favourite to win the contest if she makes the final round next week, with aYouGov snap poll of 879 Tory members saw 27 per cent respond they would favour her to succeed Boris Johnson in No 10.Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch was in second place on 15 per cent while Rishi Sunak, who resigned as chancellor last week, and foreign secretary Liz Truss tied on 13 per cent.Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, had the support of 8 per cent, while attorney-general Suella Braverman was on 5 per cent. More

Conservative MPs have voted in the first round of their leadership contest, eliminating Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi as the two least favoured candidates.Former chancellor Rishi Sunak topped the ballot with the backing of 88 MPs, while Portsmouth MP Penny Mordaunt beat Liz Truss for second place with 67 votes to Truss’s 50.The table after the first round looks like this: Rishi Sunak – 88Penny Mordaunt – 67 RecommendedLiz Truss – 50Kemi Badenoch – 40Suella Braverman – 32Tom Tugendhat – 37The two candidates eliminated are:Jeremy Hunt – 18RecommendedNadhim Zahawi – 25MPs are set to vote against and will continue to eliminate more candidates, until two just two remain. The final two will be put to the wider rank-and-file Tory membership, who will elect the new leader – who will become Britain’s new prime minister. More

Rank-and-file Conservative members generally support the government’s net zero climate ambitions and only a minority think taxes and public spending should be cut, polling suggests.The findings, from pollster Opinium, are apparently at odds with the received wisdom among most Tory leadership candidates – who have been competing to offer eye-catching reductions in the size of the state.Some candidates have cast doubt on whether the UK should stick to its net zero pledge introduced by Theresa May and stuck to by Boris Johnson.Outside candidate Kemi Badenoch this week branded net zero “unilateral economic disarmament”, with Suella Braverman also openly opposed. But it is on tax where all the candidates have deployed their most eye-catching policy positions.RecommendedMost candidates have also said they will cut taxes and spending, with Nadhim Zahawi saying he would reduce the basic rate of income tax by 2 per cent and impose steep 20 per cent cuts on all departments, on top of existing austerity. Sajid Javid has said he will cut corporation tax and income tax, and reverse a hike in national insurance – while Jeremy Hunt has focused on immediate cuts to corporation tax.All candidates have said they will cut taxes eventually, though they disagree about when to do so.But a survey of Tory members by Opinium found that just 29 per cent of Tory members want less tax or spending, with 20 per cent saying they want more. 38 per cent say the balance should stay as now.And 37 per cent of Conservative members believe the UK government is “overreacting” on climate action, with 22 per cent saying it is underrating and 30 per cent saying it it is getting policy about right.Under the UK’s climate targets Britain would have to emit no more greenhouse gases than it absorbs by 2050 – the UK’s contribution to averting catastrophic climate change.RecommendedOut of all the candidates Tom Tugendhat and Jeremy Hunt are thought to be more in favour of the UK sticking to its climate commitments. The eight candidates for next Tory leader will be whittled down to a final two by Conservative MPs by eliminating those with the least support in rounds of voting. The final pair will be put to the membership of the party on a one-member-one-vote basis. More