UK Politics

Penny Mordaunt has claimed she is the Tory leadership candidate that Labour “fears the most” and the party’s “best shot” at winning the next general election in her pitch to activists.Launching her campaign, the minister also warned the Conservative Party has “lost its sense of self” in the last few years, as she set out her pitch for low taxation and a reduction in the size of the state.“We need to get back to that,” she said. “We’ve got to stave off recession. We’ve got to catch up after Covid and we have a war. We have a manifesto that we have to deliver and standards and trust to restore”.Pressed on where she stood on gender issues, she added: “I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said ‘Every prime minister needs a Willie‘. A woman like me doesn’t have one.”Ms Mordaunt’s remarks come less than 24 hours after she progressed through to the next stage of voting among MPs in the Tory leadership contest, gaining over 20 MPs’ nominations to make the ballot.Along with seven other candidates she will now face the tough battle of winning enough of her colleagues’ support as the party’s 1922 committee whittles down the contenders to just two to face a membership vote.RecommendedSpeaking at her launch event in central London, Ms Mordaunt brushed off claims that she was less well-known than other candidates in the race to succeed Boris Johnson in No 10, saying: “I am the candidate that Labour fear the most — and they’re right to”.“If we do not win the next general election all those opportunities and the vision the British people had from us leaving the EU will not be realised. We must win that election. I am your best shot at winning that election,” she added.After Ms Mordaunt’s campaign launch, a Labour spokesperson, however, told The Independent: “Whoever succeeds this lying, damaging, discredited prime minister, will inherit a damaging, discredited government, a record of 12 years of failure, a stagnant economy as a result of their choices, and a general public who know they deserve better. We don’t fear any of them.” More

Conservative Party lawmakers in Britain are casting ballots Wednesday in the first round of an election to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson.The internal party contest will replace the flamboyant, scandal-ridden Johnson — a figure famous in Britain and around the world — with a new and much lesser-known prime minister.Eight candidates have secured the required backing of 20 of their colleagues to make the first ballot. The 358 Tory legislators will vote Wednesday afternoon, with the last-placed candidate and any others who fail to get 30 votes dropping off the list. Further rounds of voting will take place Thursday and, if needed, next week.The final two contenders will face a runoff vote by about 180,000 Conservative Party members across the country. The winner is scheduled to be announced Sept. 5 and will automatically become prime minister, without the need for a national election.Few of the contenders have a high public profile. Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak is the bookies’ favorite and has the largest number of declared supporters, followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt. RecommendedTreasury chief Nadhim Zahawi, backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, ex-Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Attorney General Suella Braverman are also on the ballot.The candidates are jostling to replace Johnson, who quit as Conservative leader last week amid a party revolt triggered by months of ethics scandals. He will remain in office as a caretaker prime minister until his replacement as party chief is chosen.Mordaunt, at her official campaign launch on Wednesday, said the party had “standards and trust to restore” after the scandal-tarnished Johnson years.She said voters “are fed up with us not delivering, they are fed up with unfulfilled promises and they are fed up with divisive politics.”The slate of candidates is strikingly diverse, with four contenders from ethnic minorities and four women. But all are offering similar tax-slashing pledges, with only Sunak offering a note of caution. He has cast himself as the candidate of fiscal probity, saying said the country needs “honesty and responsibility, not fairytales” to get through economic shockwaves from the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.___Follow all of AP’s coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More

Conservative party leadership frontrunner Rishi Sunak has boosted his chances by winning the backing of loyal Boris Johnson lieutenant Steve Barclay.Mr Barclay – the former No 10 chief of staff made health secretary during last week’s cabinet revolt against the prime minister – announced his support for Mr Sunak on Twitter.“I worked closely with him when I was chief secretary to the Treasury and I am convinced that he has all the right attributes to take our country forward,” he said of the former chancellor.Mr Sunak has been subjected to bitter attacks from Johnson loyalists, with Jacob Rees-Mogg accusing him of being a “socialist” chancellor and Nadine Dorries claimed he has waged “dirty tricks” to ensure he wins.Mr Barclay’s endorsement may go some way to sooth some of the uneasiness towards Mr Sunak felt by junior ministers who stayed in government or accepted roles last week amid the turmoil of the rebellion.Tory MPs will have the chance to vote for the eight contenders vying to replace Boris Johnson, as balloting begins to find his successor.RecommendedMr Sunak, Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahawi and Suella Braverman will all be on the ballot as voting opens at 1.30pm on Wednesday, after all secured the 20 nominations.Tuesday saw some high-profile causalities as the race intensifies. Former health secretary Sajid Javid pulled out, home secretary Priti Patel decided against a late bid, and transport secretary Grant Shapps switched support to Mr Sunak.Meanwhile Ms Truss, gained the endorsement of prominent Johnson loyalists Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries and James Cleverly, in what was seen as a concerted move to prevent Mr Sunak entering No 10.Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak’s team of “dirty tricks” after claims that one of his supporters – ex-chief whip Gavin Williamson – had been trying to “syphon off” votes for Mr Hunt so he would make it to the final run-off and give Mr Sunak an easy opponent.The claim was denied by Mr Hunt, who told LBC radio it was a “very dangerous game to play”. He also blamed the former chancellor for putting Britain on course for a recession.Backers of Mr Hunt believe that he will be able to amass the required minimum of 30 votes in the first ballot later on Wednesday, but publicly-declared nominations suggest he, Ms Bdenoch, Ms Braverman and Mr Zahawi may now struggle to make to the final two.Johnson loyalist and Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg launched a broadside against Mr Sunak’s economic policy in an article in the Daily Mail, accusing him of raising tax to “socialist” levels.Mr Sunak, in the interview, told The Telegraph: “We will cut taxes and we will do it responsibly. That’s my economic approach. I would describe it as common sense Thatcherism. I believe that’s what she would have done.”Mr Shapps denied Mr Sunak’s campaign has engaged in “dirty tricks”, and dismissed Mr Rees-Mogg’s claim that he had been “socialist chancellor” as “not true”.It comes after a Opinium poll for Channel 4 News revealed that Mr Sunak is the preferred candidate to take over the Tory Party among Conservative members, with 28 per cent wanting him on the final ballot.RecommendedAway from the Tory leadership race, the government has also provoked a row with Labour after the opposition party accused Mr Johnson’s team of “running scared” after it refused to allow parliamentary time for a Commons vote of no confidence.Labour had called it “unprecedented” for ministers not to allow parliamentary time for a vote of confidence. But a government spokesman hit back, accusing Labour of “playing politics”. More

Liz Truss told Conservatives MPs she was “prepared” to pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights if reforms aimed at reducing the influence of judges in Strasbourg are not successful.The foreign secretary and leadership hopeful told a hustings event organised by Tory right-wingers that if became necessary to withdraw, “I would be prepared to do that”.However, Ms Truss’s team have insisted that such a move would be a last resort.The top contender’s preferred way of reducing the influence of Strasbourg’s European Court of Human Rights – which oversees the convention – would be through the government’s proposed “bill of rights”.Ms Truss’s allies have contrasted the position with the more hard-line stance taken by rival Suella Braverman – who claimed the European Court of Human Rights was “thwarting our democracy” and the UK must remove itself from its jurisdiction.It follows Tory outrage over the first planned Rwanda deportation flight being halted after last-minute rulings from the European Court of Human Rights and the UK’s appeal court.RecommendedFurther attempts to send asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda for “offshore processing”, a bid to reduce small boat crossings in the English Channel, are not likely to be made until after a judicial review begins later this week.Kemi Badenoch and Nadhim Zahawi were said to be “open to withdrawal” from the European convention at last night’s hustings by the Common Sense Group of MPs, while Rishi Sunak did not rule out the possibility, according to Politico.In the wake of last month’s failed first attempt to send migrants to Rwanda, asked if the UK could end its relationship with the Strasbourg court, Mr Sunak said: “All options are on the table”.The bill of rights put forward by justice minister Dominic Raab is partly aimed at giving British courts greater powers to ignore rulings by the European court, currently the ultimate arbiter of the human rights convention for dozens of countries.However, withdrawing as a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights would be a radical step.It would put the next prime minister in the same company as Vladimir Putin’s regime after Russia announced in March it would cease to be party to the convention and was ending jurisdiction of the European court.The row comes as Conservative leadership contender Jeremy Hunt said he would back an expansion of the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda.Viewed as a Tory moderate, Mr Hunt is keen to build support from people in the right of the party keen to see further crackdowns on small boat crossing in the English Channel.“I hope we could find some other countries as well as Rwanda,” Mr Hunt told the Sunday Telegraph. “I think we have to stop the small boats. I support the current policy.”RecommendedMr Tugendhat – hoping to win the support of the One Nation wing of Tory moderates – also said he would keep the “Rwanda solution” policy put forward by Boris Johnson’s government.“The Rwanda solution is not one anyone would have initially chosen, but the reality is you cannot have rewards for criminality and illegal action,” he told the Sunday Times. More

Priti Patel has refused to attend a planned session giving evidence to parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, and will not answer questions until after the Conservative leadership election – if she is still in post.The home secretary was due to be questioned on issues including the Rwanda migrant deal, violence against women and girls, policing and passport delays on Wednesday morning.Minutes before the session was due to start, the Home Affairs Committee tweeted: “This morning at 10.00am we were due to be questioning the home secretary, Priti Patel. She has declined to attend our session.”Stuart McDonald, a Scottish National Party MP who sits on the committee, said the home secretary emailed the committee shortly before 5pm on Tuesday to cancel her appearance.The reason given was “recent changes in government”, including to her ministerial team, following a wave of resignations that ousted Boris Johnson.RecommendedMs Patel remained in her post and pitched to influential MPs to run in the Conservative leadership race, but ruled herself out on Tuesday after failing to receive sufficient support.She is expected to continue as home secretary until at least September, when the winning candidate will become prime minister and reshuffle the cabinet.Ms Patel’s situation is uncertain, amid concern among Conservative MPs over her failure to reduce Channel migrant crossings and doubts over the effectiveness and costs of the Rwanda deal.The chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Diana Johnson, called the refusal to attend Wednesday’s evidence session “wholly unacceptable”.“This date was agreed months in advance and the reason given for why the home secretary cannot attend this morning – due to changes in the Home Office ministerial team – does not make sense as it was the home secretary giving evidence and not a junior minister,” she said.Ms Patel had been due to appear before the committee alongside the Home Office’s two most senior civil servants, permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft and second permanent secretary Tricia Hayes.In her email to the committee, Ms Patel said its scrutiny was “always a priority for the department and me”. More

Conservative leadership hopeful Nadhim Zahawi has said he would “certainly” give Boris Johnson a cabinet role if the caretaker prime minister is keen for a job after leaving No 10.The chancellor insisted he remained a loyal ally of Mr Johnson, despite publicly urging him to stand down amid a flurry of ministerial resignations last week.“Boris Johnson is a friend of mine for 30 years,” Mr Zahawi told LBC on Wednesday. “If he wishes to serve in cabinet then I would certainly offer him a job.”He added: “He has been probably the most consequential prime minister of his generation. He’s delivered Brexit.”Mr Zahawi, one of the eight candidates who made in onto Wednesday’s first round ballot after receiving 20 nominations, is at pains to point out to Johnson loyalists that he did not betray the PM.Many of the junior ministers who stayed in government and MPs who accepted ministerial roles last week amid the turmoil of the rebellion are angry at Mr Sunak over his perceived “treachery”.RecommendedMr Zahawi explained why he called for Mr Johnson to go on Thursday, having accepted the role of chancellor only two days before. He said he wanted to “put country first”, but realised on Wednesday “we couldn’t realistically have a functioning government”.“I went to Boris Johnson [on Wednesday] and explained he was in danger of being humiliated, and I didn’t want to see him being put through that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “He’s a friend of 30 years.”He added: “The next morning. I felt the only thing I could do was write a letter to him, to remind of our conversation and ask him to do the right thing. And I think he did the right thing ultimately.”It come sas Jacob Rees-Mogg said he would refuse to serve in Mr Sunak’s government because loyalty was “extremely important” to him.The Brexit opportunities, who is backing Liz Truss, said she had “opposed the endless tax rises of the former chancellor, which I think have been economically damaging”.Asked how long Ms Truss had been planning a leadership campaign, Mr Rees-Mogg responded: “She may have had drinks with MPs and meetings, but that’s the routine business of cabinet ministers. Even I had drinks parties with other MPs – when I was allowed to.”Referring to Mr Sunak’s team registering his campaign website back in December – as first reported by The Independent – he added: “It’s not setting up a website, it’s not getting ready in December … that’s a different order of magnitude.”Asked if he would take a cabinet post from Mr Sunak if became PM, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “No, of course I wouldn’t. I believe his behaviour towards Boris Johnson, his disloyalty, means I could not possibly support him.”Mr Sunak has been subjected to bitter attacks from Johnson loyalists, with Mr Rees-Mogg accusing him of being a “socialist” chancellor and Nadine Dorries claiming he has waged “dirty tricks” to ensure he wins.RecommendedTory MP Mark Francois, chair of the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteers, has said he is backing Liz Truss for the leadership.“I have personally decided to vote for Liz Truss to be our next prime minister,” he told The Telegraph, hailing her “experience and leadership ability to unite the Conservative Party”.The group of around 60 MPs in the group is set to meet at midday to discuss the candidates, but it is not clear they would agree on one candidate. Steve Baker – the self-declared “Brexit hardman” and former ERG chair – is backing Suella Braverman. More

Like most of his predecessors as Conservative Party leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is wealthy, white and male. There’s a good chance his successor will be different.The eight candidates running in a party election to succeed Johnson are four men and four women, with roots in Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria as well as the U.K. The race could give the country its first Black or brown prime minister, its third female leader, or both.With the first round of voting by Conservative lawmakers set for Wednesday, the bookies’ favorite is former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, son of Indian parents who came to Britain from East Africa. Other contenders include Kemi Badenoch, whose parents are Nigerian; Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad and came to Britain as a child and Suella Braverman, whose Indian parents moved to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius.With Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss also in the race, only two white men — Tom Tugendhat and Jeremy Hunt — are running.Zahawi, who recalled coming to Britain at age 11 speaking no English, said “the Conservative Party has made me who I am today.”RecommendedBut if the contenders reflect the face of modern Britain, the winner will be chosen by an electorate that does not. The next party leader, who will also become prime minister, will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative members who tend to be affluent, older white men.The slate of candidates reflects successful efforts to attract more diverse talent to the party and shake its “pale, male and stale” image, begun after former Prime Minister David Cameron became party leader in 2005. Cameron made a push to draft diverse candidate shortlists for solidly Conservative seats, an effort that has seen Black and brown Tory lawmakers elected in constituencies that are predominantly white. The party’s attempt to attract aspiring politicians from immigrant backgrounds has succeeded despite a Brexit vote in which the winning “leave” side — championed by Boris Johnson — played on concerns about immigration.“The Conservative Party is very diverse at the very, very top,” said Sunder Katwala, director of the equality think-tank British Future. “It’s a massive, rapid change, and it’s a level of ethnic diversity that has never been seen in any leadership field for any political party in any Western democracy.“It’s clear that minority candidates have a sense that their voice, their story, is relevant to this moment. That might be the story of aspiration, it might be the story of inclusive patriotism after Brexit.”Change has happened despite the Conservatives lagging behind the left-of-center Labour Party in terms of overall diversity. Labour, which passed Britain’s first race relations act in 1965, has long seen itself as the natural home for ethnic-minority voters, as well as a champion of women’s rights. Half of Labour’s lawmakers are women and 20% come from non-white backgrounds; among Tory legislators, 24% are women and 6% belong to ethnic minorities.But minorities in the Tory party have risen higher, and faster. Sunak, Zahawi and Javid all served in Johnson’s Cabinet in senior posts. Both of Britain’s female prime ministers — Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May — have been Tories, while Labour has never had a female leader. The only British prime minister from an ethnic minority background was 19th-century leader Benjamin Disraeli, who came from Sephardic Jewish stock. He was a Conservative, too.“Labour continues to regard minorities as groups to be protected or talked about a lot — but for whatever reason it seems they can’t or won’t advance them on merit to the highest offices,” said Conservative commentator Alex Deane. “The conservative approach is to advance people on ability regardless of gender or color and — guess what?— it works.”If the candidates’ backgrounds are diverse, their views are less so. Johnson’s drive for a “hard” Brexit from the European Union, regardless of the economic cost, drove many pro-European and centrist lawmakers out of the government. Those who remain, of all backgrounds, are small-state, free-marketeers inspired by “Iron Lady” Thatcher.Contenders have fallen over one another to promise tax cuts, painting Sunak as a left-winger because he has suggested that slashing taxes might not immediately be possible amid war in Ukraine and a stuttering post-pandemic economy.Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the race was “a contest between different strains of Thatcherism.”In part that’s because the candidates are wooing an electorate, members of the Conservative Party, that is significantly less diverse — racially, economically and ideologically — than Britain as a whole.A study of political party membership by Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University, completed in 2020, found 95% of Conservative members identified as “White British,” compared to about 86% of the population as a whole. Some 63% of party members were men, 58% were aged 50 or older and 80% were middle class or above.Still, Katwala, who studies British social attitudes, is confident the Conservative electorate “will see the leaders through their politics and through issues” rather than through gender or ethnicity.“Britain has become a more tolerant, less racially prejudiced country, very significantly, over the last few generations,” he said.“What makes ethnic diversity normal in politics is when you’ve got it on the right, on the left and in the middle. “Recommended___Follow all of AP’s coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More