UK Politics

Liz Truss has claimed that those with left-wing political beliefs are “smearing” her by blaming her for economic troubles she is “clearly not responsible for.”Iain Dale told the former prime minister: “People on the left are blaming everything that is wrong in our economy on that mini-Budget,” referring to the turmoil triggered by then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s measures which included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts and prompted the pound to slump to a 37-year low against the dollar.Ms Truss told the LBC presenter: “I think a lot of the public understand what I was trying to do.””But the left… [are] trying to smear me with economic results that… I’m clearly not responsible for.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Tory MP who reported Angela Rayner to the police amid an ongoing row over the sale of her council house refused to explain what alleged offences he thought she had committed.James Daly, the Conservative Party deputy chairman, failed to answer the question three times during an awkward exchange on the BBC’s Daily Politics programme.“Well, the Greater Manchester Police last week…announced that they were investigating various matters in relation to this and therefore I think it’s perfectly appropriate to allow that investigation to proceed,” he said.Mr Daly, who represents the red wall seat of Bury North in Greater Manchester, contacted police to make them aware that neighbours of Ms Rayner had contradicted her account that a property, separate from her husband’s, was her main residency.Greater Manchester Police later launched an investigation into whether Ms Rayner had broken electoral law, having initially said she had no case to answer, following questions about whether she paid the correct amount of tax when she sold the property before becoming an MP.James Daly was asked three times what offence he thought Rayner had committed but did not answer More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe UK government is facing growing calls to proscribe Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation following its attack on Israel. The British Board of Deputies, which represents British Jews, have led the calls for Rishi Sunak to ban the organisation. They have been backed by MPs from across the political divide, while Israel made similar representations to the United Nations security council. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is a powerful force within Iran and also controls the “axis of resistance” against Israel across the region.In a letter to Mr Sunak on Monday, the Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl said: “The IRGC’s role in funding, arming and training a host of terror proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, is clear”. Senior Tories also urged Mr Sunak to take action, with former party leader Iain Duncan-Smith describing ministers’ justifications for not designating the organisation as “absurd”.He told the Guardian: “The government should have already proscribed IRGC. The USA have asked us to do it. The excuses the government uses are [firstly] that if the UK proscribes the IRGC it will lose influence. That’s absurd as we clearly have no influence.”Bob Blackman, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Israel told The Independent he wants to see the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps proscribed and the Iranian embassy “closed in London, as well as our embassy closed down in Tehran, and all our diplomats brought home.”Shadow defence secretary John Healey also said the threat to the UK from allowing the IRGC to operate should be sufficient for the government to be “responsible” and ban the organisation. He added: “It’s the leading edge of the threat that Iran poses not just to Israel, but to Arab countries and western interests right across the region”. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said on Sunday that the attack “highlights once again the extreme danger of the IRGC”.Foreign secretary David Cameron said that proscribing the “dangerous” organisation was something ministers were keeping under review, alongside a number of possible further sanctions against the stateHe added: “I keep this under review but the police and security services say they have the powers to deal with it here or elsewhere.”Foreign secretary David Cameron has said that proscribing the force was something ministers were keeping under review More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch live as Rishi Sunak is set to address parliament following Iran’s attack on Israel, after home secretary James Cleverly takes questions from MPs.The House of Commons returns from Easter recess on Monday 15 April, one day after Tehran launched an “unprecedented” strike on Tel Aviv.Foreign secretary David Cameron has urged Israel to be “smart as well as tough” by not escalating the conflict with Iran in the hours following the attack.The government’s Rwanda legislation, meanwhile, is also high on the agenda for MPs today.Mr Sunak is braced for a fresh round of parliamentary wrangling over his Bill to save the government’s stalled deportation scheme.Sunday became the busiest day yet for Channel crossings this year after more than 500 migrants arrived in the UK in a single day.It means some 6,000 people have made the journey in 2024 to date, with more than 75,000 arrivals recorded two years on from the Rwanda deal being signed.MPs will consider amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill by the House of Lords, which inflicted a series of defeats against the controversial policy before rising for the spring break. More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailAfter the most disastrous stint in Downing Street in living memory, Liz Truss is preparing to release her memoir.She will argue she was ousted by the establishment and make a play for the ideological heart of the Tory Party.The collapse of her project, known as “Trussonomics”, dealt a hammer blow to the Tory party’s long-held reputation for fiscal responsibility and careful economic planning.Former prime minister Liz Truss sat alongside her former friend and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng More

Labour’s shadow defence secretary has urged Rishi Sunak to set out the government’s actions to “pursue the path of peace” in the Middle East.John Healey made the comments after Iran launched an “unprecedented” attack on Israel, which it said was in retaliation against a strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria earlier this month.Israel said Iran launched 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and at least 120 ballistic missiles in an assault that set off air raid sirens across the country.“This is the most serious and most dangerous moment since Hamas launched that unprecedented terror attack on Israel on October 7,” Mr Healey told BBC Breakfast on Monday 15 April. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer prime minister Liz Truss has accused US president Joe Biden of “utter hypocrisy and ignorance” for his reaction to the disastrous mini-Budget which sparked the end of her premiership. In her new book, Ten Years to Save the West, she recalled the global reaction to the mini-Budget which promised £45bn of unfunded tax cuts. Ms Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, has previously blamed the “deep state” for “sabotaging” her tax-cutting plans from Kwasi Kwarteng’s notoriously disastrous economic plan which sent the pound into a nose dive and sparked a crash in the markets.Ms Truss wrote, in an excerpt published in The Mail On Sunday: “Today [Tuesday 11 October 2022], the Bank of England governor himself caused a market reaction by announcing that the support scheme for pension funds would wind up at the end of the week. “This led to an immediate fall in the pound. On top of that, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has questioned whether the rich would benefit ‘too much’ from the mini budget — surely a domestic question for the UK Government!”She quoted President Biden saying: “I wasn’t the only one that thought [the mini budget] was a mistake. I think that the idea of cutting taxes on the super-wealthy at a time when … anyway, I just think … I disagreed with the policy.”The 49-day prime minister continued: “This was utter hypocrisy and ignorance. The top rate of income tax in the U.S. was 37 per cent and only charged to people earning the equivalent of £483,094 and above. By contrast, the top rate in the UK was 45 per cent and paid by those on more than £150,000.”Liz Truss resigned as prime minister on 20 October 2022 More

David Cameron believes Rishi Sunak is the “Unai Emery” of politics.Speaking to LBC on Monday 15 April, the foreign secretary likened the prime minister to the Aston Villa manager following a 2-0 upset win against Arsenal.Host Nick Ferrari initially compared Mr Sunak to Erik ten Hag, before Lord Cameron offered a different comparison.“I prefer to point to the example of Unai Emery for Villa yesterday, who looked like they were on a losing run against Arsenal and then in the last few minutes, slotted in two [goals],” he said.“Anything is possible in football, as in politics.” More