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Gillian Keegan was spotted tearing up during Rishi Sunak’s speech at Conservative Party conference on Wednesday 4 October.The education secretary became emotional as the prime minister discussed his backstory and recalled a sweet moment he shared with his grandfather when he first became an MP.Mr Sunak also confirmed that the northern leg of HS2 will be scrapped and discussed a number of other policies during his wide-ranging speech.He announced he was replacing A levels with an “Advanced British Standard” qualifications system, and will follow New Zealand in tabling plans to raise the smoking age each year in Britain. More

Rishi Sunak took aim at Nicola Sturgeon during his speech at the Conservative Party conference, joking that Scotland’s former first minister could “go down”.The prime minister told delegates in Manchester that the “forces of separatism are in retreat across our country” and made direct reference to Ms Sturgeon.“Nicola Sturgeon wanted to go down in the history books as the woman who broke up our country,” Mr Sunak said.“But it now looks like she may go down for very different reasons.”His comments – which appeared to poke fun at the ongoing police investigation into the SNP’s finances – sparked laughter from the audience. More

Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, made a surprise speech at the Conservative Party conference to support her “best friend”.Ahead of the prime minister’s long-awaited address, Ms Murthy took to the stage to explain that her husband has “honesty, integrity and a firm understanding of right and wrong”.“Rishi cares deeply about this party and the values that underpin it. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support you’ve already shown him,” she said.“Please know, that Rishi is working hard to do the right thing for the country, not just for now, but for the long term.” More

Conservative MP Lee Anderson mocked Bradford during a discussion about HS2.In a fringe event at the Tory conference in Manchester on Tuesday 3 October, the deputy chair of the party was questioned about the possible scrapping of the high-speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester and how it would affect services in places like Bradford.“Would you want to get there quicker?” Mr Anderson responded, sparking laughter from the audience, which was made up of Tory members and activists.“That’ll be on the front of The Guardian tomorrow,” he then added. More

BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire clashed with Conservative MP Michelle Donelan as she accused the political party of “making things up”.Ms Derbyside showed Ms Donelan three clips of MPs at the Conservative Party Conference discussing the public sorting their rubbish into seven different bins, councils limiting how many times people can go the shops, and Labour taxing meat.She then asks Ms Donelan: “How can you be the party of facts when none of that is true?“I am not going to let this go. They are fiction. It is really disrespectful to voters.” More

English rock band Toploader performed their famous hit “Dancing in the Moonlight” at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.The footage was shared by media personality Emily Hewertson online with the caption: “10/10 performance from Toploader at Party Conference.”Footage from another party in the city went viral earlier this week, when Nigel Farage and Priti Patel were spotted dancing together.The final day of the conference takes place on Wednesday 4 October, with prime minister Rishi Sunak expected to finally confirm he will scrap the HS2 rail link to Manchester. More

Suella Braverman suggested the Human Rights Act should have been called the “criminal rights act” during a speech at the Tory party conference on Tuesday, 3 October.”Our country has become enmeshed in a dense net of international rules that were designed for another era. And it is Labour that turbocharged their impact by passing the misnamed Human Rights Act,” the home secretary told an audience in Manchester.“I’m surprised they didn’t call it the ‘Criminal Rights Act’,” she added.Ms Braverman used her anti-immigration speech to claim that Britain faces a “hurricane” of migrants. More

A Conservative member of the London Assembly was escorted out of the Tory party conference after he appeared to heckle Suella Braverman’s speech on Tuesday, 3 October.Andrew Boff was led away by police after declaring “there’s no such thing as gender ideology” while the home secretary was speaking about “those who fail to conform” are “chased out of their jobs for saying that a man can’t be a woman” when “the left gets the upper hand.”Ms Braverman continued with her speech after Mr Boff was led away. More