News

Grant Shapps clashed with Sky News host Sky Burley as he was quizzed over the latest sleaze scandal to hit the Conservatives.Mark Menzies is the latest Tory MP to have his whip suspended.Mr Menzies is alleged to have used thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and to have made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release.Ms Burley asked Mr Shapps on Thursday (18 April): “Eight independent MPs, former Tories… what’s that saying about your party and the state of British politics?”Mr Shapps appeared to smirk and replied: “I thought I was on to talk about two wars.“Do you think it’s funny?”, Ms Burley asked. More

Liz Truss has called on foreign secretary David Cameron to give Israel more support following Iran’s attack.Iran launched a drone and missile attack on Israel last Saturday (14 April).The former prime minister said she is “concerned” the Foreign Office is “not wholly supportive of Israel”.Ms Truss appeared on ITV show Peston on Wednesday (17 April) when she was asked by the presenter: “Do you think that David Cameron, the current foreign secretary, is supportive enough of Israel?”Ms Truss replied: “I would like to see more support for Israel.” More

Former prime minister Lizz Truss said she was “completely blindsided” by the UK’s pension market prior to her disastrous mini-budget.Ms Truss appeared on ITV’s Peston show on Wednesday (17 April), where she admitted she and Kwasi Kwarteng – who was chancellor under Ms Truss’s government – didn’t know the “extent of the vulnerability” of the pensions market prior to their mini-budget in September 2022.The mini-budget included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts and was followed by days of turmoil on the markets, a fall in the value of the pound and rises in the cost of UK government borrowing and mortgage rates.Ms Truss said: “I didn’t know about it and Kwasi didn’t know about it either. So we were completely blindsided.” More

Jeremy Hunt refused to say “anything negative” about Liz Truss as she “appointed him as chancellor.”When asked by Sky News if he thought the former prime minister, who has been critical of government policy, is currently being helpful for the Conservative Party, the cabinet minister would not cast aspersions on his colleague.”I think Liz will be the first to accept that during her time as prime minister, mistakes were made,” Mr Hunt said of Ms Truss’s 49 days in office, in which the pound hit a 37-year low against the dollar.”She appointed me as chancellor, so I don’t want to say anything negative about Liz Truss,” he added. More

The Tory MP who contacted police about Angela Rayner continued to refuse to say what he thinks she has done wrong.James Daly, the Conservative Party deputy chairman, contacted police about allegations surrounding the deputy Labour leader’s living arrangements.Appearing on Sky News on Wednesday, he refused to say what he thought Rayner had done wrong despite being the one to make the complaint and accused fellow panellist Sir Chris Bryant of “shouting”.It came after he failed to answer a similar question three times during an awkward exchange on the BBC’s Daily Politics programme yesterday. More

Rishi Sunak mentioned how his party’s “plan” is working six times in just a 40-second interview.The prime minister appeared on Sky News on Wednesday (17 April) after it was announced inflation in the UK had fallen to 3.2 percent, down from 3.4 percent in March.Mr Sunak said: “Our plan is working and our simple message would be if we stick to that plan, people can have confidence there’s a brighter future.”He later said inflation has fallen “because we have a plan, and that plan is working”.Before adding: “We have to stick to that plan if we all want the brighter future we want to see and that’s why our plan is so important.” More

Treasury minister Laura Trott has revealed she will not be reading former prime minister Liz Truss’s new book.The Tory minister said she had previously read a book Harry Cole and Ed James produced about Ms Truss, but confirmed she will not be reading Ten Years to Save the West.She told Kay Burley on Sky News today (17 April) : “That’s probably enough Liz Truss books for me.”When asked why, she replied: “I am not interested in revisiting that period if I am honest, Kay.”The book is said to feature several bizarre revelations from Ms Truss’s short time in No 10. More

Rishi Sunak took a jibe at Angela Rayner’s tax affairs during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 17 April.Sir Keir Starmer opened the session by joking that he was “privileged to be the proud owner” of Liz Truss’s new book and took issue with her claim that 2022’s disastrous Budget was “the happiest moment of her premiership”.“Has the prime minister met anyone with a mortgage who agrees?” he asked, drawing laughter from the Commons.“All I’d say is, he’d ought to spend a bit less time reading that book and a bit more time reading the deputy leader’s tax advice,” Mr Sunak said, hitting back.He was referencing the row over Ms Rayer’s previous living arrangements. More