UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorTory leadership contender James Cleverly refused three times to disown the economic chaos which took place under Liz Truss’ leadership after his plan to scrap stamp duty on house sales was likened to policies introduced by the former prime minister.The pledge, which he said would cost £10 billion, was compared in a radio interview to the disastrous tax cuts introduced by Ms Truss’ government.Mishal Hussain, host of BBC Radio 4 Today claimed the move was “the kind of thing” the former prime minister – who resigned just 49 days after taking office – had done.Mr Cleverly replied: “Are you seriously suggesting a prospective leader of the Conservative Party should not envisage any tax cuts in our society?”Pressed again, he said: “Your argument is because one of my predecessors proposed it we can never propose it. This is why we have the highest tax burden since the (Second World) War.”James Cleverly (Jacob King/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorWatch live as the Conservative Party’s leadership contest candidates speak to members on the final day of the party conference on Wednesday, 2 October.Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, and Kemi Badenoch will deliver speeches in Birmingham in their final chance to address delegates in their race to be Rishi Sunak’s successor.Topics expected to be discussed by the candidates are optimism, the party’s future and the economy, as the Tories look to rebuild the party after the general election loss in July.Mr Jenrick, the frontrunner in the contest, is expected to use his speech to call for a “new Conservative Party” if it wants to “tackle the immense challenges” it faces.The Newark MP’s speech comes a day after he suffered a backlash from his rivals for claiming that UK special forces were “killing rather than capturing” terrorists.Mr Tugendhat will set out his plans for a “new Conservative revolution” in areas such as the economy and housing, while Ms Badenoch is also expected to focus on economic policy and pitch that the Tories “have to be the party of wealth creation”.Mr Cleverly will tell members to be “enthusiastic” and “optimistic”, and that they will win back the electorate by being “professional”. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorKemi Badenoch has made it clear she wants to clamp down on migration to the UK, claiming that many use Britain as “a sponge”.The former favourite for the Tory leadership contest has seen her challenge drop off in recent days, with ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick appearing to be in the driving seat during the Tory conference in Birmingham.Ms Badenoch used an interview on the Today program to take a tough stance on migration.She said: “We need to make sure that when people are coming to this country they are people who are coming to contribute and who want the success of our country.“If you want to stay here we live in an age where you need to be very committed. We are not a dormitory, we are not a sponge.Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch walks with her team through the Birmingham International Conference Centre (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorKeir Starmer kicks off his bid to reset Britain’s relationship with the European Union on Wednesday morning – but is facing early demands from leaders on migration, fishing and youth mobility.The prime minister wants to tackle defence and security, crime and immigration, and then trade under a “three pillar” strategy for the crunch talks with EU leaders in Brussels, as revealed by The Independent last week.But Sir Keir will also arrive in Belgium under growing pressure to agree to a youth mobility scheme to allow under-30s to travel more freely between Britain and the EU.European leaders are reportedly keen to not make it easy for Sir Keir and will hold demands; including long-term fishing access to British waters and a new migrant deal requiring Britain to accept an agreed number of asylum seekers from the continent. Sources close to his senior negotiator – european affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds – say he is unwilling to agree to a youth mobility scheme too quickly and will want to use the EU’s enthusiasm for the project as a negotiating chip.Sources say Sir Keir Starmer will be unwilling to agree to a youth mobility scheme too quickly More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorTory leadership candidates will tell members today that they need “a New Conservative Party” to address the needs of the country and turn their fortunes around after suffering the worst defeat in their 346-year history.Both frontrunner Robert Jenrick and rival Tom Tugendhat will make the appeal for a New Conservative Party in what appears to be an attempt at using Tony Blair’s playbook.The former Labour prime minister took Labour back into power in 1997 as “New Labour” after 18 years in the wilderness.The four candidates – also including Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly – will be outlining their vision for the party in speeches on the final day of the Tory conference in Birmingham.While Mr Jenrick and Mr Tugendhat want to ape Blair’s tactics, Ms Badenoch will promise to dismantle the former Labour prime minister’s legacy. Mr Cleverly instead wants to inject hope and optimism back into the party.Robert Jenrick took questions on the stage on Tuesday More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorKemi Badenoch has sparked backlash after joking 50,000 civil servants were so bad at their jobs they should be jailed, claiming they undermine ministers and leak official secrets.Speaking on the fringes of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Ms Badenoch drew laughter from the audience as she said five to 10 per cent of government department staff should be in prison.In a stinging attack on the workforce, she described some as “very, very bad”.With more than 500,000 people employed full time in the civil service as of March 2024, five to 10 per cent would amount to between 25,000 to 50,000 staff members.In response, a spokesperson for the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union – the largest trade union representing civil servants in the UK – accused the Tory leadership contender of continuing a “personal feud” after she was accused of bullying members of staff earlier this year, claims she dismissed.At the event hosted by The Spectator magazine, Ms Badenoch said: “I think that civil servants are like everybody else. They come in to do a job and I would say about 10 per cent of them are absolutely magnificent.“The trick to being a good minister is to find the good ones quickly, bring them close and try and get the bad ones out of your department as quickly as possible.”“There is about 5 per cent to 10 per cent of them who are very, very bad. You know, ‘should be in prison’ bad”, she added. “Leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers … agitating. I had some of it in my department, usually union-led, but most of them actually want to do a good job. And the good ones are very frustrated by the bad ones”. Responding to her remarks, the PCS spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch just can’t let it lie, can she? When she was in power she was accused of bullying civil servants.“Now she’s out of power she’s continuing her personal feud against them, many of whom are our members.“This is a below the belt attack on hard-working civil servants who can’t answer back.“We won’t stand for our members being used as vote fodder for the Tory Party leadership election.“Maybe Badenoch should reflect on her words, the way she treats civil servants and why the Tories lost the General Election.”In July, the former Cabinet minister was alleged to have created an intimidating atmosphere at the Department of Business and Trade in a report by the Guardian newspaper.Sources claimed Ms Badenoch was responsible for behaviour that traumatised staff, leading at least three of them to leave their jobs in the department.But she dismissed the accusations as “smears”, claiming they originated from “former staff who I sacked after they were accused of bullying behaviour, lying about other colleagues to cover up their own failures and general gross incompetence.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorFriends of Rishi Sunak have insisted that the former prime minister “has no intention” of quitting British politics after he steps down as Tory leader on 2 November.It is understood that Mr Sunak is already in the process of setting up his own operation based around his inner circle in Downing Street, including former political aide and long-time friend James Forsyth.“Rishi has lots of money so he is still employing his aides,” a former cabinet minister said. “He has no intention of quitting British politics – quite the reverse.”Rishi Sunak at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorA new survey commissioned by a right-wing think tank has suggested that 53 per cent of Conservative Party members would support a merger with Reform UK.A huge 70 per cent said they would want a closer relationship with Nigel Farage’s party, the survey showed.The poll, conducted between 23-27 September, surveyed 470 Tory members. It was carried out by the right-wing Popular Conservatism (PopCon) organisation, which was founded by Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.Annunziata Rees-Mogg, PopCon’s head of communications and a former Brexit Party MEP, said: “Every Conservative activist and canvasser knows people who had been Tories, but voted Reform UK in July.Nigel Farage’s party won five seats and 4 million votes at the last election More