Category Archives: Politics

Liz Truss under pressure as rivals steal march in Tory leadership race

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Foreign secretary forced to regroup after trailing behind Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt after first round ballot

Tory leadership: live updates

Liz Truss will seek to reinvigorate her campaign to be the next prime minister by promising an “aspiration nation” on Thursday, after she was unexpectedly beaten into third place by Penny Mordaunt in the first round of voting.

Long seen as one of the favourites to be the next Tory party leader, the foreign secretary has the backing of Boris Johnson super-loyalists Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

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Liz Truss criticised for saying her Leeds school ‘let down’ children

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Local MP and councillor angered by comments about Roundhay school, rated ‘satisfactory’ when foreign secretary attended

Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has been criticised for comments about the quality of education at her Leeds school, which she claims caused children to be “let down”.

Speaking at the launch of her economic plan, the foreign secretary is expected to describe seeing “children who failed and were let down by low expectations” during her time at Roundhay school in the 1990s.

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Boris Johnson faces Keir Starmer at first PMQs since resignation – UK politics live

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Latest updates: prime minister takes penultimate PMQs as Conservatives wrangle over who will replace him as leader

Mordaunt says she is committed to the manifesto commitments on defence spending, and meeting the Nato defence pledge.

But she would also take some tasks away from the defence forces, she says. She says she wants to set up a civil defence force to deal with civil defence matters.

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Tory MP Tobias Ellwood’s home attacked after he allegedly ran over cat

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Police called after MP’s Dorset home targeted with eggs and windows smashed with croquet mallet

Police were called after the home of Tobias Ellwood was vandalised after the Conservative MP was alleged to have run over and killed a valuable Bengal cat – then reportedly drove off without stopping.

The MP was hailed as a hero in 2017 for trying to save the life of a police officer who was stabbed during the Westminster terror attack. But he is now in disgrace with some of his constituents after the family who owned the cat were allegedly left cradling their dying pet as the MP drove away.

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Flawed online safety bill is disaster for free speech, claim Tories

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David Davis describes flagship legislation as ‘biggest accidental curtailment in modern history’

The free-speech wing of the Conservative party is lining up against the “fundamentally misdesigned” online safety bill as the government rushes to pass the legislation before the House of Commons breaks up for the summer.

The backbencher David Davis said of the flagship bill: “We all want the internet to be safe. Right now, there are too many dangers online, from videos propagating terror to posts promoting self-harm and suicide.

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Eight candidates to fight first round of Tory leadership campaign

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Rishi Sunak followed by Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss and Nadhim Zahawi

Eight candidates have made the ballot for the first round of the Conservative leadership – with Rishi Sunak pulling out in front with a slew of new high-profile backers.

Sunak racked up endorsements from Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps and Matt Hancock on Tuesday.

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Eight MPs make it on to first Tory leadership ballot as Sajid Javid pulls out of the race – live

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Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhim Zahawi garner enough support

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, and Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, have just told Sky News that they are backing Liz Truss for the Tory leadership.

Rees-Mogg says Truss had been his strongest supporter in cabinet in terms of seeking Brexit opportunities. He went on:

When we discussed taxation, Liz was always opposed to Rishi’s higher taxes. That again is proper Conservatism. And I think she’s got the character to lead the party and the nation.

Liz Truss is the best candidate. She’s a proper Eurosceptic. She will deliver for the voters. She’ll deliver for the voters. She believes in low taxation.

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Trafficking victims ‘fear being criminalised’ if they seek help

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Charity workers hope Sir Mo Farah’s decision to reveal he was trafficked would encourage more victims to come forward

After it took Sir Mo Farah decades to summon the courage to speak about his childhood experiences, trafficking experts warned that the fear of being criminalised prevents many other child victims from coming forward to seek help.

Charity workers commended the Olympic champion’s decision to reveal he was trafficked to the UK using another child’s name, then exploited and forced into domestic servitude, expressing hope that high-profile revelations would highlight the widespread nature of such abuse and encourage more victims to speak out.

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Home Office grants baby stranded in Jamaica leave to return to UK

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24 hours after Guardian revealed family’s plight Home Office does U-turn and grants baby visa

A British resident stranded in Jamaica with her baby, who was told by the Home Office the boy could not come to the UK because he had an “established life” on the Caribbean island, has now been told by the Home Office that she can bring him, after the Guardian exposed the family’s plight.

Just 25 hours after the Guardian’s article was published, the Home Office granted the baby’s visa and informed his mother, Tiffany Ellis – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, where she has lived since the age of eight – that it was ready for immediate collection.

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Government refuses Labour time to debate no-confidence motion

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Labour criticises ‘unprecedented’ refusal to allow debate time for motion of no confidence in Boris Johnson

A bitter row has broken out between Labour and the government over Keir Starmer’s plan to table a motion of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s government.

Labour reacted with fury after Downing Street refused to allow parliamentary time for a motion it had tabled, expressing no confidence in the government under Boris Johnson.

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Britain to have new PM by 5 September as Tory leadership rules announced

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Chair of 1922 Committee says candidates will now need 20 MP backers to enter, in move to speed up process

Britain’s new prime minister will be announced on 5 September, it has been announced, as the starting gun was fired on a Tory leadership race that will see the hopefuls whittled down to two by Thursday.

With just two contenders so far having the support of the 20 Tory MPs needed to get them on to the ballot, the nine remaining hopefuls were scrambling to shore up support by Tuesday night before knockout votes begin on Wednesday afternoon, with the first results announced later that day.

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Sunak will vow to tackle inflation and then lower taxes if he becomes PM

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Ex-chancellor to kick off his Tory leadership campaign as speculation grows over who could back him

Rishi Sunak will kick off his leadership campaign on Tuesday with a promise to grip inflation and lower taxes, as speculation mounted over which candidates could swing in behind the former chancellor.

Sunak will promise “a return to traditional Conservative economic values – and that means honesty and responsibility, not fairytales.”

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Tory leadership contest: candidates with fewer than 36 votes ‘likely to be excluded after first round’ – live

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Latest updates: joint executive secretary of 1922 committee says process of choosing new PM will be announced today

According to Sky News, supporters of Priti Patel, the home secretary, are saying there isa a “strong but not 100% chance” that she will declare herself as a candidate later today.

Starmer says all the Tory candidates making “wild” promises should say how they will fund them: by cuts, or by borrowing, or from the magic money tree?

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Channel 4 privatisation plan could be dropped by next prime minister

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Tory MPs are ambivalent on the issue and there is uncertainty over what a caretaker government can do

Channel 4’s privatisation could be dropped by the next prime minister, with plans to sell the channel unlikely to be published before September.

Boris Johnson had already signed off on proposals to sell the publicly owned broadcaster, and the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, had been preparing to push the law authorising the change through parliament in the autumn.

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The Moscow moves: how Mandelson’s firm helped Uber reach Russian elite

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Leak shows how the former Labour minister used his access to pro-Kremlin oligarchs, including some now under sanctions

Even before Uber’s top executives arrived in Davos in January 2016, its bosses were trying to secure invitations to the exclusive party hosted by the billionaire Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska. Famous for its free-flowing vodka, the event was an invitation-only, after-hours fixture of the world economic forum, the annual gathering of corporate leaders and politicians in the Swiss Alps.

Fortunately for Uber, it had hired someone who could pull strings. “Put them on list at door,” ordered Peter Mandelson, according to messages in the Uber files data leak.

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Paralympian Jonnie Peacock asks to be removed from Penny Mordaunt campaign video

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English sprinter Jonnie Peacock edited out of promotional content, along with footage of Oscar Pistorius, after complaint

The Paralympic athlete Jonnie Peacock is among several public figures who have asked to be removed from the promotional video released by the Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt as she launched her party leadership bid.

On Sunday morning, Mordaunt, the MP for Portsmouth North, posted the video on her Twitter account with the caption “Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.”

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Penny Mordaunt joins Conservative leadership race – UK politics live

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Follow all the political developments as more candidates join the race to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory party leader and prime minister

Sajid Javid, who resigned as health secretary five days ago, is on BBC’s Sunday Morning discussing his leadership bid.

He says he didn’t want to give up the “very important” post and denies that his resignation was a move coordinated with former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

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Number of people in UK with insecure jobs rises to 3.7 million, TUC report says

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Union organisation criticises Tory ‘litany of failures on workers’ rights’ five years on from Taylor review

The Trades Union Congress has criticised the Conservative party for “a litany of failures on workers’ rights” as it published analysis showing a rise in insecure jobs in the five years since the government pledged to make work in the UK fairer.

At least 3.7 million people in Britain are in insecure jobs, up from 3.6m in 2021, out of a total workforce of 34 million, according to analysis of government data by the TUC. That compares to 3.2 million in late 2016, before the publication of the Taylor review, a landmark government-backed report on work in the UK.

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Jeremy Hunt to pick Esther McVey as deputy PM if he becomes Tory leader

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Former foreign and health secretary attempts to broaden his appeal through alliance with McVey

Jeremy Hunt has said he would make Esther McVey his deputy prime minister if he won the Conservative leadership campaign, as a string of contenders reiterated promises to cut taxes, while being largely vague on how this would be financed.

As a series of the hopefuls toured the TV studios for the Sunday broadcast rounds, Hunt, Grant Shapps, Tom Tugendhat and Sajid Javid all repeated promises to cut taxes, saying this could be funded from efficiencies or growing the economy.

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Boris Johnson facing accusation he tried to get job for woman claiming affair

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PM pushed candidate forward for role in City Hall while he was mayor of London, report claims

Boris Johnson is facing new allegations he lobbied to get a job for a woman who claimed to be having a sexual relationship with him while he was London mayor.

It is alleged that Johnson lobbied for the woman to have a City Hall job during his time as London mayor and MP for Henley.

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