Culture secretary offered chance to stay in role but reportedly said, ‘Now is the right time to leave cabinet’
Nadine Dorries has joined Priti Patel in quitting the cabinet hours after Liz Truss won the Conservative leadership contest.
The culture secretary was offered the chance to stay in the role, according to the Mail Plus, who first reported the story. The website quoted a friend as saying: “[Dorries] has decided now is the right time to leave cabinet.”
Continue reading...Latest updates: culture secretary will not serve in Truss’s cabinet and is expected to receive peerage from Boris Johnson
Philip Hammond, who was chancellor when Theresa May was prime minister, has joined Rupert Harrison, another Tory Treasury alumnus (see 10.02am), in criticising the Truss camp this morning for disparaging Treasury orthodoxy. Hammond told Times Radio:
When I hear people talking about Treasury orthodoxy, I do worry that what they might sometimes be talking about are economic facts of life. And yes, the Treasury will ensure that politicians, however senior, are confronted with the realities of the economic facts of life. “Yes, Minister, you may wish to do this. But you need to understand that the consequences will be as follows.” And we can’t legislate to change the laws of economics, unfortunately. And I think Liz Truss understands that very well.
Obviously, I worked very closely with her. She was chief secretary to the Treasury when I was chancellor, she understands the laws of economics as well as anybody does. And it’s essential that the political solutions that a government crafts, go with the grain of the laws of economics, because if you try and confront the laws of economics, you will come unstuck.
I think it is right and unavoidable that the government needs to provide support to people dealing with these huge energy bills as a short term solution, but we have to be clear, and I think [Truss] will be clear, that this can only be government support to deal with the immediate emergency energy prices being sky high, largely because of the war in Ukraine.
At the same time we’ve got to be honest about the fact that energy bills in the future are going to be higher than they were, traditionally, as we move to ensure energy self sufficiency, and to decarbonise our economies. That has always been the case; decarbonisation doesn’t come free.
Continue reading...The new PM has not set out plans for reducing energy waste; instead she has talked of more oil and gas
Liz Truss faces a daunting array of environmental crises, from energy supply to sewage spills on British beaches, with little to show that she has the inclination to take them on.
Ben Goldsmith, the chair of the Conservative Environment Network, and a longtime green Tory who was a strong supporter of Boris Johnson, said of the UK’s new prime minister and her defeated rival: “Neither Truss nor Sunak has been known for their passion for nature. Neither has made a name for themselves as an environmental leader.”
Continue reading...Foreign secretary defeats Rishi Sunak, winning 57.4% of Tory members’ votes to former chancellor’s 42.6%
Liz Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister after beating Rishi Sunak in the bitterly fought Conservative leadership contest.
The foreign secretary, who won 81,326 votes (57.4%) of Tory members to the former chancellor’s 60,399 (42.6%), takes over from Boris Johnson, who was ousted by his own MPs earlier this summer.
Continue reading...African country went back on list of destinations for ‘migration partnership’ after civil servants had ruled it out, judges hear
The UK’s plan to deport people seeking asylum to Rwanda has been challenged in the high court, with claims that ministers deliberately ignored evidence that the east African country had violated human rights, including the right to live free from torture.
Rwanda was put back on to a list of potential destinations for a “migration partnership” after previously being ruled out by civil servants, the court was told.
Continue reading...Richard Harrington declares his job ‘essentially complete’ day before Liz Truss expected to be named new PM
Richard Harrington, who distanced himself from the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda, has quit as refugees minister a day before Liz Truss is expected to be confirmed as the next prime minister.
He claimed he was stepping down because his job was essentially complete, but the timing of his departure suggests he expected his role was not likely to be renewed by the incoming administration.
Continue reading...Downing Street’s ‘chief mouser’ has apparently thrown his collar in the ring to replace Boris Johnson
Twitter users were delighted to see billboards across London announcing that Larry the cat, No 10’s “chief mouser”, has thrown his collar into the ring to become the country’s next prime minister.
Either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will be declared as the new leader of the Conservative party on Monday, but the campaign team behind Larry4Leader has gone to extra lengths to ensure the tabby’s stance is known.
Continue reading...Exclusive: change to registration process will pave way for thousands of staff trained overseas to come to UK, says government
Ministers will introduce legislation as soon as parliament returns on Monday to tackle the NHS’s worsening staffing crisis by making it easier for overseas nurses and dentists to work in the UK.
The move is part of a drive by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to increase overseas recruitment to help plug workforce gaps in health and social care.
Continue reading...Leadership frontrunner is now seen by many party supporters as
out of touch and not like a ‘PM in waiting’
Liz Truss suffered a dramatic fall in ratings among people who voted Conservative at the 2019 general election during August, despite being on course to win the party leadership and become prime minister this week.
The latest polling by Opinium for the Observer shows that whereas 49% of people who voted Tory in 2019 had believed Truss “looks like a prime minister in waiting” at the beginning of August, this had dropped to just 31% by 30 August.
Continue reading...Meeting of Conor Burns and Maroš Šefčovič a promising sign as taoiseach says dispute is ‘testing and fraying’ Anglo-Irish relations
Hopes that Brexit talks between the EU and the UK could restart after nine months of paralysis were raised over the weekend after Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns held talks with the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.
He spoke as the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin, said the deepening row over the Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland was “testing and fraying” Anglo-Irish relations, but that the arrival of a new prime minister offered a chance for a fresh approach to break the impasse.
Continue reading...Brexit campaign group fronted by Nigel Farage leaves thousands in unpaid fines for data law breaches
The Brexit campaign group Leave.EU has gone into liquidation with its controversial co-founder Arron Banks appearing to write off a loan worth more than £7m.
Documents submitted to Companies House also reveal that the anti-EU lobbying group, which was fronted by Nigel Farage during the 2016 EU referendum campaign, has failed to pay tens of thousands in fines owed to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for breaches of data law.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Despite ‘Global Britain’ rhetoric, Brexit opportunities minister refused to sign off budget to revive pandemic-hit industry
Jacob Rees-Mogg is blocking a major government-backed tourism campaign – despite being a vocal advocate of “Global Britain”.
The planned advertising blitz is aimed at bringing back tourists from key international markets including India, China, Australia, Japan and Canada to boost visitor numbers in the wake of the pandemic.
Continue reading...European leaders will head to Prague on 6 October to forge European Political Community
The EU will offer an olive branch to the new British prime minister with an invitation to a summit to discuss a new organisation uniting the democracies of the European continent.
Britain’s next prime minister, widely expected to be Liz Truss, will be invited to join fellow leaders across Europe at a summit in Prague on 6 October to forge a European Political Community, a body dedicated to advancing security across the continent.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson accused of trying to ‘intimidate and bully’ inquiry into claims he misled MPs
Boris Johnson has been accused of trying to “intimidate and bully” an inquiry into claims he misled MPs over Downing Street parties, after No 10 took the highly unusual step of commissioning a senior QC to scrutinise the legal basis for the process at a public cost of almost £130,000.
The crossbench peer David Pannick had argued that the Commons committee on privileges and standards was “proposing to adopt an unfair procedure” in examining allegations that Johnson falsely told the Commons he knew nothing about lockdown-breaking gatherings.
Continue reading...External commissioners to take charge of finances amid ‘grave concerns’ local services could be at risk
The government has launched an urgent investigation into the finances of a Tory-run council amid “grave concerns” that local services are at risk from the authority’s exposure to more than a billion pounds in loans it took out to fund a series of commercial investments.
The communities secretary, Greg Clark, said government-appointed commissioners would take full control of Thurrock’s finances because of fears over “the exceptional level of financial risk and debt incurred by the council”.
Continue reading...European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, says it is ‘legally and politically inconceivable’
The EU has warned the incoming British prime minister, likely to be Liz Truss, that any unilateral action to scrap part of the Brexit deal is legally and politically of “great concern” across the continent.
The warning by the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, comes just days before the new prime minister is expected to confirm they will press ahead with new laws to dismantle the arrangements for Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Unison, GMB and Unite suspend industrial action day after Nicola Sturgeon hosted talks
A wave of strikes across waste services and schools in Scotland has been called off after a “credible” new pay offer.
Hundreds of schools and nurseries were set to close over three days next week as support staff joined industrial action, along with a second wave of strikes by refuse workers that had already seen bins overflowing and piles of accumulated rubbish in Scotland’s major cities.
Continue reading...Former Met chief given support by findings, but London mayor Sadiq Khan’s move against her remains popular
Amid the claim and counter-claim, the huffing and puffing and the machinations detailed by Tom Winsor’s report on the ousting of Cressida Dick, one thing is clear: there definitely was a political hit job. The mystery is: who was the target?
Winsor’s version has Dick, a hard-working Metropolitan police commissioner, taken out by an ambitious local politician, when the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, had no good reason to.
Continue reading...Vicky Bowman and Htein Lin were arrested last week accused of violating immigration laws
Britain’s former ambassador to Myanmar and her husband, a prominent artist, have been sentenced to one year in prison by the country’s military-controlled courts, reports say.
Vicky Bowman, who was the ambassador in Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, and her husband, Htein Lin, a veteran democracy activist, were arrested last week in Yangon and accused of violating immigration laws.
Continue reading...Tory leadership hopefuls ‘taking countryside voters for granted’ and neglecting pressing issues, says CLA business group
Neither of the candidates for leadership of the Conservative party has made a convincing pitch to rural voters, despite that demographic being one of the biggest sources of Tory power, the head of the UK’s biggest rural business organisation said.
Mark Tufnell, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents about 30,000 landowners and rural businesses, said Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak had done too little to show how they would boost the countryside economy and deal with pressing concerns such as planning, rural broadband, and farm support.
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