Former PM to examine issue of trust in politics and Oscar-winning actor’s show will discuss AI
The former prime minister Theresa May is to guest edit Radio 4’s Today programme and use it to explore the issue of dwindling trust in politics.
May, who resigned in 2019 with a tearful statement about the honour she felt in holding the office, will edit Today on New Year’s Eve.
Continue reading...Former PM says he has not seen party ‘soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is’
Boris Johnson has warned the Conservatives they will not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda”.
The former prime minister said he had not seen the Conservatives “soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is”.
Continue reading...Footage of online meeting showed Kent county council leader remonstrating with councillors
Earlier I pointed out that, in his Today interview this morning, the Reform MP Danny Kruger was strangely reticent when it came to explaining why the size of the civil service has grown so much in recent years. (See 11.09am.)
In his speech this morning Kruger was a bit more forthcoming. He said:
Let me be very clear. The growth of the civil service will be reversed. After falling in the wake of the global financial crisis, the headcount of the civil service rose again after Brexit – shame on the Tories – and it passed 500,000 in 2023.
Nothing works properly. It’s impossible to build anything. The streets are dirty and unsafe. Taxes and prices are far too high. Immigration is changing our country for the worse and far too fast. And we’re becoming poor, sick and unhappy. There is a malaise over Britain.
These problems are complex. But the effective cause of them is simple. Since 1997 we have had governments that, firstly don’t share the attitude of the country they govern, and secondly, they aren’t properly in charge of the state.
This announcement only reinforces climate policy as a dividing line in our politics, rather than being the unifying issue it once was.
And, for the Conservative party, it risks chasing votes from Reform at the expense of the wider electorate.
By undermining the judiciary we further erode public trust in the institutions of our democracy and therefore in democracy itself.
So I say to those seeking to villainise a judiciary that cannot easily answer back, who wilfully discredit our legal system for their own expediency – it’s time to show responsible leadership.
This is not just about short-term decisions to make it easier to deal with public concerns about immigration.
Our support for human rights has its origin in Magna Carta. How we deal with issues of human rights is fundamental to our ability to deal with autocracies and dictatorships.
In the world of power where the club of strong men want to carve the world up in their own interests, populism and polarisation are enablers.
And those politicians in the Western world who use populism and polarisation for their own short-term political ends risk handing a victory to our enemies.
Continue reading...The UK leader has been advised to choose his words carefully at this week’s crucial White House meeting
• Keir Starmer lays down Ukraine peace demand ahead of Trump talks
When Keir Starmer is advised on how to handle his crucial meeting with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, he will be told by advisers from Downing Street and the Foreign Office to be very clear on his main points and, above all, to be brief.
“Trump gets bored very easily,” said one well-placed Whitehall source with knowledge of the president’s attention span. “When he loses interest and thinks someone is being boring, he just tunes out. He doesn’t like [the French president, Emmanuel] Macron partly because Macron talks too much and tries to lecture him.”
Continue reading...Former UK spy says in new book Trump ‘apparently unauthorizedly’ took secrets with him
Donald Trump took “British naval secrets” to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House, the former UK spy Christopher Steele says in a new book.
“I was reliably informed by impeccable sources that among the classified documents which Trump, apparently unauthorizedly, took with him to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency were British naval secrets, some of the most sensitive ones in our governmental system,” Steele writes.
Continue reading...Former PM says leadership candidates must understand that party lost election because it ‘trashed our brand’
The Conservatives “failed to see the threat from the Liberal Democrats” while focusing too much on the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, Theresa May has said.
Writing in the Times on the eve of the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, Lady May said the remaining candidates for the Tory leadership could “play into Reform’s hands” by failing to understand the reasons behind their electoral humiliation.
Continue reading...Prime minister is not first party leader to make bad decisions during heat of a general election campaign
When Rishi Sunak missed a key D-day event in favour of an ITV interview, it is unlikely he had considered what a political storm it would prompt.
But the prime minister is far from the first party leader to make ill-advised decisions in the heat of the campaign. In fact, Sunak’s early departure is just one of a long list of political gaffes made during a general election campaign.
Continue reading...Prime minister dismisses speculation after Tory peer Zac Goldsmith became latest to hint at planned relocation
Starmer is now running through his six first step promises.
Starmer says he is fed up with hearing Rishi Sunak says the UK has “turned the corner”.
Continue reading...Former PM says she remains committed to supporting Sunak as she decides to ‘pass the baton on’ after 27 years
Treasury minister Gareth Davies has denied the number of Conservative MPs stepping down signifies a lack of confidence in the party’s electoral prospects.
He told Sky News he was “personally sad” to see Theresa May step down after “a pretty good innings” of “27 years of service not just to her constituents but I think as one of our longest serving home secretaries and then obviously prime minister as well.”
This is what happens when you approach a new election, and completely reasonable for people to decide that it’s time to go, particularly when they’ve been in the House of Commons for a long time.
Each one has made their own decision for personal reasons and I respect every single person’s decision to do so.
Brexit has reignited the UK’s trade standing in global markets ‘worth hundreds of billions of pounds’ says Kemi Badenoch. Britons are better off.
Continue reading...Former PM says she wants to focus on causes close to her heart after 27 years in parliament
The former prime minister Theresa May will step down as an MP at the next general election after 27 years in parliament.
In a statement to the Maidenhead Advertiser, the Maidenhead MP said she wanted to focus on causes close to her heart, including her work on the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
Continue reading...Labour party leader criticises speech as ‘admission that government has no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline’
Here is Ben Quinn’s guide to what will be in the king’s speech.
In a statement about the king’s speech issued overnight, Keir Starmer said:
Britain is crying out for the long-term change that harnesses the ambition of our young people, the innovative drive of our businesses, and the ordinary hope and optimism that exists around every kitchen table.
A government acting in the national interest would deliver a big build programme to kickstart growth in every region and begin to turn around 13 years of decline with a plan for a decade of national renewal.
Continue reading...Exclusive poll for Observer reveals Conservatives have lost support in their southern England heartlands and the Red Wall
The coalition of voters that delivered the Tories a big majority at the last election is crumbling, according to dramatic new evidence that the party is losing support in key battlegrounds across England.
The findings, revealed in a special poll of 2019 Tory voters for the Observer, comes as Rishi Sunak faces a series of competing and contradictory demands from warring Tory factions ahead of the party’s conference in Manchester.
Continue reading...Theresa May and Tim Loughton among more than a dozen backbench Tories criticising bill
Rishi Sunak’s immigration bill was heavily criticised by senior Conservative MPs as the government overturned amendments made by the House of Lords.
Theresa May and Tim Loughton were among more than a dozen backbench Tories seeking further changes to the illegal migration bill, which the prime minister says is crucial to stopping small boats from crossing the Channel.
Continue reading...Theresa May says parliament must punish MPs who break rules as Penny Mordaunt says Johnson ‘undermined democratic process’
At the Labour event Keir Starmer is now speaking. He starts with a jibe at the SNP, saying the tide is turning in Scotland.
Turning to energy policy, he says Labour wants to promote security.
Can we still achieve great things? Can we unite and move forward? Can we still change, can we grow, can we get things done, can we build things? New industries, new technologies, new jobs; will they come to our shores, or will the future pass us by?
You can put it even more starkly. Around the world people want to know, are we still a great nation? If the question is about the British people, the answer is emphatically: yes.
Continue reading...Controversial asylum law will now go to Lords despite criticism from leading Conservatives
The government’s flagship asylum bill passed its third reading in the Commons on Wednesday night and will now go to the Lords despite criticism from several leading Conservatives including Theresa May.
The illegal migration bill, which is supposed to change the law so that those who arrive in the UK by irregular means can be removed to a third country such as Rwanda, was passed by 289 votes to 230. The bill is expected to face greater opposition in the Lords where it could be amended or delayed.
Continue reading...Theresa May had warned bill will cause more people to be consigned to modern slavery while Geoffrey Cox also raised concerns. This blog is now closed
Q: [From Matthew Barber, the police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley] What can the Home Office do to cut bureaucracy for the police?
Braverman says, if someone is having a mental health crisis, there should be a healthcare response, not a police response. She says police officers are having to spend too much time in hospital with people.
Continue reading...Effects of ‘devastating and punishing’ Home Office system introduced in 2012 now being felt, experts say
More than half the people trying to secure permanent residency in the UK through the Home Office’s “devastating and punishing” 10-year route struggle to afford food and pay bills, a survey has indicated.
The 10-year route to settling permanently in the UK was one of a series of deliberately tough measures introduced in 2012 by Theresa May when she was home secretary, as part of drive to cut net migration. Researchers say the full effects of the policy are only now starting to be felt.
Continue reading...Latest updates: government warning comes as former NI secretary says Good Friday agreement needs reform
Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union addressed the annual farming conference in Birmingham this morning with a grave tone. Pointing out that farmers across the country are going out of business, with the fastest reductions in some sectors such as salad since records began, she said that farmers are facing a huge squeeze and lack of support from government.
She said the Conservatives were “running out of time to walk the walk” and that food security was under severe threat as farmers face rising input costs, inflation, avian influenza and the climate crisis.
As a member of parliament for a farming constituency. I’ve worked with farmers and the NFU for years. I’ve even rolled up my sleeves and done the early morning milking at Wensleydale.
Now I know how important your work is. And I know that it’s more than just work. It’s a way of life that is passed down through the generations.
Continue reading...Claire Perry O’Neill, who was part of Theresa May’s cabinet, lauds Labour leader’s ‘sober’ and ‘competent’ leadership
A former Conservative minister has quit the party, claiming it is dominated by “ideology and self-obsession”, and has instead thrown her support behind Keir Starmer.
Claire Perry O’Neill, who was part of Theresa May’s cabinet and was briefly retained by Boris Johnson to help run preparations for the Cop26 summit, praised the Labour leader’s “sober, fact-driven, competent political leadership”.
Continue reading...Former PM says Rishi Sunak can turn things round, but another senior Tory MP says it’s ‘almost impossible’
The Conservative party can still win the next general election if it shows the public it is on their side, Theresa May has said.
The former prime minister said Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt could rebuild the party’s reputation for “sound money and sound public finances” within the next two years, after the damage done by Liz Truss’s mini-budget.
Continue reading...