Category Archives: Conservatives

UK minister criticised over ‘crass and archaic’ trope about Chinese people

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Mark Spencer spoke of possibility ‘some little man in China’ could be listening in to his conversations

A UK government minister has been criticised for using a “crass and archaic” trope when talking about Chinese people during a broadcast interview.

The environment minister Mark Spencer referred to the possibility that “some little man in China” could be listening in to his conversations when discussing reports a device belonging to the former prime minister and foreign secretary Liz Truss had been compromised by foreign agents.

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Ministers creating ‘wild west’ conditions with use of personal phones

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Unsecured mobiles, email accounts and WhatsApp chats could pose national security risk, intelligence experts warn

Ministers risk creating “wild west” conditions in matters of national security by the increased use of personal email and phones to conduct confidential business, intelligence experts and former officials have warned.

After a week tainted by a row over the use of a personal email account by the home secretary, it was revealed on Sunday that Liz Truss’s mobile is alleged to have been hacked by overseas agents.

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Voters choose Sunak’s Tories over Labour to repair economy, new poll reveals

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Rishi Sunak’s arrival in Downing Street is already helping to repair the party’s reputation for financial management

Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have overturned Labour’s lead in terms of who voters trust most to manage the economy, a new poll for the Observer has revealed.

The new prime minister is currently drawing up tax rises and spending cuts designed to fill a £40bn fiscal hole left by Liz Truss’s disastrous time in Downing Street, with warnings that any significant attempt to cut Whitehall budgets will lead to huge pressure on public services. It comes with new analysis revealing that freezing public service spending would save £20bn but would also lead to a return to the austerity of the 2010s.

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Michael Gove says Tories should apologise for Liz Truss’s ‘holiday from reality’

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Reinstalled levelling up secretary says he understands public anger at party’s choice of Truss and her tax cuts for the rich

Michael Gove has said the Conservative party owes the public an apology for installing Liz Truss as leader.

Gove, who was reinstated as levelling up secretary by Rishi Sunak this week, acknowledged that the Tories “made the wrong choice this summer about the path we should take”.

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Braverman’s secret meetings with ‘anti-woke’ MP flagged by officials before she quit

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Civil servants say there was ‘significant disquiet’ over home secretary Suella Braverman’s dealings with Tory rightwinger John Hayes

Home Office officials raised concerns over a series of secretive meetings Suella Braverman held with an influential rightwing backbench MP weeks before she was forced to resign over leaking sensitive information to him, the Observer has been told.

In addition, sources have claimed that the home secretary appears to have instructed officials to look at potentially implementing hardline proposals cooked up by a rightwing thinktank that would in effect prohibit “genuine refugees” from settling in the UK, a move that threatens an even more uncompromising approach to asylum seekers.

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Government urged to investigate report Liz Truss’s phone was hacked

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Breach discovered during Tory leadership in summer but details suppressed, the Mail on Sunday reports

The government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation after reports that Liz Truss’s phone was hacked.

The breach was discovered when Truss, then the foreign secretary, was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, the Mail on Sunday reported.

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No 10 alarm as Boris Johnson plans to attend Cop27 climate summit

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Ex-PM’s Cop27 visit is seen as snub to Rishi Sunak as Labour attacks government’s policy failures on environmental crisis

A row over prime minister Rishi Sunak’s refusal to attend the Cop27 climate summit took an extraordinary twist on Saturday night as the Observer was informed that his predecessor but one – Boris Johnson – is planning to attend the event.

Several sources said they had been told that Johnson is intending to go to the crucial meeting of world leaders in Egypt to show his solidarity with the battle against the climate crisis.

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Rishi Sunak reportedly seeking deal with France to curb Channel crossings

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Draft deal includes targets and staff bonuses for tackling the number of asylum seekers in the UK

Rishi Sunak is aiming to reach an agreement with France to address the unprecedented number of Channel crossings by asylum seekers which could include new targets and bonuses, according to reports.

Ministers and officials are expected to review a draft deal that was previously close to being signed with France, which encompasses targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK and a minimum number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time, sources told the Times.

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Doubts arise over Braverman’s claim to have come forward about code breach

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Former intelligence select committee chief warns issue threatens to undermine confidence in sharing sensitive information

Suella Braverman is under pressure to answer fresh questions about alleged “security breaches”, as a former head of parliament’s intelligence and security committee warned the row threatened to undermine officials’ confidence in sharing sensitive information with her.

The account given by the home secretary and backed up by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, when he defended reappointing her just six days after she was found to have broken the ministerial code were challenged by government insiders and a senior Conservative MP.

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Sunak refuses to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation and reinstates fracking ban – live

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PM says he will act to protect vulnerable people; Sunak also tells MPs he ‘stands by’ fracking ban after it was lifted by Liz Truss

The first pictures have arrived showing Rishi Sunak with members of his cabinet at their first meeting in Downing Street.

The Liberal Democrats have called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into Rishi Sunak’s reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary six days after she was sacked for a serious security breach.

Suella Braverman’s appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10. There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors.

If it is confirmed that Suella Braverman repeatedly broke the ministerial code and threatened national security, she must be sacked.

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Pensions triple lock and benefits in spotlight as Sunak delays fiscal plan

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No 10 not committing to keeping triple lock or inflation-linked benefits rise in 17 November statement

Ministers are to re-examine the pensions triple lock and increasing benefits in line with inflation over the next fortnight, according to No 10, after Rishi Sunak delayed the announcement of the government’s fiscal plans from 31 October to 17 November.

The Treasury has said the new date will now be a full autumn statement, with Sunak telling his cabinet that time needed to be made to do things in the proper way.

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Starmer goes on attack over Braverman reappointment at Sunak’s first PMQs

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PM accused of immediately breaking integrity pledge by restoring home secretary in ‘grubby deal’

Rishi Sunak has been accused of immediately breaking his pledge to restore government integrity by bringing Suella Braverman back as home secretary in exchange for a key endorsement for his leadership bid.

Coming under pressure in his first prime minister’s questions, Sunak did not deny that civil servants had raised concerns about one of the most senior roles handed out in his cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday.

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UK minister criticised over call for gay World Cup fans to show respect in Qatar

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James Cleverly says ‘flex and compromise’ needed on both sides in country that criminalises homosexuality

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.

Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday, the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance.

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‘Sunak’s crisis cabinet’: what the papers say after prime minister’s reshuffle

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UK front pages offer their assessments of the prime minister’s new cabinet and outline the scale of the challenges ahead

Rishi Sunak’s sudden return to the top of British politics and the unveiling of his new cabinet dominates the UK front pages on Wednesday.

The Guardian headlines “PM’s reshuffle gamble on first day in charge” and leads with an image of Rishi Sunak meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

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Rishi Sunak’s cautious reshuffle unlikely to alienate Tory camps

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New cabinet is designed to bring down the temperature in the party – but dangers lie ahead

Rishi Sunak has opted for a somewhat cautious cabinet reshuffle, appointing a handful of key allies while trying to splice together the top teams of his two predecessors, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, in an effort to hold the Conservative party together.

The finished product probably does not resemble the cabinet he would have liked to form, nor the one with which he would hope to lead the Tories into the next general election – but it has done the job insofar as it just slightly ruffles most MPs’ feathers rather than alienates a whole wing of the party.

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Rees-Mogg lambasts critics of EU laws bill after quitting government

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Former business secretary tells opponents of bill they are fighting a Brexit battle all over again

The former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg launched a scathing attack on opponents of legislation he has tabled to sweep away EU law, telling them they are fighting a Brexit battle all over again.

Rees-Mogg quit his role after Rishi Sunak became prime minister, and less than two hours later returned to the backbenches to see a stand-in, the business minister Dean Russell, opening the second reading of the retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill.

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Rishi Sunak reshuffle: Braverman named home secretary, Gove returns as levelling up secretary, Mordaunt not promoted – as it happened

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Braverman reappointed to post after resigning days ago; James Cleverly retained as foreign secretary; Oliver Dowden becomes Cabinet Office minister

The BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Eardley, has just summed things up on BBC Radio 4 like this: “Liz Truss faced one of the most daunting entries of modern times, Mr Sunak faces an even more daunting one – plus he has to pick a cabinet that will unite the party.”

When he becomes PM, Rishi Sunak will be doing many things for the first time in modern politics – he will be the first PM of colour, the first Hindu, the youngest since William Pitt the Younger.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis quit as PM begins reshuffle

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Rees-Mogg resigns as business secretary and Lewis relinquishes justice secretary role as Sunak begins to assemble cabinet

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis have resigned from the government as Rishi Sunak begins to assemble his new cabinet, with the prime minister also sacking Chloe Smith and Wendy Morton.

Sunak is expected to keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, at least for the short term, and return Suella Braverman to the cabinet, as well as handing new posts to key leadership allies Oliver Dowden, Mel Stride and Dominic Raab.

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Liz Truss aide Mark Fullbrook pushed for advisers to get honours

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Exclusive: chief of staff said to have wanted ex-PM to sign off resignation honours list featuring her advisers

Mark Fullbrook, Liz Truss’s chief of staff, pushed for many of her advisers to get resignation honours despite her government only being in place for seven weeks, according to multiple sources.

Fullbrook, whose tenure in No 10 has been overshadowed by questions over his private lobbying interests, is expected to depart along with Truss’s other advisers as Rishi Sunak takes her place.

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Huge margin of support gives Rishi Sunak a free hand in choosing cabinet

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New prime minister likely to prioritise unity in offering ministerial jobs, although leading Trussites can expect the chop

Rishi Sunak has pledged to build a cabinet of all the talents but, given the swiftness of the leadership competition, relatively little has been briefed about his potential cabinet.

His team say no roles have been promised to any backers and Sunak was in the enviable position as the frontrunner of not needing to promise roles to anyone.

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