Former health secretary backs former chancellor for PM; Cop26 president backs ex-PM; leader of the Commons announces candidacy
Meanwhile, two out of five maternity units in England are providing substandard care to mothers and babies, the NHS watchdog has warned.
“The quality of maternity care is not good enough,” the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said in its annual assessment of how health and social care services are performing.
Continue reading...Number of publicly declared MPs is growing as three candidates emerge as favourites in the race
The number of publicly declared MPs who are backing potential candidates for the Conservative leadership is growing, with three key figures emerging: the former chancellor Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister Boris Johnson, and Penny Mordaunt, the current leader of the House of Commons. Each candidate will need at least 100 signatures to make it to the first round of voting on Monday.
As of 2:10pm on Sunday, Sunak was leading the field having received 135 public nominations.
Continue reading...As Starmer calls for general election, candidates scrabble to win nominations from at least 100 MPs to join race
Liz Truss announced on Thursday she was quitting No 10 after a calamitous 45 days in office, triggering a Tory leadership contest, with Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson battling it out to become Britain’s next prime minister.
At a lectern outside Downing Street during another tumultuous day, Truss admitted that she could not deliver the radical economic mandate on which she was elected by Conservative members.
Continue reading...Latest updates: chancellor to make statement after leader of Commons denied PM was hiding under a desk
Judging by what Conservative MPs have been telling journalists in private over the last few days, the consensus (but not unanimous) view among Tories seems to be that Liz Truss will have to be replaced as party leader before the next election. But very few MPs are saying that in public, and Sky’s Tom Larkin, who is running a spreadsheet of Tories calling for Truss’s resignation, has only got three names on it.
Damian Green, the former first secretary of state, was on the Today programme and you would expect him to be on the Larkin list. He is chair of the One Nation Conservatives caucus, the group most horrified by Truss’s experiment with hardline free market ideology. But he insisted that Truss did have the credibility to carry on as PM, despite the fact she is abandoning most of the key tax policies at the heart of her leadership campaign. He explained:
She is a pragmatist - she’s realised that the first budget didn’t work in spectacular fashion, so she’s now taken the sensible view that we will now try something else, and she’s appointed a very sensible chancellor in Jeremy Hunt.
I obviously don’t know what he’s going to say, but clearly what he’s going to do is already beginning to reassure the markets, and I hope will continue to do so afterwards.
Yes, because if she leads us into the next election, that will mean that the next two years have been a lot more successful than the past four weeks have been. That would not only be good for the Conservative party, that would be particularly good for the country as well, so I think everyone would welcome that.
Continue reading...Never have so many angry things been said by so many Tories about each other in a single day as on Monday. We rank the 10 most irate MPs
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The Tories assembled in Birmingham are fighting over lots of things. They’re fighting over the 45p tax U-turn, and the prospect of a swingeing benefit cut, and whether or not it’s OK for the Home Secretary to accuse backbenchers of mounting a coup. But above all, deep down, they’re mostly fighting about whether Liz Truss has got what it takes. There may never have been so many angry things said by so many Tories about each other in a single day as there were on Monday. It’s not the ideal introduction for the most important speech of Liz Truss’ life.
Some of them are angrily making headlines by saying exactly what they bloody well think; others are angrily making headlines by telling the first lot to put a sock in it. The mood is a little delirious. An amazing video appeared on Tuesday of at least three people appearing to sleep soundly through health secretary Thérèse Coffey’s speech in the main hall, but on Wednesday morning I find myself wondering if they weren’t obscure backbenchers who somebody had poisoned.
Continue reading...Analysis: Kwasi Kwarteng and Thérèse Coffey could be among the big winners if Truss becomes PM
Liz Truss has three weeks before she is likely to walk through No 10’s black door as prime minister, facing a difficult in-tray. Here we take a look at how senior roles could shape up.
Continue reading...Truss said she would lower taxes not give ‘handouts’, but ally says future support is not off the table
A senior ally of Liz Truss has played down suggestions she ruled out more emergency support payments to help people struggling through the worsening cost of living crisis this winter.
Penny Mordaunt, who is backing the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, said Truss’s comments had been misinterpreted and she wanted to prioritise tax cuts.
Continue reading...The final two will face each other in a TV debate on Monday before weeks of hustings with Conservative members
In an analysis of the yesterday’s public sector pay awards published this morning, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank says the new prime minister will have to decide whether to increase departmental spending budgets, to fund the higher-than-expected pay awards, or to require the awards to be funded from existing budgets, requiring cuts elsewhere. It says:
One option is to top up spending plans to at least partially fund the costs of higher-than-expected pay awards, shoring up departments’ ability to deliver on the government’s public service objectives (such as clearing the NHS backlog). This would come at the cost of higher borrowing and reduced fiscal room for the tax cuts seemingly desired by the entire field of would-be prime ministers.
The other option is to stick to existing spending plans, instead requiring public services to make some painful cuts: to other budgets, to headcount, or to the range and quality of service provision. Reducing the government’s public services ‘offer’ is a coherent response to a series of global economic shocks that make us poorer as a nation. But the government should be honest about what that implies for the NHS, local government, and other public services.
Continue reading...Candidates for next prime minister reduced to three ahead of final MPs’ vote on Wednesday
Penny Mordaunt’s supporters do believe that No 10 has removed the whip from Tobias Ellwood to stop him voting for her in the leadership ballot (contrary to what Nadine Dorries claims - see 11.21am), Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt reports.
Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary and Boris Johnson loyalist, has dismissed as “ridiculous” claims that Tobias Ellwood has had the Tory whip removed to stop him voting against the Johnson candidate in the leadership contest. (See 10.08am and 10.45am.)
Continue reading...Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss now look to be fighting each other to take on Rishi Sunak in membership vote
Kemi Badenoch has been eliminated from the Conservative leadership race, setting up a battle between Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss to join Rishi Sunak in the last round.
Sunak, the former chancellor and the frontrunner, won 118 MPs’ votes, just short of the 120 needed to guarantee a spot in the next stage of the process.
Continue reading...Graham Brady announces outcome of third round of race to replace PM, who faced Labour anger during vote of no confidence debate
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says the refusal of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to attend a TV leadership contest debate tomorrow shows they are treating the public with contempt. In a statement he says:
The Conservatives say they want to lead but they won’t even turn up to debate the issues that matter to our country.
Each of them are treating the nation with utter contempt and they’ve been taking people for granted for long enough.
Continue reading...Pressure still on foreign secretary in leadership race as she gains just seven new backers in latest round
Supporters of Liz Truss have said her key rival, Penny Mordaunt, has “topped out” of backers, as the foreign secretary gained ground in the fight for second place in the Conservative leadership contest.
Mordaunt lost a vote in the latest ballot of Tory MPs – a key sign her campaign had stalled after a weekend of bruising attacks – but remained behind frontrunner Rishi Sunak.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Tory leadership candidates prepare for second TV debate as Monday’s round of voting looms
The expectation of record temperatures will be dominating headlines in the UK over the next couple of days. The chief executive of the College of Paramedics warned on Sky News this morning that the “ferocious heat” could result in people dying.
Tracy Nicholls said: “This isn’t like a lovely hot day where we can put a bit of sunscreen on, go out and enjoy a swim and a meal outside. This is serious heat that could actually, ultimately, end in people’s deaths because it is so ferocious. We’re just not set up for that sort of heat in this country.”
Continue reading...Shadow minister to say PM hopefuls are vying ‘for the mantle of Margaret Thatcher, promising tax cuts for the wealthy’
The shadow communities secretary, Lisa Nandy, will claim the Conservative leadership contest has shown the government’s commitment to levelling up is dead, as she announces plans to give local communities the right to buy up assets such as empty shops.
Nandy will use a speech in Darlington to say Labour would press ahead with handing power to communities outside London and the south-east in an attempt to rebalance the UK’s economy.
Continue reading...The five candidates face off in a televised Channel 4 debate
Penny Mordaunt also rejected the idea that attacks on her for being too “woke” on issues such as trans rights could be the issue that ends her bid to replace Boris Johnson.
She told Sky News this morning:
Look at how we’re doing in the polls in the country, in London, in Scotland, with young people, with women, with Red Wall, with Blue Wall.
It’s not having an impact on my campaign, and it’s not having an impact on my parliamentary campaign. And I think the reason for that is that people recognise it for what it is.
I think it is important we don’t trash our record, because actually we have done an awful lot of good things.
I care about my colleagues. I have great colleagues and we have to, at the end of this contest, come together as a party.
You can see from my campaign, I’m not engaging in any of that.
I have just been getting on with my job, but I have thought long and hard about what this country needs. I feel really compelled to do this. It would be a huge honour to be prime minister.
Continue reading...Head-to-head sees open arguments over tax and identity politics, with no candidate willing to say Boris Johnson is honest
The Conservative leadership race has exploded into acrimony and recrimination after the first televised debate saw open arguments over tax and identity politics with also none of the five candidates willing to say Boris Johnson is honest.
Coming hours after Liz Truss sought to reinvigorate her faltering campaign with a sudden announcement of new tax cuts costing more than £20bn a year, Rishi Sunak the ex-chancellor, openly ridiculed his former colleague’s plans during the Channel 4 broadcast on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary announces tax cut proposals worth billions of pounds during online leadership debate
Liz Truss has sought to breathe new life into her faltering Conservative leadership campaign with a flurry of uncosted tax cut promises worth billions of pounds, as the five remaining candidates took part in their first mass debate.
Truss, who has the third highest number of Tory MPs’ votes – behind Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, promised to scrap a planned rise in corporation tax and suspend green energy levies, costing more than £20bn a year overall.
Continue reading...Latest updates: 1922 committee announce latest vote tally
Q: Lord Frost says Penny Mordaunt is not up to the job. You have worked with her. Do you agree with him?
Truss says she will not be making any disparaging comments about her opponents. The contest shows a broad range of talent. And the party did not get there through identity politics.
Continue reading...Field narrows to five candidates as Sunak wins highest number of votes with Mordaunt consolidating second place
Penny Mordaunt was handed another key boost in the race to make the final two of the Conservative leadership race, with votes putting her in pole position to take on frontrunner Rishi Sunak, at the latest voting round which eliminated Suella Braverman.
Sunak, the former chancellor, is still the frontrunner and added 13 new supporters but Mordaunt pulled away from the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who added fewer MPs to her tally despite a high-profile launch on Thursday.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary forced to regroup after trailing behind Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt after first round ballot
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.
Continue reading...