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...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.”
Continue reading...String of candidates announced on Saturday including Kemi Badenoch, Liz Truss, Grant Shapps and Nadhim Zahawi
Tory MP Rehman Chishti has confirmed he is “actively considering” running for leader.
The newly appointed Foreign Office minister retweeted quotes attributed to him by the BBC, stating: “We need leaders who best reflect modern Britain and can provide solutions to the challenges our nation is facing now.”
Continue reading...Analysis: Suella Braverman is lone frontbencher to voice leadership plan as Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and others hang back
Even before Boris Johnson delivered his ill-tempered exit speech, Conservative MPs’ focus had already switched to who might succeed him – and unlike in 2019, when he had been the prince across the water for months, this time there is no obvious successor.
Rishi Sunak, who walked out of the Treasury on Tuesday within minutes of Sajid Javid quitting, had been widely seen as the frontrunner until a series of missteps, including the botched spring statement.
Continue reading...A number of senior Tory MPs are preparing leadership bids as Johnson’s hold on power weakens
Leadership jostling kicked off among leading Conservative MPs as Boris Johnson clung to power, with departing cabinet ministers Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid the favourites, and Eurosceptic Steve Baker publicly saying he would “reflect seriously on whether to run”.
Baker, a former chair of the European Research Group who was one of the “Spartan” holdouts against Theresa May’s Brexit deal, was the second to go on the record with leadership ambitions, saying it was “accurate” that he was thinking about a bid.
Continue reading...Tory minister issues statement after it emerges Alexander Temerko called her an ‘absolutely uncontrollable woman’
The senior Tory minister Penny Mordaunt has suggested her colleagues should stop taking funds from Alexander Temerko, a major party donor who described her as an “absolutely uncontrollable woman” and “threat to national security”.
Mordaunt, a trade minister, said she had no issue with colleagues who have historically accepted money from Temerko but said everyone should be aware now how he has treated her.
Continue reading...Tory MP defends strategy as rebels warn they will not vote to extend latest restrictions
The UK should be braced for at least a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and further lockdowns, a minister has said as Tory sceptics warned they would not vote to extend England’s four-week shutdown.
Penny Mordaunt, the paymaster general, told MPs on Tuesday that there could yet be a rolling series of lockdowns – but argued this was not evidence that the measure was ineffective.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Penny Mordaunt offers ‘deepest regrets’ to constituents as lockdown row rumbles on
Penny Mordaunt, a senior government minister, has said there are “inconsistencies” in Dominic Cummings’ account of his actions during lockdown and apologised for how recent days have “undermined key public health messages”.
In an email sent to constituents, seen by the Guardian, Mordaunt said Cummings’ continued position as Boris Johnson’s chief adviser was a “matter for the prime minister” but she also said she could “fully understand how angry people are” and believed there was no doubt he “took risks”.
Continue reading...Defence secretary says UK has ‘an obligation to innocents’ as Syrian civil war subsides
Britain has an obligation to take back “innocent” children born to Islamic State fighters in Syria, the defence secretary has said, arguing that the UK needs to resolve its failure to repatriate minors caught up in the Syrian civil war.
Penny Mordaunt said she wanted to “build up a very clear picture” of where children have been taken into camps as Syria’s violent conflict has subsided and be prepared to allow them to come to the UK.
Continue reading...Mathew Talbot of Coldstream Guards died on deployment in Malawi, MoD confirms
A British soldier has died while on anti-poaching operations in Malawi, the Ministry of Defence has said.
It is understood Mathew Talbot, of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, was on a patrol when he was killed by an elephant. He was on his first operational deployment when he died on 5 May, according to the MoD.
Continue reading...Proposals by the international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, to refocus UK aid towards for-profit investment risks weakening support for the people who need our help the most, and compromising the work Britain does to make the world a safer, healthier and more just place to live in (Report, 30 January). The Department for International Development has a long-standing history and reputation as a world leader in helping millions of people worldwide to access clean water, healthcare, better jobs and education. DfID’s focus on ending extreme poverty has secured a global reputation that Britain is proud of and one which we continue to champion. Any move to expand the role of private investment in international development must reflect the basic and shared human values underlying charity, humanitarian aid and development, and not prioritise the pursuit of profit over tackling poverty.
Claire Godfrey
Head of policy and campaigns at Bond, which represents over 400 UK NGOs working in humanitarian aid and development
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Continue reading...International development secretary says she wants DfID to become more a fundraising than a spending department
Penny Mordaunt has been criticised by charities and MPs for suggesting the government’s international development spending should become more reliant on private sector investment and philanthropy.
The international development secretary told cabinet ministers she would aim for her department to become a fundraising department rather than a spending department, telling them it was unsustainable to continue to meet the spending target with taxpayer cash.
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