Ex-chancellor was leading frontrunner in the race to succeed Boris Johnson but his dreams soon unravelled
One of the most familiar refrains of the Conservative leadership contest was candidates earnestly inviting comparisons to Margaret Thatcher.
But after his resignation as chancellor brought down Boris Johnson’s wobbling house of cards, a Tory insider said Rishi Sunak found himself with “the curse of Heseltine hanging round his neck”.
Continue reading...Latest updates: outgoing prime minister promises investment in nuclear power in Suffolk and says he is ‘confident’ it will get over the line
Speaking from Sizewell in east Suffolk, Boris Johnson begins by talking about a “much-thumbed” Ladybird book he owned as a child, which was called The Story of Nuclear Power.
He says he was “enthralled” to read how UK scientists split the atom for the first time at the Cavendish laboratories in Cambridge. He said he noted how the world’s first civilian nuclear power station was built in Cumbria.
I look back at the optimism in the pages of that book and I look at what has happened since and at the short-termism of successive British governments and their failure to do justice to our pioneering nuclear history … and I feel like one of those beautifully drawn illustrations of that Ladybird book of what happens in a nuclear pile.
The graphite rods are taken out at the wrong moments and my blood starts to boil and steam starts coming out of my ears and I think I’m going to meltdown. I ask myself the question: ‘What happened to us?’.
Continue reading...Outgoing leader hails £700m funding for Sizewell C nuclear plant in penultimate speech
• Boris Johnson says ‘madness’ not to build Sizewell C – UK politics live
Boris Johnson has vowed to give his total support to the next prime minister, but could not resist using his penultimate speech to take a potshot at Liz Truss’s energy plans.
In an attempt to shore up his legacy just days before he leaves No 10, the outgoing Conservative leader hailed the government’s “accelerated, long-overdue reforms” to make the UK more energy independent and announced £700m for the Sizewell C nuclear plant.
Continue reading...At the final leadership hustings, the two candidates have one last opportunity to sell themselves to Tory members
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association has announced a countrywide 24-hour strike as part of an ongoing dispute over pay, job security, and working conditions.
The union said that staff at nine train operating companies as well as Network Rail would strike from midday on Monday 26 September until midday the following day.
Continue reading...BBC journalist says ‘broadcast interviews matter for the health of our democracy’ after Liz Truss cancels one-on-one encounter
Politicians feel television and radio grillings are “all risk” with almost “no opportunity”, Nick Robinson has said after Liz Truss cancelled an interview with him at the last minute.
The Conservative leadership frontrunner was to be interrogated by the senior BBC journalist in a face-to-face interview due to be broadcast at 7pm on Tuesday on BBC One. However, she pulled out on Monday because she could “no longer spare the time”.
Continue reading...Nadhim Zahawi to go on fact-finding trip to discuss measures on energy costs in what are likely to be his last days in post
Nadhim Zahawi will spend what are likely to be his final few days as chancellor in the US on a fact-finding trip to discuss measures to tackle soaring energy costs.
Zahawi, who took over as chancellor eight weeks ago and is likely to be replaced if, as widely expected, Liz Truss is unveiled as the next Conservative leader, will also discuss the Ukraine war and cooperation on financial services.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ministers encouraged to stay at Westminster to devise emergency plans to address cost of living crisis
The next Conservative leader has been urged to scrap MPs’ four-week break for party conference season and told it would be “immoral and insulting” to go “missing in action” during the worsening cost of living crisis.
With the Commons due to go into recess for a month in mid-September for the parties’ annual conventions, ministers were encouraged to remain in Westminster to devise and debate emergency plans for supporting struggling people through the winter.
Continue reading...Tory leadership frontrunner understood to have discussed move, with final decision coming after contest ends
Liz Truss is considering whether to reduce VAT by five percentage points across the board, which could save families £1,300 a year, it was reported.
The foreign secretary is understood to have discussed the move with her advisers but no final decisions will be taken until the Conservative leadership contest concludes on 5 September, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
Continue reading...Move could see synchronised strikes in autumn as new prime minister takes office
Britain is facing a wave of coordinated industrial action by striking unions this autumn in protest at the escalating cost of living crisis, the Observer can reveal.
A series of motions tabled by the country’s biggest unions ahead of the TUC congress next month demand that they work closely together to maximise their impact and “win” the fight for inflation-related pay rises.
Continue reading...Party would insulate broadcaster from political pressure, says shadow culture secretary, as Liz Truss prepares to wage war on it
Labour has pledged to strengthen the BBC’s political independence and retain it as a publicly-owned, public service broadcaster at the heart of British life, amid signs that a Tory government led by Liz Truss would wage war on the corporation.
Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, told the Observer she is examining a series of reforms to insulate the BBC from political pressures, including ending “revolving door” appointments of people in politics to top posts in the corporation, and extending the charter renewal period from 10 to 15 or 20 years to reduce pressures on BBC leaders to toe the government line.
Continue reading...If foreign secretary wins the Tory leadership contest she looks set to have to change course on ‘handouts’ despite campaign pledges
For months, everyone in government had known that Friday was energy cap day, and at 7am the bad news duly dropped. Phones pinged as the nation woke to Ofgem’s confirmation that typical gas and electricity bills were to rise by a frightening 80%.
Millions of people would be unable to cope, said charities. Even those on low or middle earnings who had some savings could see them entirely wiped out. It was a full-on national crisis, albeit long predicted.
Continue reading...Tory MPs are jittery while Keir Starmer is gaining traction with his plan for a price freeze
It is the biggest energy crisis for decades, with experts warning that people may freeze to death this winter and many will turn off their heating altogether.
But Liz Truss’s leadership campaign has barely reacted to the news that bills will have almost tripled in a year, beyond the vague promise of help to come.
Continue reading...Experts say 80% price cap increase will plunge people into destitution and cause avoidable deaths
Millions of households are bracing for a winter catastrophe of rising energy bills that experts say will plunge people into destitution and cause an increase in avoidable deaths without urgent government support.
After Britain’s energy industry regulator confirmed an 80% rise in the consumer price cap from October that will take a typical household’s gas and electricity bill to £3,549 a year, there were stark warnings about its potentially devastating effects.
Continue reading...MPs say it is vital tax and spending measures proposed by potential new prime minister are examined by OBR
Liz Truss has been challenged to open up her prospective emergency tax cuts and spending plans to scrutiny if she becomes prime minister and makes immediate moves to tackle the cost of living crisis.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which produces independent forecasts based on major fiscal announcements by the government, revealed preparatory work had been under way for about a month to publish fresh economic forecasts in September.
Continue reading...Truss remained loath to ‘bung money’ at those struggling to afford spiralling bills, Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution
Liz Truss has doubled down on her reluctance to “bung more money” at those who will struggle to afford spiralling energy costs this winter while Rishi Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution without extra support, as the pair clashed at the penultimate hustings of the Conservative leadership race.
With energy regulator Ofgem expected to raise the price cap to £3,500 a year from October for the average dual-fuel tariff, Truss warned the issue of spiralling fuel costs was not a short-term one. “If people think this problem is going to be over in six months they are not right. This is a long term problem,” she told the audience in Norfolk.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Tory leadership frontrunner reacts to Sunak comments, saying school closures went too far; pair meet Tory members in Norwich
Lee Cain, who was director of communications in Downing Street during the early phase of the Covid crisis, says Rishi Sunak’s comments about the lockdown policy (see 9.22am and 9.47am) are “simply wrong”.
But Sunak is not saying lockdown should not have happened, as Cain suggests. He is just saying that it was implemented too rigidly, and perhaps for too long, and that more consideration should have been given to the downsides.
Continue reading...Business day at party’s autumn conference will give lobbyists and CEOs access to senior ministers, raising ethics concerns
The Tories are selling access to the new chancellor and senior ministers at almost £3,000 a ticket for corporate leaders and lobbyists at their autumn conference, saying it will help firms “take your business to the next level”.
The party is advertising spaces for its “prestigious” annual business day at £2,990 a head, saying it will give attenders the chance to interact with “key decision makers in the party”.
Continue reading...Energy prices have soared above prediction and subsidies will require significant further spending
Ministers could face an additional £23bn price tag for covering extra household energy costs of £900 this autumn, rising to £90bn next year, a new paper by the Institute for Government has found.
The paper, looking at the options for Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak in No 10, also warned the government should plan for prolonged rises in energy bills by going a lot further in making public appeals to use less gas – for example by informing consumers about the cost savings from turning down thermostats – and in committing to building more energy efficient homes to help protect consumers.
Continue reading...Tory leadership hopeful says there is no need for independent body as she has ‘always acted with integrity’
Liz Truss has refused to commit to appointing an ethics adviser if she became prime minister, saying she has “always acted with integrity”.
At the Conservative leadership hustings in Birmingham on Tuesday night, Truss declined to directly answer whether she would appoint someone to the role, instead saying she would “ensure the correct apparatus is in place so that people are able to whistle-blow”.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest story on the leadership contest here:
The cross-party Commons Treasury committee has expressed concerns about reports that Liz Truss, the frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest, may hold an emergency budget in September without asking the Office for Budget Responsibility to update its fiscal and economic forecast.
The OBR usually publishes a new forecast alongside a budget, and it provides an independent assessment of what impact the budget measures will have. The system was put in place by George Osborne to discourage the Treasury from making dubious claims about what its tax and spending announcements might be able to achieve.
OBR forecasts provide transparency and reassurance to the markets on the health of the nation’s finances. As a committee, we expect the Treasury to be supporting and enabling the OBR to publish an independent forecast at the time of any significant fiscal event, especially where, unlike other recent fiscal interventions, this might include significant permanent tax cuts.
Whether such an event is actually called a budget or not is immaterial. The reassurance of independent forecasting is vital in these economically turbulent times. To bring in significant tax cuts without a forecast would be ill advised. It is effectively ‘flying blind’.
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