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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Christy Cooney and Andrew Sparrow

Kemi Badenoch and Jacob Rees-Mogg enter new cabinet – as it happened

Boris Johnson Liz Truss Chris Mason Balmoral Queen Elizabeth II Downing Street

Summary of appointments

Here’s the full list of cabinet appointments as things stand at the end of Liz Truss’s first day as prime minister.

The cabinet

  • Prime minister Liz Truss

  • Deputy prime minister and health secretary Thérèse Coffey

  • Chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng

  • Foreign secretary James Cleverly

  • Home secretary Suella Braverman QC

  • Defence secretary Ben Wallace

  • Justice secretary and lord chancellor Brandon Lewis

  • Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, minister for intergovernmental relations and minister for equalities Nadhim Zahawi

  • Leader of the House of Commons and lord president of the council Penny Mordaunt

  • Lord privy seal and leader of the House of Lords Lord True

  • Minister without portfolio and Conservative party chairman Jake Berry

  • Cop26 President Alok Sharma

  • Business, energy and industrial strategy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg

  • Levelling up, housing and communities Secretary Simon Clarke

  • International trade secretary and president of the board of trade Kemi Badenoch

  • Work and pensions secretary Chloe Smith

  • Education secretary Kit Malthouse

  • Environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena

  • Transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan

  • Culture secretary Michelle Donelan

  • Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris

  • Scotland secretary Alister Jack

  • Wales secretary Sir Robert Buckland QC

Attending cabinet

  • Parliamentary secretary to the Treasury (chief whip) Wendy Morton

  • Chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp

  • Attorney general Michael Ellis QC

  • Paymaster general and minister for the Cabinet Office Edward Argar

  • Minister for development at the Foreign Office Vicky Ford

  • Minister for security at the home department Tom Tugendhat

  • Minister for the armed forces and veterans at the Ministry of Defence James Heappey

  • Minister for climate at the business department Graham Stuart

Updated

Rees-Mogg will not take climate brief

Jacob Rees-Mogg will not take on the brief of minister for the climate, prompting speculation No 10 may have succumbed to pressure from green Tory MPs.

Graham Stuart has instead been appointed minister for the climate in the business department and will attend cabinet.

No 10 had originally planned to give Rees-Mogg the brief as part of his new role as business secretary, but is said to have faced opposition from MPs. Rees Mogg has also previously expressed scepticism about the scientific consensus on climate change and the UK’s net zero targets.

Updated

Cabinet will "unify the party", says prime minister's spokesperson

The prime minister’s spokesperson has said her cabinet will unify the Conservative Party and deliver for the country.

A statement released this evening read: “The prime minister has appointed a cabinet which represents the depth and breadth of talent in the Conservative Party.

“Containing no fewer than five other candidates from the recent leadership election, this is a cabinet which will unify the party, get our economy growing and deliver for the British people.”

Of the newly-appointed cabinet ministers, Penny Mordaunt, Nadhim Zahawi, Suella Braverman, and Kemi Badenoch were all candidates in the leadership contest. Tom Tugendhat, who also ran, will attend cabinet as minister for security.

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who won the backing of 137 MPs before coming second to Truss in the members’ vote, does not feature, and nor do any of his supporters bar Michael Ellis, the new attorney general.

Updated

James Heappey reappointed as armed forces minister

James Heappey has been reappointed as minister for the armed forces in the ministry of defence and will attend cabinet.

He has previously served as parliamentary undersecretary for defence procurement and is himself a former soldier, serving tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He will also serve as minister for veterans, replacing Johnny Mercer, whose wife responded to his sacking earlier today by taking to Twitter to brand Liz Truss an “imbecile”.

On the night that Liz Truss names her first cabinet (including the ministers of state who will attend cabinet meetings) our data team Michael Goodier, Carmen Aguilar García and Pamela Duncan have been looking for patterns in the 30 positions to have been announced to date.

Revenge4Rishi backers! But true blue Boris supporters in the Cabinet fold

Revenge may be a dish best served cold but it didn’t take long for Truss to plate it up for Rishi Sunak’s allies.

Not only has Truss not given her main contender for leader a position in her newly announced candidate, but only two MPs who had publicly declared for Rishi Sunak during the campaign has made it into the front benches either (the reappointed Secretary for Wales, Robert Buckland, who then switched to Liz Truss later in the campaign and the new Attorney General Michael Ellis).

All those who have been selected for cabinet positions also either made public statements supporting Boris at the time of his confidence vote among Tory MPs, or didn’t declare their vote in public.

Diversity

It’s official: the UK’s four most important offices of state do not feature a white man for the first time in history. Indeed if there is one area the Truss cabinet excels on it is representation of ethnic minorities: close to a quarter of the 30 positions announced tonight are BAME, compared with a national estimate of 13.7%.

However, the cabinet of the UK’s third ever female prime minister falls short on gender diversity: just 35% of Truss’s frontbenchers are women, compared to 51% of the population.

Education

Of the 30 names that have been announced (including the Prime Minister), just 11 haven’t received a private education (37%).

Is in keeping with Boris Johnson’s 2021 cabinet reshuffle and actually slightly better than his first and second cabinets after his first cabinet was announced in mid-2019 (64% privately educated) and that of his February 2020 reshuffle (65%).

However the number of Truss-appointed ministers who attended an independent school is more than double that in Theresa May’s first cabinet (30%), higher than David Cameron’s 2015 cabinet in 2015 and similar to the cabinet of the Coalition government in 2010 (62%).

Updated

Tom Tugendhat appointed minister for security

Tom Tugendhat has been appointed minister for security in the Home Office and will attend cabinet.

He is currently chair of the foreign affairs select committee and also placed fifth in the Tory leadership race, winning the backing of 31 MPs.

Tugendhat was previously a soldier, completing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has been a vocal supporter of the military aid the UK has sent to Ukraine.

Vicky Ford appointed minister of state for development

Vicky Ford has been appointed minister of state for development in the Foreign Office and will attend cabinet.

She has previously served as parliamentary undersecretary of state for Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Edward Argar appointed paymaster general

Edward Argar has been appointed paymaster general and minister for the Cabinet Office.

He has previously served as minister for health and parliamentary undersecretary of state for justice.

Truss reiterates "steadfast support for Ukraine's freedom"

Liz Truss has said she reiterated the UK’s “steadfast support for Ukraine’s freedom and democracy” is a call this evening with President Zelenskiy.

“Russia’s attempts to weaponise energy must not deter the West,” she said. “Ukraine can depend on the UK for support in the long term.”

Michael Ellis appointed attorney general

Michael Ellis has been appointed attorney general, a step up from his two current roles as minister for the Cabinet Office and paymaster general.

He has previously served as socilitor general, transport minister, and deputy leader of the Commons.

Ellis has represented Northampton North since 2010. He opposed Brexit before the referendum and later supported the Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May.

Chris Philp appointed chief secretary to the Treasury

Chris Philp has been appointed chief secretary to the Treasury, a promotion from his current role as parliamentery undersecretary for tech and the digital economy.

Robert Buckland reappointed as Wales secretary

Robert Buckland has been reappointed as secretary of state for Wales, a role he was given by Boris Johnson in July following the resignation of Simon Hart.

Buckland previously served as justice secretary and prisons minister. He also spent five years as solicitor general under David Cameron and Theresa May.

Alister Jack reappointed Scotland secretary

Alister Jack is to stay on as sectetary of state for Scotland, a role he’s had since the 2019 election.

Jack has repesented Dumfries and Galloway since 2017, when he won the seat from the SNP.

Chris Heaton-Harris appointed Northern Ireland secretary

Chris Heaton-Harris has been appointed Northern Ireland secretary, a promotion from his current role as minster for Europe. The move was announced on Twitter earlier by Conor Burns, a minister for Northern Ireland.

Heaton-Harris has represented Davnetry since 2010, and from 2010 to 2016 was chair of the pro-Brexit European Research Group. He has also served as transport minister and as deputy leader of the Commons.

Michelle Donelan appointed culture secretary

Michelle Donelan has been appointed secretary for culture, media, and sport.

She has previously served as minister for higher and further education.

In July, Boris Johnson appointed Donelan education secretary in place of Nadhim Zahawi, who had been made chancellor following the resignation of Rishi Sunak.

Two days later, Donelan also resigned, saying that Johnson had “put us in an impossible position” and becoming the shortest-serving cabinet member in British history.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan appointed transport secretary

Anne-Marie Trevelyan has been appointed secretary of state for transport.

For the last year she has been international trade secretary and she has previously served as international development sectetary.

Updated

Ranil Jayawardena appointed environment secretary

Ranil Jayawardena has been appointed secertary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, a promotion from his current role of parliamentary undersecretary for international trade.

Jayawardena has represented North East Hampshire since 2015 and previously served as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. He supported Brexit in the referendum and in November 2018 resigned as a parliamentary private sectretary in the ministry of jusrice in protest over Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Kit Malthouse appointed education secretary

Kit Malthouse has been appointed secretary of state for education, a promotion from his current role as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.

He previously served as minister for crime and policing, and was also deputy mayor for policing under Boris Johnson during Johnson’s time as mayor of London.

He has represented the constituency of North West Hampshire since 2015.

Chloe Smith appointed work and pensions secretary

Chloe Smith has been appointed secretary of state for work and pensions.

The move is a promotion from her previous role as minister for disabled people, work, and health in the same department. She has also previously been minister of state for the constitution and devolution.

She backed Remain in the Brexit referendum but in 2019 supported Boris Johnson for the party leadership.

Kemi Badenoch appointed international trade secretary

Kemi Badenoch has been appointed international trade secretary and president of the board of trade.

She has previously been a minister for local government and was also a breakthorough candidate in the race for the Tory leadership. She won the support of 59 MPs and much of the membership with a platform opposing so-called woke politics and calling for a slimmed-down state.

Born in London to Nigerian parents, she spent part of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before moving back to the UK at 16. She worked as a banker and at the Spectator magazine before being elected to parliament in 2017.

Simon Clarke appointed levelling up secretary

Simon Clarke has been appointed secretary of state for levelling up.

Clarke was previously a minister for local government and since September last year has been chief secretary to the Treasury.

He was a strong supporter of Brexit and was critical of the Northern Ireland backstop, which formed of the Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May.

He supported Boris Johnson in the confidence vote held among Tory MPs in June of this year, saying Johnosn had “won every major election he has fought because he is a politician with the capacity both to inspire and to deliver”.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the energy crisis would be “absolutely at the forefront” of the government’s agenda following his appointment as business secretary.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “We have to help businesses and individuals, and a package will be brought forward shortly.”

He added that, as prime minster, Truss would focus on “getting energy into the machienry of government so that decisions are made and acted upon quickly”.

“Nobody fails to realise the size of the problem,” he said. “It is an extraordinary problem.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg appointed as business secretary

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been appointed as secretary of state of business, energy, and industrial strategy.

Rees-Mogg was a strong Brexiteer and ally of Boris Johnson, and previously served as leader of the House of Commons and minister for Brexit opportunities.

He supported Liz Truss, who backed Remain during the Brexit referendum, in the leadership race, saying she was as “strong a Brexiteer” as he was and that she had been his “strongest supporter in cabinet in getting Brexit opportunities”.

Felicity Cornelius-Mercer, the wife of Johnny Mercer MP, has called Liz Truss an “imbecile” after her husband was sacked from his role of minister for veterans’ affairs.

Writing on twitter, Cornelius-Mercer said Mercer had asked Truss why she was removing him and which of her “mates” would get the job instead. She added that “this system stinks & treats people appallingly”.

The tweet also included an edited picture of Truss with the head of one of the characters from the muppets alongside the caption: “Liz for leader”.

Mercer served in the role from 2019 to 2021 and was reappointed in July this year. He has become known for campaigning on a number of issues concerning veterans, including against the prosecution of soldiers accused of committing crimes while serving in Northern Ireland.

Cornelius-Mercer has become known for frequently poking fun at her husband on social media.

Alok Sharma reappointed as president of COP26

Alok Sharma has been reappointed as president of COP26.

COP26 was the 26th meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Glasgow in November last year.

In July, it was announced that Sharma would remain in the post to lead international climate negotiations over the following months. Sharma told the Guardian at the time that he was focused on continuing the work needed to cement the progress made at the summit.

Under the UN rules, the UK remains in charge of the international climate negotiations until the next conference of the parties, scheduled to take place in Egypt this November.

Sharma has previously served as business secretary and international development secretary.

Updated

Jake Berry appointed minister without portfolio and Conservative Party chairman

Jake Berry has been appointed minister without portfolio and Conservative Party chairman.

Berry has been the MP for Rossendale and Darwen since 2010 and from 2017 to 2020 served as minister for the Northern Powerhouse and local growth.

He is also a founder of the Northern Research Group, a group of MPs elected to seats in the so-called Red Wall at the 2019 election and intended to pressure government for greater investment in the north.

Lord True appointed Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords

Lord True has been appointed Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords.

Lord True has been a life peer since 2011 and previously served as minister for the Cabinet Office.

Truss speaks to Zelenskiy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he has become the first foreign leader to speak with Liz Truss since her appointment as prime minister.

He said he had invited her to visit Ukraine and thanked her for the support provided to Ukraine by the UK so far, adding that it was important that both defense and economic aid continue to be strengthened.

Penny Mordaunt has been appointed Leader of the House of Commons

Penny Mordaunt has been appointed Leader of the House of Commons, replacing Mark Spencer. She will also be Lord President of the Council, presiding over meetings of the Privy Council, which formally advises the monarch on the business of the government.

Mordaunt served as defence secretary under Theresa May, but was a prominent supporter of Jeremy Hunt in the 2019 leadership race and was sacked when Boris Johnson assembled his first cabinet.

She later became a minister for trade, and this summer placed a close third when MPs voted on which two candidates should make it onto the final ballot in the leadership contest.

Nadhim Zahawi moves from Treasury to Cabinet office, as chancellor of duchy of Lancaster and equalities minister

Nadhim Zahawi has been demoted from chancellor of the exchequer to chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (CDL, in government-speak), which means he is a Cabinet Office minister. He is also minister for intergovernmental relations (ie, dealing with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, or “saving the union”), and minister for equalities.

That is all from me for today. My colleague Christy Cooney is taking over now.

Philip Hammond was Liz Truss’s boss when he was chancellor and she was chief secretary to the Treasury. On LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, he was interesting when asked about her strengths and potential weaknesses.

Asked about her strengths, Hammond replied:

She is somebody with an incredibly clear idea of what she believes in, what she wants to do, where she wants to go. I think she models herself on Margaret Thatcher and she believes that decisiveness and an unshakable commitment to your path is a strength and a virtue.

She’s very hardworking - unlike [some] occupants of that office, she will definitely do the homework. And she gets things done. As chief secretary, she never had to be asked twice to do anything. A politician who can get things done is a relatively unusual animal.

Asked what her biggest challenge would be in her new job, Hammond said:

For a Conservative prime minister to be a success, they have to have a clear ideology that underpins their actions, their position and that gives them direction for the strategic dimension, the long-term. But they also have to be fiercely pragmatic about dealing with the everyday and they have to recognise, let’s be honest, that that underpinning ideology will not be agreed with by the majority, probably, of people in the country. You’ve got to be pragmatic, and you’ve got to demonstrate competence.

Former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis appointed justice secretary

Brandon Lewis, the former Northern Ireland secretary and Liz Truss supporter in the later stage of the Tory leadership contest, has been made justice secretary. He will replace Dominic Raab. (See 5.46pm.)

This appointment may arose controversy in legal circles. As Northern Ireland secretary, Lewis told MPs in 2020 that the internal market bill as then drafted by the government would “break international law in a very specific and limited way”.

Subsequently the law-breaking clauses were dropped, but that fact that the government was even proposing to pass the legislation provoked outrage.

Updated

Ben Wallace reappointed as defence secretary

And Ben Wallace is staying as defence secretary, as expected.

Wendy Morton promoted from transport minister to chief whip

Wendy Morton has been appointed chief whip. She was a transport minister, and she will be the first female Tory chief whip.

Shailesh Vara sacked as Northern Ireland secretary

Shailesh Vara has confirmed that he has been sacked from his post as Northern Ireland secretary. He was plucked from the backbenches to do the job by Boris Johnson when Brandon Lewis resigned in July, as part of the anti-Johnson walkout by ministers. It was a surprising appointment, and Vara probably got the job only because he had been a junior Northern Ireland minister four years earlier.

Updated

MPs often refer to the three great offices of state – chancellor, foreign secretary, home secretary – or four, if you include the post of prime minister. For the first time in UK history, not one of these jobs is held by a white man. And the main three great offices of state are now all held by black or minority-ethnic MPs. That is a significant change. It is also a tribute to the efforts made by David Cameron when he was Tory leader to make his party more diverse. Cameron wrote about this earlier this year.

Updated

Suella Braverman promoted from attorney general to home secretary

And Suella Braverman has been promoted from attorney general to home secretary.

Liz Truss’s allies have been briefing for some time that Braverman was heading for the Home Office, and so this appointment is not unexpected. But it is still a remarkable promotion. As attorney general, Braverman did attend cabinet, but she was not a full member. And she has had no experience of running a major government department. When challenged about this during the leadership contest, she said she had to run the attorney general’s office, but that barely counts as a government department and it won’t have prepared her for running the Home Office – a famously impossible department that has defeated many good administrators.

Braverman’s appointment is thought in part to be a reward for a decision to back Truss when she was defeated in the leadership contest, and to urge her supporters to back Truss, at a time when if they had all endorsed Kemi Badenoch instead, Truss may have failed to make it onto the final ballot.

But Braverman also shares Truss’s radicalism, and her support for a confontational stance with the EU over Brexit.

James Cleverly promoted from education secretary to foreign secretary

And James Cleverly has been appointed foreign secretary. This is another appointment that was widely expected.

Cleverly was education secretary, but he had been in that post only since July, when he replaced Michelle Donelan, who resigned as part of the protest at Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations. Before that, Cleverly was a Foreign Office minister (where Truss was his departmental boss). That means he has gone from being outside cabinet to having one of the top jobs in government within three months.

Updated

Kwasi Kwarteng promoted from business secretary to chancellor

As expected, Kwasi Kwarteng has been made chancellor. He was business secretary.

Like Thérèse Coffey, he is also a close friend of Liz Truss.

Thérèse Coffey promoted to health secretary and deputy PM

Downing Street has announced its first appointment. Thérèse Coffey will be health secretary and deputy prime minister.

A close friend of Liz Truss, she was work and pensions secretary.

This means for the first time the UK has a female prime minister and deputy prime minister.

No woman has served as deputy PM before. When Gordon Brown was PM, Harriet Harman was deputy Labour leader, but Brown never formally made her deputy PM – even though she did deputise for him at PMQs.

George Eustice sacked as environment secretary

George Eustice has also been sacked as enviroment secretary, my colleague Pippa Crerar reports.

Eustice is no remainer. In 1999, long before becoming an MP, he even stood as a candidate for Ukip in the European elections. But he backed Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest, and has been cautious about some of the more aggressive proposals from Brexiters. For example, when Jacob Rees-Mogg proposed earlier this year letting all retained EU laws lapse after 2026, Eustice said this might be bad for business. Truss now wants it all to lapse by the end of 2023, unless a review concludes it is worth keeping.

Levelling up secretary Greg Clark joins cabinet exodus

Some of the ministers being sacked from cabinet today never expected to be in it in the first place. Greg Clark spent three years in cabinet under Theresa May, but he was sacked when Boris Johnson became prime minister, and then at one point had the Tory whip removed when he joined other remain voters in rebelling to stop Johnson staging a no-deal Brexit. Clark made a surprise return to cabinet in July, after Johnson sacked Michael Gove shortly before he announced he was resigning, and needed a replacement.

Clark was never expected to last long under Truss because he does not share the zeal for Brexit felt by many of her supporters.

Updated

Andrew Stephenson being replaced as Tory chair

Andrew Stephenson says he is being replaced as Conservative party chair.

Johnny Mercer says he's been sacked as veterans ministers, implying Truss wants to give his job to supporter

Johnny Mercer says he has been sacked as veterans minister. In his letter, he suggests that he is being dismissed to create a ministerial vacancy so that Liz Truss can reward one of her supporters. This is what ministers always think when they are sacked by a new prime minister, but normally they do not say this in public.

A former soldier, Merce also says he has found it hard representing veterans in parliament and he implies they still do not get the treatment they deserve from government.

He also says that he accepts he will “never possess the qualities required for enduring success in politics as it stands” and he says he will have to consider his future.

Updated

From the Times’ Henry Zeffman

Joe Biden, the US president, has sent a message to Liz Truss congratulating her on becoming PM.

Downing Street has uploaded pictures of Liz Truss arriving in the building onto its Flickr account.

Liz Truss arriving at No 10, being greeted by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary
Liz Truss arriving at No 10, being greeted by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary Photograph: No 10
Liz Truss being welcomed by staff as she arrives in Downing Street
Liz Truss being welcomed by staff as she arrives in Downing Street Photograph: No 10

Cull of Sunak supporters continues as health secretary Steve Barclay leaves government

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, is also out. He was also a Rishi Sunak supporter.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps out of government too and returning to backbenches

Grant Shapps is out, too, leaving his post as transport secretary. Like Dominic Raab, he supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest.

There had been some speculation about Shapps being made party chair.

Updated

Raab says he's leaving justice secretary post and returning to backbenches

Dominic Raab is leaving the cabinet, where he was justice secretary and deputy prime minister, and returning to the backbenches.

From his tweet it is unclear whether he resigned or was sacked. But in practice the distinction is often meaningless because once ministers realise they are not going to be kept on, they tend to resign anyway.

Raab infuriated the Truss camp by saying during the leadership campaign that her economic policy would be an “electoral suicide note” for the party. From that point he seemed doomed. But perhaps Truss is being a bit harsh because she has changed her policy on energy bills dramatically since Raab wrote his article, implying that she also concluded that she was on the path to electoral suicide.

Updated

Shailesh Vara, the Northern Ireland secretary, is heading for a meeting with Liz Truss, the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope reports. He has been tipped for the sack.

Liz Truss has arrived in parliament, the Mail’s John Stevens reports. During reshuffles prime ministers normally use their Commons office for meetings where they have to sack people, to save them the ordeal of having to walk out of No 10 to face the cameras having lost their job.

Truss's speech to nation from Downing Street – snap verdict

Was that it? Liz Truss can’t perform the verbal conjuring tricks that someone like Boris Johnson can, and it is hard to recall her ever delivering a joke successfully on a public platform, but flash is not always good, and speeches can be dull but worthy and serious. The problem with this one was that it wasn’t dull/worthy so much as dull/shallow.

Her main aim was to identify the three priorities she will focus on.

Firstly, I will get Britain working again. I have a bold plan to grow the economy through tax cuts and reform. I will cut taxes to reward hard work and boost business-led growth and investment. I will drive reform in my mission to get the United Kingdom working, building and growing. We’ll get spades in the ground to make sure people are not facing unaffordable energy bills. And we will also make sure that we are building hospitals, schools, roads and broadband.

Secondly, I will deal hands on with the energy crisis caused by Putin’s war. I will take action this week to deal with energy bills and to secure our future energy supply.

Thirdly, I will make sure that people can get doctor’s appointments and the NHS services they need. We will put our health service on a firm footing.

This was fine as it went, and it what she has been saying at the recent Tory hustings. But it all sounded like cliché and boilerplate. There was nothing personal, nothing original, and nothing to suggest that she could engage emotionally with people who were worried about affording heating, or whether they could get to see a doctor. It all sounded like a very, very routine speech from a low-level politician – not something from someone who has just been made prime minister.

Of course, all new prime ministers want to promise a fresh start, and that gets increasingly hard if your party has been in power for 12 years. But that is why imaginative leaders can find a way of recasting the challenges they face, and restarting the clock. Truss did not even try to do this. She talked about putting the nation “on the path to long-term success” without any consideration as to why, after 12 years of Tory rule, it was not there already.

The only area where she did reset a bit came in what she said about Boris Johnson. In the Tory leadership contest she ran very much as a Johnson continuity candidate (except on the economy, where she promised lower taxes and more spending – although that was continuity Johnson too, because it was what Johnson might have done if Rishi Sunak had not held him back). Today she seemed slightly less enthused about him. She described him as “a hugely consequential prime minister”, which sounded like a compliment, but which is also what his critics say about him because (on Brexit, at least) it is true. Consequential does not necessarily mean good.

Updated

Truss poses for a photograph with her husband, Hugh O’Leary, in front of the door to No 10 before they turn round and go in. He looks less than ecstatic to have arrived.

Liz Truss says Britain can 'ride out the storm' and she will get country 'working, building and growing'

Truss says she wants to get Britain working, building and growing.

She will make sure people are not facing unacceptable energy bills.

She will take action this week to tackle energy bills and secure energy supplies.

And she will focus on the NHS, to make sure that people can see doctors.

By delivering on the economy, energy and the NHS, she will put the country on the route to long-term success.

The UK has huge reserves of talent and imagination. We can ride out the storm and become the brilliant Britain she knows we can be.

I am determined to deliver. Thank you.

Updated

Truss says she wants to turn Britain into an 'aspiration nation'

Liz Truss says she has just accepted the Queen’s invitation to form a government.

She says Boris Johnson delivered Brexit and the Covid vaccine, and stood up to Russia. He was a hugely consequential PM.

She says now is the time to tackle the issues holding Britain back. We need to build roads, homes and broadband faster.

We need to reduce the burdens on families.

We have what it takes to transform Britain, she says. She wants to turn Britain into “an aspiration nation”.

She will take action this day and every day to make it happen.

Liz Truss gets out of her car, to applause from Tory MPs. The rain seems to be holding off.

She walks to the lectern and she is about to start.

Liz Truss’s car is now arriving at Downing Street.

At Downing Street the lectern has come back out again. So maybe Liz Truss will get to deliver her speech al fresco.

Her motorcade is very close now.

Updated

From Rachel Johnson, Boris’s sister.

A nice joke – although now the rain is easing off.

Updated

From Repubblica’s Antonello Guerrera

From the BBC’s David Wallace Lockhart

The bin bag is back. I’m in the Guardian office in the Commons, a few hundred yards away form Downing Street, and the heavens now really have opened.

The rain is so heavy that, without an umbrella, Liz Truss could get soaked just going from the car to No 10. The speech will have to be inside.

It looks like we already have the cover design for John Crace’s book of parliamentary sketches covering the Liz Truss administation.

But the bin bag has now been removed from the lectern.

From my colleague Gaby Hinsliff

And now it is tipping down. Perhaps the weather gods were voting for Rishi.

This is from the Mail’s Harriet Line.

From my colleague John Crace

From the BBC

From Bloomberg’s Kitty Donaldson

It has just started to rain in Downing Street, Global’s Lewis Goodall reports.

The crowd outside Downing Street where people are waiting to see Liz Truss arrive on her return from seeing the Queen at Balmoral.
The crowd outside Downing Street where people are waiting to see Liz Truss arrive on her return from seeing the Queen at Balmoral. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

A large number of Tory MPs have turned up in Downing Street to hear Liz Truss’s speech, Global’s Lewis Goodall reports.

Liz Truss is the fourth Conservative prime minister since Labour lost power in 2010.

David Cameron delivered his speech in Downing Street after agreeing to form a coalition with the Lib Dems. He stressed that he wanted to “rebuild trust in the political system”, but he also said he wanted a more responsible society. He said:

And I want to help try and build a more responsible society here in Britain. One where we don’t just ask what are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities. One where we don’t ask what am I just owed, but more what can I give. And a guide for that society - that those that can should, and those who can’t we will always help.

In her speech in 2016 Theresa May focused on the burning injustices she wanted to tackle. She said:

We believe in a union not just between the nations of the United Kingdom but between all of our citizens, every one of us, whoever we are and wherever we’re from.

That means fighting against the burning injustice that, if you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others.

If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white.

If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university.

If you’re at a state school, you’re less likely to reach the top professions than if you’re educated privately.

And in 2019, in his speech, Boris Johnson focused on his determination to deliver Brexit. He said:

The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters – they are going to get it wrong again.

The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts, because we are going to restore trust in our democracy, and we are going to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on October 31.

No ifs or buts.

And we will do a new deal, a better deal that will maximise the opportunities of Brexit while allowing us to develop a new and exciting partnership with the rest of Europe, based on free trade and mutual support.

I have every confidence that in 99 days’ time we will have cracked it.

Updated

No 10 ready for Liz Truss to deliver her first speech to nation as prime minster

Liz Truss is now driving back to Downing Street. Outside No 10 a lectern has already been put in place for her speech. This is from the Sun’s Harry Cole.

This seems to be the same lectern that Truss used for her speech at the QEII Centre yesterday after it was announced that she had won the Tory leadership contest – although yesterday it had union flags pasted on it.

New prime ministers traditionally give a speech outside No 10 after their appointment, and often it can define what they want to achieve. Theresa May was particularly proud of her “burning injustices” one – although Brexit meant that she achieved almost none of the goals she had set herself in her three years in office.

Updated

YouGov has released a new poll today (with the fieldwork carried out last week) suggesting Labour has a 15-point lead over the Conservatives. That is a seven-point increase on the previous week.

My colleague Matthew Weaver has been wondering whether the Queen was subtly trolling Liz Truss when she received her for the audience at Balmoral earlier. Above the fireplace in the room where the pair met is the latin phrase: Nemo me impune lacessit or “No one attacks me with impunity.” As Matthew points out, it is the national motto of Scotland. But perhaps Her Majesty wanted to make a point about Truss’s monarchy-bashing antics as a student. (See 10.37am.)

Updated

Liz Truss has landed at RAF Northolt in west London. From there she will be heading for Downing Street, where she is expected to deliver her speech to the nation within the hour.

Updated

Sturgeon promises emergency legislation to freeze rents in Scotland this winter

Nicola Sturgeon has promised to bring in emergency legislation to introduce a rent freeze in Scotland, as part of of measures to tackle the “humanitarian emergency” sparked by the cost-of-living crisis.

In her speech to MSPs on her programme for government, the first minister said:

In what is perhaps the most significant announcement I will make today I can confirm to parliament we will take immediate action to protect tenants in the private and in the social rented sectors.

I can announce that we will shortly introduce emergency legislation to parliament. The purpose of the emergency law will be two-fold.

Firstly, it will aim to give people security about the roof over their head this winter through a moratorium on evictions.

Secondly, the legislation will include measures to deliver a rent freeze.

The Scottish government does not have the power to stop your energy bills soaring, but we can and will take action to make sure that your rent does not rise.

Sturgeon said this would be a temporary measure to provide security for people over the winter.

She also confirmed her government would bring in a Bill to hold a second independence referendum in October next year - if ministers get the go-ahead on this from the UK Supreme Court.

Nicola Sturgeon in the Scottish parliament today.
Nicola Sturgeon in the Scottish parliament today. Photograph: Ken Jack/Getty Images

Rishi Sunak made his first contribution in parliament as a backbencher today after being defeated by Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest. While she was flying to Scotland this morning to meet the Queen ahead of appointing a cabinet, Sunak was in Westminster Hall for a debate on small hospitals. He spoke about the Friarage hospital in his Yorkshire constituency, and the importance of accessibility to healthcare in rural areas.

Sunak signalled during the leadership campaign that he would not serve as a minister under Truss, and she does not intend to offer him a job anyway.

Updated

Chris Giles, economics editor at the Financial Times, has welcomed the news that Liz Truss seems to be planning to finance her energy bills price freeze – which could cost £90bn – through borrowing rather than through a deferred charge on consumers.

But he also thinks this could lead to interest rates going up.

Gavin Barwell, chief of staff to Theresa May when she was prime minister, has posted an interesting thread on Twitter, saying that Liz Truss’s cabinet will be one of the least experienced in modern times. It starts here but is worth reading in full.

Families will be getting poorer this winter even with a big energy bills support package, MPs told

Households “will be getting poorer” over the coming months even with further financial support to freeze Britons’ energy bills, MPs heard this morning. That was one of the messages that emerged when the Commons business committee took evidence from thinktanks, campaigners and other experts on the cost of living crisis this morning.

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, said even a sizeable rescue package would not fully protect people. He said:

Even with the big policy announcement this week, households will be getting poorer.

They don’t have lots of non-essential spending and luxuries they can cut to pay their energy bills and that context is really worrying.

Thousands of people will have their energy cut off this winter.

Clare Moriarty, the chief executive of Citizens Advice, said the cost of living crisis was already here for people. She said:

We estimate that at least one in five people won’t be able to pay energy bills in October if nothing is done.

We hear the messages about support packages, but right here on the ground we are already seeing very large numbers of people who simply cannot keep lights on and food on the table.

And Tom Waters, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, said it would be hard for the UK to avoid a recession. He said:

When you are seeing inflation hit 10%, and even higher, but earnings are not keeping up with it, you would expect that to feed through to consumer spending whatever measures. It’s difficult to see how you could avoid a pretty severe hit to the economy.

Updated

Liz Truss has taken off from Aberdeen airport and is now flying back to London. The BBC’s Alex Partridge has posted a link to the Flightradar24 page tracking her flight.

Journalists outside Balmoral at lunchtime earlier today, covering the arrival of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to see the Queen, when it was raining heavily.
Journalists outside Balmoral at lunchtime earlier today, covering the arrival of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to see the Queen, when it was raining heavily. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Boris Johnson has left a legacy of scandal, sleaze and high inflation, according to Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner. Responding to Johnson’s farewell speech from Downing Street (see 9.01am), she said:

If you heard Boris Johnson’s speech this morning, you’d think everything was rosy and great.

Actually, the legacy is scandal, sleaze, the highest inflation for decades, cost of living crisis, people’s standard of living going down, we’ve seen the highest tax burden on the UK and we’ve seen GP waiting lists going up, we’ve seen the NHS engulfed in a crisis, we’ve seen our public services really demoralised.

He talked about levelling up, but Northern Rail has been levelled down, we’ve seen levelling down across the United Kingdom and partying when people quite frankly couldn’t see their relatives, and there was no acknowledgement of the scandalous behaviour from Boris Johnson - and of course Liz Truss was part of that cabinet.

I thought it was astonishing that he thought it was a good laugh and said” ‘Bye, I’ve been a rocket and it’s been great’, when actually, it’s been a damp squib and everyone’s poorer as a result of it.

Updated

Sturgeon says UK government should cancel planned energy price cap rise in October

The UK government must cancel the October energy price cap rise and freeze energy prices at the current level, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

As PA Media reports, delivering her programme for government, the first minister said a freeze on bills would deliver “immediate relief to households and also help lower inflation, easing the wider cost crisis”.

The freeze must be applied to businesses and to the public and third sectors, Sturgeon added, and additional cash support should be offered to those already struggling.

She also called for greater powers to borrow to be granted to the Scottish government.

Nicola Sturgeon addressing MSPs today
Nicola Sturgeon addressing MSPs today. Photograph: BBC News

Updated

According to the Telegraph’s Camilla Turner, the Liz Truss team have also been finding it hard getting suitable cabinet appointees to serve at international trade, transport, education and culture.

Liz Truss has reportedly found it hard to find a suitable candidate to be Northern Ireland secretary. The current one, Shailesh Vara, got the job when Brandon Lewis resigned in July over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, and Vara was never expected to stay in post long-term.

Sajid Javid and Penny Morduant are already said to have turned the job down, and my colleague Aubrey Allegretti says Chris Heaton-Harris, the chief whip, is the latest figure being lined up for a residence in Hillsborough Castle.

Updated

Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, says what seems to be the latest version of the Liz Truss energy bills rescue package (different options have been considered, and written up by reporters) could add £100bn to government borrowing.

Liz Truss has found it hard to find an MP willing to serve as energy minister under Jacob Rees-Mogg at the business department, the Sun’s Natasha Clark says.

Earlier this year Rees-Mogg, who is currently the Brexit opportunities minister but he is expected to be promoted to business secretary in the reshuffle, said “every last drop” of oil and gas should be extracted from the North Sea.

Updated

Lord Pannick's criticism of inquiry into whether Johnson misled MPs over Partygate 'absurd', says senior Tory

Sir Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative MP who sits on the Commons privileges committee, has dismissed as “absurd” one of the arguments used by the distinguished barrister Lord Pannick to suggest the committee’s inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament over Partygate is flawed.

In a highly unusual move, the government last week published Pannick’s legal opinion saying the inquiry was “fundamentally flawed in a number of important respects”. Pannick’s 22-page opinion was welcomed by Johnson allies who are backing the Daily Mail campaign for the inquiry to be halted.

One of Pannick’s arguments was that the committee was mistaken in taking the view that a minister could be in contempt of parliament if they misled MPs even if they did so inadvertently. Such a wide definition of contempt could make ministers nervous about trying to answer questions in the Commons, he argued.

Jenkin told Radio 4’s World at One that the committee would respond to Pannick in due course. But he went on:

Ask yourself; do you think it is possible that a committee could recommend a sanction against a member for inadvertently misleading the house? Do you think the House of Commons would vote for that? I’m amazed I need to say this. It is totally absurd.

And the idea that we’ve moved the goalposts, or changed anything – will change anything. There is no evidence of that.

The Pannick opinion accepts that in the past Jenkin has said a minister would be in contempt of parliament only if they deliberately misled MPs. But Pannick said Jenkin’s view was not reflected in the document published by the committee earlier this summer setting out the approach it would take.

Bernard Jenkin.
Bernard Jenkin. Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Updated

Truss expected to freeze energy bills in tax-funded scheme

Liz Truss is expected to announce plans to freeze energy bills at about £2,500 a year – but will not claw back the cost through customers’ future bills, leaving the taxpayer to pick it up instead, my colleague Pippa Crerar reports. The addition of £400 discount would effectively keep the price cap at current rate of £1,971.

Updated

Duncan Smith says he turned down offer of cabinet post from Truss after considering whether he would 'add value'

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and Liz Truss supporter, told the World at One that he was offered a cabinet job by Truss but decided not to accept it. Explaining why, he said he had to consider whether he could “add value”, alongside what other things he could be doing if he did not take the appointment.

Sometimes in life you have got to figure out whether you add value to a particular job that you are being asked to do.

It is all about what I can do and I am very happy to be on the backbenches for the moment.

He would not say what he was offered, but it was reported that he was lined up to be leader of the Commons.

Updated

Liz Truss’s convoy leaving Balmoral.
Liz Truss’s convoy leaving Balmoral. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

And here is the formal announcement about Liz Truss’s appointment as PM from Buckingham Palace.

According to the Commons library briefing, even though Buckingham Palace says Truss “kissed hands” upon her appointment as PM, she probably didn’t. Now it is just a metaphor. The briefing says:

When it is clear an individual can form a government, they are made Prime Minister, to quote Harold Wilson in 1964, “on the spot”. They also become First Lord of the Treasury from that moment, although the Oath of Office (as First Lord) is taken at a later meeting of the Privy Council (meetings can take place virtually). There are no seals of office as Prime Minister.

There is also no kissing of hands, although that phrase is used to describe the process. This used to occur but has fallen into abeyance (Tony Blair, however, recalls tripping on the carpet so he “practically fell upon the Queen’s hands, not so much brushing as enveloping them”). Instead, an incoming male premier will bow and shake hands with the Monarch, and a female premier will curtsy. In recent years this moment has been photographed for the media. There are no other formalities.

Micheál Martin, the taoiseach (Irish PM), has issued a statement congratulating Liz Truss on her appointment as PM and saying he hopes the UK and Ireland can reach “agreed outcomes” on the Northern Ireland protocol.

The Liz Truss team have changed her Twitter profile.

Liz Truss’s new Twitter handle
Liz Truss’s new Twitter handle Photograph: Twitter

Updated

Queen appoints Truss as prime minister

We’ve now got a picture of Liz Truss meeting the Queen. This is the audience where the Queen was formally appointing Truss prime minister.

A photograph is all we’re going to get. TV cameras are not allowed to record these meetings, and even when they retire prime ministers reveal almost nothing about their meetings with the monarch. The Queen, of course, has said even less over the past 70 years about her audiences with her prime ministers. Truss is her 15th.

The Queen meets Liz Truss at Balmoral.
The Queen meets Liz Truss at Balmoral. Photograph: Jane Barlow/AP

Updated

Guto Harri, who was director of communications at No 10 for Boris Johnson in his final months in office, has used a LinkedIn post to say the Tories have a “collective appetite for self-harm”, the Telegraph’s Camilla Turner reports.

Steven Swinford from the Times has more on Liz Truss’s plan to freeze energy bills.

The full and final plans are not due to be announced until Thursday.

Liz Truss being greeted by the Queen’s equerry, Lieutenant Colonel Tom White, and her private secretary, Sir Edward Young, as she arrives at Balmoral for the audience where she will be appointed prime minister.
Liz Truss being greeted by the Queen’s equerry, Lt Col Tom White, and her private secretary, Sir Edward Young, as she arrives at Balmoral for the audience where she will be appointed prime minister. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Updated

Truss arrives at Balmoral for audience with Queen

Liz Truss has arrived at Balmoral for her audience with the Queen where she will be formally made prime minister. She is with her husband, Hugh O’Leary.

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that Boris Johnson has resigned, ITV’s Chris Ship reports.

UPDATE: Here is the press statement.

Announcement of Boris Johnson's resignation
Announcement of Boris Johnson's resignation Photograph: Buckingham Palace

Updated

Liz Truss has not arrived at Balmoral yet, and so technically we don’t have a PM.

According to the Commons library briefing, this means the Queen is in charge for the moment. It says:

The monarch meets the departing prime minister and their successor, often in quick succession. In the interim, all executive authority vests in the monarch (until 1963, a gap of a day or two wasn’t uncommon).

Johnson leaves Balmoral after resigning as PM

Boris Johnson has now left Balmoral. That means he has resigned, and is no longer PM. This is from LBC’s Alan Zycinski.

Johnson arrives at Balmoral to tender his resignation to Queen

Boris Johnson has arrived at Balmoral where he will be tendering his resignation to the Queen, Sky News reports. It will be a private meeting, and what gets said is likely to remain a secret.

If you are interested in a full account of the process when the Queen appoints a new prime minister, David Torrance has written up what happens in a good blog for the House of Commons library.

Torrance points out that “it has become customary for a former prime minister’s partner and children to be invited to meet the Monarch following their resignation”. Johnson is accompanied by his wife, Carrie, but they seem to have left their two children at home.

Boris Johnson’s convoy arriving at Balmoral.
Boris Johnson’s convoy arriving at Balmoral. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

Updated

Dorries praises Johnson in resignation letter for treating her as equal while other Tories patronised her

Nadine Dorries has confirmed that she is resigning as culture secretary. In a resignation letter addressed to Boris Johnson, she says Liz Truss offered to let her stay in post, but that she decided to quit anyway. She says she told Truss she would be “better placed to support her from outside of the cabinet”.

That cryptic phrasing - which does not say that she will stay on the backbenches - may be taken by some as a hint that she hopes to be elevated to the Lords. Dorries has been one of Johnson’s most loyal supporters and his been tipped for inclusion in his resignation honours list.

Dorries says she is delighted Truss had won the contest, and she tells Johnson Truss will be “a worthy successor, protecting your legacy and providing both leadership and vision for the nation”.

In her letter Dorries partly explains why she likes the outgoing PM so much. She implies that when she arrived in the Commons as an MP, some Tories (and MPs from other parties) patronised her because of her working class background and Liverpudlian accent, despite the fact that she had worked for the NHS and sold her own business. But Johnson treated her as an equal, she says.

During the leadership contest, Dorries was one of the most vociferous critics of Truss’ rival, Rishi Sunak, and claimed that Johnson had been deposed in a coup.

Her interventions have riled some colleagues, who believe her “Rottweiler” behaviour during the election has created long-lasting divisions in the party.

Nadine Dorries taking a selfie with Rachel Johnson, Boris Johnson’s sister, in Downing Street this morning where they were gathered to listen to his farewell speech.
Nadine Dorries taking a selfie with Rachel Johnson, Boris Johnson’s sister, in Downing Street this morning where they were gathered to listen to his farewell speech. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

Updated

Liz Truss will be the 15th prime minister to serve the Queen, but almost certainly the first to be appointed by Her Majesty despite being on record as once saying the monarchy should be abolished. Truss’s views seem to have changed greatly from her Oxford University Lib Dems days when, at a party conference in Brighton in 1994, she contributed to a debate on the abolition of the monarchy, saying “we do not believe people should be born to rule”.

But her passionate speech was in vain as the conference voted against the motion supporting abolition.

Archie Kirkwood MP, the party’s chief whip, also pleaded for the Liberal Democrat youth section supporters to become “a bit more politically streetwise . . . Sometimes it is necessary to make sweeping gestures in politics, but not here, and not now. The stakes are too high.”

Here is how the Guardian reported Truss’s speech at the time.

Report from Lib Dem conference in 1994
Report from Lib Dem conference in 1994. Photograph: Guardian

Updated

Truss energy package will be 'major moment' that will end 'uncertainty' about bills, ally says

Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury and one of Liz Truss’s key allies, has been giving interviews this morning. He is expected to be made levelling up secretary in the reshuffle later today.

Here are the main points from what he has been saying.

  • Clarke claimed the energy bills package expected later this week would be “a major moment” that would end “the sense of uncertainty” people were feeling. He said:

It will come very shortly and there is a clear commitment to rise to the level of events and to provide early certainty to families and businesses that there will be help available to meet the undoubted challenges that this autumn and winter are going to bring.

So it will be a major moment, I think, in terms of drawing a line under the sense of uncertainty which undoubtedly is present in the country at this time.

  • He said he expected Truss’s cabinet to include people who supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest. He said that he was “certain that Liz will be magnanimous in victory” and that it was important for the party to unite.

However, as my colleagues Jessica Elgot and Lisa O’Carroll reported last night, Sunak himself is not expected to be offered a job.

  • Clarke rejected suggestions that the Truss energy package would spook the financial markets. He said he was “absolutely confident that the markets will recognise” that the UK has a stable and “enormously successful” economy.

Simon Clarke
Simon Clarke. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

My colleague Graeme Wearden has been covering what we know about Liz Truss’s proposed energy bills package, and reaction to it, on his business live blog. He says the pound went up this morning on the back of the latest reporting.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, has said that a general election should take place sooner rather than later. He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that an election was needed because Liz Truss was going to implement policies not in the Conservative party’s 2019 manifesto. He went on:

First and foremost, let’s put the support in place that families, that businesses, need [with energy bills].

Let’s get that done and the right thing to do is then to put this to the people, to have that general election and let the people in Scotland express their opinion, and I think crucially their opinion as to whether or not Scotland should be an independent country.

A flight believed to be carrying Boris Johnson to Scotland has landed at Aberdeen international airport, PA Media reports. The Dassault Falcon 900LX left RAF Northolt at 8.30am and landed at Aberdeen at 9.30am.

Truss expected to announce massive intervention to freeze energy bills on Thursday

On Thursday the Liz Truss government is expected to make an announcement about its plans to keep down energy bills. But there are already quite a few apparently well-sourced reports around explaining what is being planned, and it is clear that Truss is preparing a massive intervention.

There will be a package of measures for householders, and another initiative for business, the reports suggest.

For householders, Truss is planning to freeze bills at their current level, reports suggest. The Daily Telegraph says energy bills could be frozen until the 2024 general election. The Times says the entire package could cost £90bn. In a report for Bloomberg, Alex Wickham says it could cost even more. He says:

In discussions with her team and government officials in recent days, Truss has settled on a mechanism that will avert the massive increase in energy bills that is due to kick in at the start of next month under the existing pricing system, according to officials and advisers to Truss who were briefed on the plan. The policy could cost as much as £130bn over the next 18 months, according to policy documents seen by Bloomberg.

Energy bills in the UK were due to jump 80% from October to £3,548 a year for the average household, forcing many poorer families to choose between heating their homes and other basics. Under the plans drawn up by Truss’s team, that pricing regime will effectively be abolished and the energy regulator Ofgem will be sidelined.

Instead, ministers will set a new unit price that households will pay for electricity and gas, the people said. A spokesman for Truss declined to comment on the specifics of the plan, while campaign officials confirmed the details were accurate.

Wickham says Truss has changed her view on the scale of help required in the last week.

If Truss does announced a price freeze, the opposition parties will be able to claim that as a victory. Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP have all been calling for some sort of price cap.

And Wickham says businesses will also see their energy bills reduced.

Updated

Summary of Johnson's farewell speech outside No 10

Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s farewell speech outside No 10. It did not contain anything unexpected, but it was a lot more colourful and entertaining than the victory speech his successor, Liz Truss, delivered yesterday.

  • Johnson signalled that he still hopes for a return to No 10 by comparing himself to Cincinnatus, the Roman statesman best remembered for being called out of retirement to lead the people again. (See 8.30am.)

  • Johnson indicated that he was still unhappy about how he was forced out of No 10, implying that his treatment was unfair. He started by saying:

This is it folks. Thank you everybody for coming out so early this morning. In only a couple of hours I will be in Balmoral to see Her Majesty the Queen and the torch will finally be passed to a new Conservative leader, the baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race, they changed the rules half way through but never mind that now.

It is not clear what Johnson meant by saying “they changed the rules”, other than that he was expressing a sense of victimhood. Johnson had to resign because he had lost the confidence of his MPs, around 30 ministers had resigned and he was finding it hard to replace them, meaning the government could not function. At one point there was speculation that the 1922 Committee would change the rules to allow a second no confidence vote in Johnson within a year. But this never actually happened.

  • Johnson said he would back Liz Truss. Early in the speech he said:

It’s time for us all to get behind Liz Truss and her team, and her programme, and deliver for the people of this country. Because that is what the people of this country want. That’s what they need. And that’s what they deserve.

And later he said: “I will be supporting Liz Truss and the new government every step of the way.”

  • He urged the Conservative party to unite. He said:

I just say to my party if Dilyn and Larry can put behind them their occasional difficulties, then so can the Conservative party.

  • He cited low unemployment as one of his achievements in office. He said:

Looking at what is happening in this country, the changes that are taking place, that is why private sector investment is flooding in - more private sector, more venture capital investment than China itself.

More billion pound tech companies sprouting here in the UK than in France, Germany and Israel combined.

And, as a result, unemployment as I leave office - unemployment down to lows not seen since I was about 10 years old and bouncing around on a space hopper.

Johnson also listed many other things he thought he had achieved in government. Earlier in the summer he published a much fuller list.

  • He claimed that attempts to break up the union would never succeed. He said:

And by the way ... as I leave, I believe our union is so strong that those who want to break it up, they’ll keep trying, but they will never, ever succeed.

Boris Johnson speaking outside No 10.
Boris Johnson speaking outside No 10. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

In his speech Boris Johnson boasted about his record on gigabit broadband, saying:

The rollout of gigabit broadband up over the last three years, I’m proud to say, since you were kind enough to elect me, from 7% of our country’s premises having gigabit broadband to 70% today.

Rory Cellan-Jones, the former BBC technology correspondent, says the actual record is less impressive than Johnson implied.

Updated

Johnson uses farewell speech from No 10 to signal he still hopes for comeback

This is what Boris Johnson said about his own future in his speech.

And on the subject of bouncing around and future careers, let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.

And, like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough. And I will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support.

As many of my colleagues have already pointed out (see 8am), Johnson’s reference to Cincinnatus – a Roman statesman best remembered for a comeback, and for being called back from his plough to serve – was yet another clear sign that he has not given up hope of a return to No 10.

In his final PMQs as prime minister, Johnson also signalled clearly that he thought a return to No 10 was possible.

Johnson has used the Cincinnatus analogy before, when he was London mayor, in response to questions about whether he wanted to serve as PM. It was unlikely, he claimed, but he cited Cincinnatus to make the point that, if his party insisted, he might reluctantly agree.

But Cincinnatus is an unlikely role model for Johnson. Wikipedia describes him (Cincinnatus, not Johnson) as someone regarded as “an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, humility, and modesty”.

My colleague Charlotte Higgins wrote a good article when Johnson cited the Cincinnatus career model in 2009 about what he meant, and why it was an unsuitable comparison. It’s here.

Boris Johnson delivering his speech outside No 10.
Boris Johnson delivering his speech outside No 10.
 Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, says that claims Boris Johnson was making in his speech about his record on health were untrue.

ITV’s Paul Brand also points out that the claim that social care has been significantly reformed is also misleading.

Boris Johnson's farewell speech - verdict from Twitter commentariat

Boris Johnson has never been one for contrition and a summer spent reflecting on why he has been forced out of office after just three years, despite having a big majority, does not seem to have increased his self-awareness in this regard. This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about his farewell speech.

From my colleague Peter Walker

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From the i’s Paul Waugh

From my colleague John Crace

From the Times’s Patrick Maguire

From my colleague Ben Quinn

From my colleague Gaby Hinsliff

From my colleague Pippa Crerar

From Sky’s Tamara Cohen

From the broadcaster Adam Boulton

From the FT’s Robert Wright

Boris Johnson delivering his farewell speech outside No 10.
Boris Johnson delivering his farewell speech outside No 10. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Updated

Johnson says he will support Liz Truss 'every step of the way'

Johnson ends by thanking Downing Street staff who have helped to look after him.

He even thanks Dilyn, his dog. And he goes on:

I just say to my party, if Dylan and Larry [the Downing Street cat] can put behind them their occasional difficulties, then so can the Conservative party.

And he concludes by claiming that he has “laid foundations that will stand the test of time, whether by taking back control of our laws, or putting in vital new infrastructure”.

He says he will support Liz Truss (he refers to her by name now) and her new government “every step of the way”.

And that is it. The speech has finished.

Johnson and his wife Carrie then get in a car to be driven to the airport.

Johnson says he will offer new government 'the most fervent support'

Johnson is now talking about himself.

Let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.

He claims that he will be offering the new government nothing but “the most fervent support”.

Updated

Johnson says it is the Conservatives who understand “the vital symmetry between government action and free market capitalist private sector enterprise”.

He is now rattling through a list of what he sees as his achievements in government: more police, new hospitals, more nurses. He even repeats the (false) claim that the government is on course to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade.

He also mentions teachers’ pay, road and rail buildng programmes and the gigabit rollout.

Johnson says the new prime minister – he does not name Liz Truss – will meet a fantastic group of staff when they arrive at No 10.

They delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, he says. That is what government can do, he says.

Johnson expresses unhappiness about being forced out of No 10, saying rules changed 'half way through'

Boris Johnson is coming out of No 10.

“This is it folks”, he says. He thanks people for coming, and says he will be at Balmoral in a couple of hours.

The baton will soon be handed over “in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race – they changed the rules halfway through”, he says.

Updated

From the Evening Standard’s David Bond

Nadine Dorries, the outgoing culture secretary (left), and Rachel Johnson, the PM’s sister (centre), arriving at Downing Street this morning to hear Johnson’s farewell speech.
Nadine Dorries, the outgoing culture secretary (left), and Rachel Johnson, the PM’s sister (centre), arriving at Downing Street this morning to hear Johnson’s farewell speech. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

And these are from Beth Rigby, Sky’s political editor, who is also in Downing Street.

It is a bit quieter at Balmoral at the moment, the BBC’s Ben Philip reports.

And these are from Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor, who is outside Downing Street.

At Downing Street staff have brought out the lectern for Boris Johnson’s farewell speech.

A lectern being brought into the street outside No 10 for Boris Johnson’s speech.
A lectern being brought into the street outside No 10 for Boris Johnson’s speech. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Good morning. Boris Johnson is still prime minister, but he will offer his resignation to the Queen in Balmoral around lunchtime and Liz Truss will be prime minister when she returns to London from her own audience with the Queen. Truss will deliver a speech when she gets back, at around 4pm this afternoon.

A prime minister is never more powerful than on the day they take office and Truss’s first task once she gets to work will be to finalise her cabinet appointments. A PM can always sack ministers who obstruct their wishes, but it is easier to appoint like-minded individuals in the first place. Truss has had a lot of time to consider these appointments and, as we report, we are expecting to see a cabinet of loyalists. Tories urging her to make her team representative of all wings of the party, including one nation centrists, are likely to be disappointed, and there is speculation that it could end up looking like the most rightwing cabinet in modern times.

But Truss will also have to deliver a speech to the nation to mark her appointment. As my colleague John Crace writes in his sketch, her victory speech yesterday was a dud, and so the pressure is on to raise her game.

First, though, we will hear from Boris Johnson. Here is the agenda for the day.

7.30am: Boris Johnson is due to deliver his final speech as prime minister, from Downing Street, before flying to Balmoral for his audience with the Queen.

11.20am: Johnson is due to arrive at Balmoral, where he will offer his resignation to the Queen.

12.10pm: Liz Truss is due to arrive at Balmoral for her audience with the Queen, where she will be asked to form a government.

4pm: Truss is due to give a speech from Downing Street on her return.

Late afternoon/evening: Truss is due to announce cabinet appointments.

I will be focusing today almost exclusively on the transfer of power at No 10. But in Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, will make a statement to MSPs at 2.20pm about her legislative plans for 2022-23 and we will give that some coverage here. In the Commons the business committee is also taking evidence from business groups, thinktanks and other experts on the cost of living crisis.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Journalists outside No 10 this morning, waiting for Boris Johnson’s farewell speech.
Journalists outside No 10 this morning, waiting for Boris Johnson’s farewell speech. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
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