Summary
Here’s the key developments as the Conservative party leadership election goes into its fourth day.
- Liz Truss has launched her leadership bid, saying she will cut taxes “from day one”. In a column for the Telegraph, she said she will cut corporation tax, reverse the National Insurance rise and overhaul business rates.
- Declarations of support have continued to come trickling in, including a notable one for Kemi Badenoch from Michael Gove, who has written a column for the Sun. He called her “brave, principled, brilliant and kind”.
- Another significant endorsement comes from Jake Berry, chairman of the Northern Research Group, who says he will be backing Tom Tugendhat for the Tory leadership. Berry says Tugendhat understands concerns of “red wall” MPs, in a column for the Daily Express.
- Another leadership bid has been launched, this time by Kent MP Rehman Chishti, who is the biggest outsider in the current field of 11 candidates.
- Paralympic athlete Jonnie Peacock is among several public figures who asked to be removed from the promotional video released by Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt as she launched her party leadership bid.
- Chancellor and leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi has published a statement in response to a story about his tax affairs published by our sister paper the Observer, calling allegations “inaccurate and smears”.
- The Conservative party’s parliamentary body the 1922 Committee will meet tomorrow to draw up the rules for the leadership contest. It’s believed they will set a threshold for the number of nominations to get through to the next round, with varying reports of differing benchmarks. The Financial Times reports one being discussed is 36 MPs, 10% of the parliamentary party. Another has told Payne it could be 20 MPs. The Guardian has been told it could be 25.
- Sky News is the first channel to announce it will host a leadership debate between Conservative party leadership candidates on 18 July.
- Lord Zac Goldsmith and MP Chris Skidmore have written for the Telegraph (paywall) imploring candidates not to drop green commitments.
A reminder of the timetable for the election. Formal nominations will open on Tuesday, with the first round of voting taking place on Wednesday.
A shortlist of two should be finalised before parliament goes into its summer recess on 21 July.
The new prime minister will then be elected before 5 September.
Thanks for following along this evening.
More details about candidates’ policy platforms are coming to light, with tax unsurprisingly taking centre stage. The Sun has published some of the early information this evening.
Sajid Javid has said he will cut fuel duty by 10p within days of becoming prime minister. It would cost roughly £2.5bn.
The tax forms part of the price drivers pay at the pump, along with VAT. In one calculation from March, it made up 35% of the cost of petrol.
He would also cut income tax by 1p, stop the national insurance increase and cut corporation tax to 15%.
On fuel, Penny Mordaunt has said she would cut VAT from 20% to 10%, something which has the support of the founder of lobby group FairFuelUK, Howard Cox.
She too is expected to halt the national insurance rise, according to the Sun, and cut corporation tax.
Meanwhile Liz Truss looked to emphasise her tax-cutting priority when she launched her leadership bid earlier (see 21:54), and has received the support of the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng.
Updated
Labour’s chair, Anneliese Dodds, has written to her Conservative counterpart to seek assurances that all Tory leadership candidates will reveal if they have ever had non-dom tax status or used arrangements such as offshore holdings or stakes in shell companies.
After revelations on Saturday about the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, the letter also requests information as to whether any of the would-be successors to Boris Johnson have been investigated over their financial affairs or had officials raise concerns about these. Zahawi has now promised to publish his tax return annually.
The fact that Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak’s wife are already known to have used non-domiciled status for UK tax purposes could be “just the tip of the iceberg”, Dodds said.
Updated
In the wake of fears about Conservative party leadership hopefuls saying they will abandon net zero targets to appease grassroots members, environmental campaigner Lord Zac Goldsmith and MP Chris Skidmore have written for the Telegraph (paywall) imploring candidates not to drop green commitments.
They warn that if they drop the net zero targets for carbon emissions the Conservative party “will be digging [its] electoral grave”.
Some excerpts include:
Cop26 was the biggest unplanned test of “Global Britain” in the post-Brexit scene, and the largest international summit we have ever hosted. When we took on the presidency, just 30% of the global economy was covered by net-zero commitments. Today it is 90%. Some 65 countries committed to phasing out coal, including four of the world’s top 20 coal-power generating countries. And critically, we secured unprecedented commitments from 143 countries representing 90 per cent of the world’s forests to protect those vital ecosystems for all of humanity.
Domestically, polling has consistently shown that voters care. In a recent poll of over 3,000 voters in marginal Red Wall seats, tackling climate change and the environment was cited as the second most important issue behind the NHS. Around 53% wanted more action on climate change, compared to 9% who did not.
Some candidates are already promising to abandon our climate and environment commitments, and others are maintaining an ominous silence. Yet if we throw away the UK’s international leadership on the environment, we will lose the support of a broad coalition of voters. We will be digging our electoral grave.
Updated
Rehman Chishti becomes 11th candidate to enter race
Following on the back of Liz Truss’ announcement, another leadership bid has been launched, this time by Kent MP Rehman Chishti.
Chishti, who was appointed as a minister in the Foreign Office last week, has become the 11th candidate to announce he will stand. He had previously teased he might run in an interview with PoliticsHome last week. The 43-year-old, who went to Aberystwyth University, enters the contest as its biggest outsider.
In a marked contrast with Rishi Sunak’s slick video, or even Sajid Javid’s repurposed one from 2019, Chishti has posted an address to camera on his Facebook page.
In it he said he offers a “fresh start”, similar to Tom Tugenhadt’s “clean start” that he repeated during his breakfast TV interviews earlier.
Chishti mentions coming to Gillingham in 1984 and not being able to speak any English.
“For me it’s important to ensure that everyone who works hard, who is determined, who is perseveres has a government that is on their side. That means lower taxes, small state, [and a] big society.
“It means ensuring that you have fresh ideas, and a proven track record of coming to the table with ideas and creativity to help improve people’s lives,” he said.
“For me it’s about aspirational conservatism, fresh ideas, fresh team for a fresh start taking our great country forward.”
Updated
Liz Truss launches leadership bid
Foreign secretary Liz Truss has become the latest Tory to launch a campaign to become the next prime minister, saying she will cut taxes “from day one”.
In a widely-anticipated move announcing her candidacy, she said she will cut corporation tax, reverse the National Insurance rise and overhaul business rates.
In a column for the Telegraph she said:
It isn’t right to be putting up taxes now. I would reverse the National Insurance increase that came in during April, make sure we keep corporation tax competitive so we can attract business and investment into Britain, and put the Covid debt on a longer-term footing.
I will get the private sector growing faster than the public sector, with a long-term plan to bring down the size of the state and the tax burden.
Truss makes reference to growing up in Leeds “at the heart of the ‘Red Wall’” and her comprehensive school education.
She also runs through her work getting trade deals with Australia and Japan, and responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as foreign secretary.
She added: “We have to level with the British people. Times are tough, but with the right economic action and plan we will rapidly get back on track.
“I reject the voices of decline and believe firmly our best days lie ahead. We can and will deliver that progress now by ensuring spades are going into the ground, people are in jobs and more money is going to local areas.”
Sky News is the first channel to announce it will host a leadership debate between Conservative party leadership candidates on 18 July.
It will be hosted by the broadcaster’s mainstay Kay Burley from Sky’s studios in west London, and questions will be asked by a virtual audience.
If your head is reeling after the breathless psychodrama of the last few days , you are not alone. Yet, even before the black door of Downing Street had shut behind Boris Johnson, the contest for his successor was well under way.
If you are yet to get a firm handle on the runners and riders – never fear, help is at hand. Take a deep breath and jump in
Tory 1922 Committee to set nomination threshold for election - reports
The Conservative party’s parliamentary body the 1922 Committee will meet tomorrow to draw up the rules for the leadership contest.
The Financial Times’ Sebastian Payne reports that senior figures within the backbench group will decide the threshold for candidates to make it onto the ballot paper.
Different levels of nominations are being briefed out by MPs.
One being discussed is 36 MPs, 10% of the parliamentary party, which only Rishi Sunak looks close to getting at the moment – albeit it is still the early days of the contest. Another has told Payne it could be 20 MPs.
Meanwhile my colleagues Aubrey Allegretti and Peter Walker have said it could be 25 MPs.
Formal nominations will open on Tuesday, with the first round taking place on Wednesday. A shortlist of two should be finalised before parliament goes into its summer recess on 21 July.
The new prime minister will then be elected before 5 September.
Updated
Another significant endorsement tonight comes from Jake Berry, chairman of the Northern Research Group, who says he will be backing Tom Tugendhat for the Tory leadership.
The Northern Research Group was founded after the 2019 general election, where large numbers of Conservative MPs were elected in the “red wall”. It is effectively the parliamentary Tory body representing MPs in those areas, which currently look under threat as a result of Labour’s comfortable polling lead, and to which the party’s current majority is largely owed.
Writing in the Daily Express, Berry said that his support comes after Tugendhat was the only MP who is in the leadership contest to attend a recent conference in Doncaster, one that Boris Johnson chose to skip in favour of a trip to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Berry said:
[Tugendhat] pointed out that conversation in conservatism has for too long been about finance, understandable because the City drives so much of our economy. But while it drives our economy, it doesn’t guarantee our liberty.
He argued that what truly guarantees our liberty is our manufacturing, the heart of industry which is northern conservatism. He doesn’t see the negativity that Labour paints it with.
Like us, he sees extraordinary opportunity.
Northern MPs fight for results. Change cannot be delivered by simply shuffling the pack. We need a new deck.
It is time for a clean start, a New Deal for Britain – the man to deliver that is Tom Tugendhat.
Michael Gove endorses Kemi Badenoch
A fairly sizable declaration of support for Kemi Badenoch from Michael Gove, who has written a column for the Sun this evening.
Gove was sacked as levelling up secretary on Wednesday night in one of Boris Johnson’s final big moves before he announced he was standing down on Thursday.
Earlier in the day he had told Johnson he had to resign in the wake of mounting resignations and unhappiness over his leadership. Instead Johnson sacked him hours later.
Gove is a major figure in the Conservative party, and his support could prove to be a big boost to Badenoch’s campaign. He previously ran for the leadership himself in 2016, derailing Johnson’s nascent campaign in the process.
I’ve worked with Kemi since before she became an MP and served alongside her in Government. She is brave, principled, brilliant and kind.
She led on the government’s response to Tony Sewell’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic disparities.
The commission’s report had provoked controversy.
But Kemi didn’t flinch. She came up with concrete measures to remove barriers to opportunity while taking on the mumbo jumbo peddled by left wing culture warriors that only deepen division and foster zero sum identity politics.
She dominated in the Commons chamber as only a minister both on top of her brief and fired by conviction can.
Kemi doesn’t just win the argument, she delivers – on getting the Whitehall machine to embark on new policies and on levelling up Britain.
He goes on to praise her “focus, intellect and no-bullshit drive”, and calls her Sir Keir Starmer’s “worst nightmare”.
Updated
Some analysis here from our political correspondent Peter Walker, touching on his story earlier, on what the leadership contest shows about the changing ideology in the party – which was exacerbated by the 2019 election.
A few days into the Tory leadership contest and it’s notable just how much the party’s ideological window has shifted. A decade ago you’d have probably needed to go to the far right for advocates of deporting legitimate asylum seekers to Africa. Now *every* candidate backs it.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 10, 2022
You also have the attorney general advocating withdrawal from the EHRC, something that would very obviously undermine Northern Ireland peace. A decade back only furthest fringes of euroscepticism would have entertained ideas like that.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 10, 2022
The one nation wing of the Tory party does exist, but they’re largely either powerless or else borrowing the clothes of the radicals. It could change back, but the Conservatives are now more of a hard right populist party.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) July 10, 2022
Updated
Nadhim Zahawi – stories over tax affairs are 'inaccurate' and 'unfair'
Chancellor and leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi has published a statement in response to a story published by our sister paper the Observer on Sunday.
The newspaper said HMRC raised a “flag” about his tax arrangements, before he was appointed to the position on Wednesday. Other reports have said the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have looked into his tax affairs.
An investigation by the NCA in 2020 did not lead to any action or criminal charges.
In response, Zahawi has said: “There have been news stories over the last few days which are inaccurate, unfair and clearly smears. It’s very sad that such smears should be circulated and sadder still that they have been published.
“These smears have falsely claimed that the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency and HMRC are looking into me. Let me be absolutely clear. I am not aware of this. I have not been told that this is the case.
“I have always declared my financial interests and paid my taxes in the UK. If there are questions, of course, I will answer any questions HMRC has of me.”
He goes on to say he will publish his tax return annually.
He adds that he has never sought tax status in any other country apart from the UK.
“There have been claims I benefit from an offshore trust. Again let me be clear. I do not benefit from an offshore trust. Neither does my wife. I have never been a non-dom, my wife has never been a non-dom, she’s never used offshore status or a company to avoid tax. I have never used offshore companies or services firms based in tax havens for the purchase of property or properties in the UK.”
Zahawi continues: “I’ve answered these supposed allegations because I think the right thing to do is to be transparent. I have corrected the record. I trust these smears will now be seen for exactly what they are.
“I do not apologise for being a successful businessman. I am the beneficiary of the British dream and I know that. I have done well by investing in the UK and I think that’s something which should be celebrated. I want everybody to have the opportunity to be successful.”
NEW: @nadhimzahawi attacks "inaccurate, unfair" stories about his tax arrangements that he describes as "clearly smears". Denies he's ever been a nom-dom, same for his wife. Pledges to publish his tax returns annually. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/pXjhATyq4t
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) July 10, 2022
Updated
Rees-Mogg is asked if he had such policy differences, including over income tax, national insurance and the windfall tax, why did he not resign?
“If you wouldn’t resign for a £50bn tax increase, why would you?”
Rees-Mogg objects to the figure, saying it has come from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
“If you take spending of £900bn, £50bn is only 5% of public expenditure.”
My colleague Peter Walker has written this article on an issue that as well as possible tax policy, looks like it could dominate the contest - the so-called “culture wars”
It has always been a defining element of political party leadership contests that for success, candidates must appeal to the memberships’ niche interests. With Conservatives, this was generally about low tax. But now there is something else: the “culture wars”.
The field to succeed Boris Johnson, believed to be at least 10-strong and growing, is split roughly into enthusiastic culture warriors, those who borrow its tactics for their own ends, and a handful who would rather the whole subject just went away. But it is not about to.
Conservative politics has become increasingly infused with debates over the apparent scourge of “woke” issues, from the renaming of streets to the removal of statues of controversial figures from history.
Rees-Mogg says it is “highly probable” that candidates will go for an election in a few months, if the polls are favourable – even if they promise supporters otherwise.
Neil says it would be suicide for the party to do so, with Labour leading strongly in the polls.
“I think constitutionally we have evolved in a way that people think an election will be necessary. Whether the prime minister will call one is another thing.”
Rees-Mogg says he won’t be supporting Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt or Tom Tugendhat but is still deciding who he will support. He says Liz Truss is a “good candidate” but tries to avoid Neil’s questioning. He calls Priti Patel a good candidate as well, although she has not declared that if she will run yet.
Updated
Rees-Mogg responds to a question from Neil about candidates proposing unfunded tax cuts, paid for by borrowing.
“We need to look at economic policy in the round, I am nervous about people highlighting an individual tax change without setting out their stall more thoroughly on what they would do economically.
“The biggest risk to the economy is inflation, and we need to have a clear strategy for dealing with inflation which means tighter monetary policy.
“Quantitative easing requires the approval of the chancellor, they’ve got £875bn of it outstanding which still has an effect. The approval of the £875bn has come from a number of chancellors since it started, including Rishi Sunak.”
He calls for the simplification of the tax system more broadly, not just a tax cut: “We need to look at fiscal policy and thinking about how do we keep the deficit under control.
“How do we reassure the markets in an inflationary era that it’s sensible for them to buy gilts. How do we ensure that sterling remains reasonably stable? It requires a fiscal policy that is not overly generous.”
Updated
Rees-Mogg is asked what he thinks about Nadhim Zahawi, who is another MP to put his name forward in the contest, taking the job of chancellor and then telling Johnson he should resign a day later.
“We got into a very fevered atmosphere earlier in the week and people didn’t consider things coolly and calmly,” he says.
Updated
Andrew Neil’s show has begun on Channel 4
This special edition of Andrew Neil’s show is focusing on the Conservative party leadership contest.
Jacob Rees-Mogg is on, after his appearance from his Somerset home on breakfast TV this morning.
He says that when a leadership is “defenestrated”, it is inevitable that it has become fractious.
He says his remark that Rishi Sunak was the “socialist chancellor” was a comment made in cabinet in a discussion about the windfall tax. He said he has made “no personal criticisms, only policy criticisms”.
“In his period in office, taxes were increased, we are now taxed almost the highest level in this country since the war, we have not, I think got a proper policy for dealing with inflation, we found there was no money to deal with social care, but there was billions to deal with the cost of living issue a few months later. There is a few inconsistencies in Treasury policy that occurred while Rishi Sunak was chancellor,” he said.
He tells Neil he is not bitter because Sunak’s resignation expedited Boris Johnson stepping down as prime minister.
Updated
Paralympic athlete Jonnie Peacock is among several public figures who asked to be removed from the promotional video released by 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.”
Peacock, 29, appeared in the original video crossing the finish line of a race in slow motion, with the voiceover speaking the words: “There must be focus on who we are.”
The clip also featured a shot of South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who was later convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Updated
Journalists from PA Media, the news agency, have been out talking to attendees at the Soho village fete in central London about the leadership contest.
Views are not particularly positive reading for candidates, unsurprisingly so in a city where the Conservative party vote has fallen sharply. The party lost key long-standing Tory voting councils in May, including Westminster, where the event is taking place.
Leadership favourite Rishi Sunak was criticised for “putting everything up”.
Samantha Harrie, asked how “multi-millionaire” Sunak would know anything about “working people’s problems and struggles.”
“Tax is there to support services like the NHS. What I don’t want to see is services cut and then services disappearing,” she added.
Two attendees spoken to criticised Jeremy Hunt, seen to be a serious contender who named Esther McVey as his deputy prime minister earlier today.
Michael Brett, a retired teacher said he thought it was “awful” that Hunt had said the time limit for abortions should be halved to 12 weeks from its current limit of 24 weeks.
“It’s awful. But the real problem is I think a structural problem, the Brexit party has piled into the Tory party, and everyone has to basically please them to be elected... Everyone’s appeasing the lunatics.”
The only one to get any praise was Tom Tugendhat who was praised by one woman, Joanna, 46, for “building relationships across the political spectrum”.
“He’s never been a minister, but I think he can build relationships based on peace and I think our country is so divided now, that is what we need,” she said.
Endorsements are continuing to roll in for candidates, as Neil O’Brien, one of the ministers to resign from the Department for Levelling Up has backed Kemi Badenoch.
It still keeps her trailing behind Rishi Sunak, currently ahead in a tally being kept by politics blog Guido Fawkes, as well as Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Jeremy Hunt and Tom Tugendhat.
Earlier former Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley announced she was supporting Tugendhat, as is Damian Moore - a PPS in the cabinet office.
Updated
An unfortunate clip of Rishi Sunak from a 2001 BBC documentary is doing the rounds on social media.
In it, a then 20-year-old Sunak seemingly admits that he has no working-class friends.
As an interviewee on the series Middle Classes: Their Rise and Sprawl, the Oxford University graduate talks about his social standing.
“I have friends who are aristocrats, I have friends who are upper class, I have friends who are working class … well, not working- class,” he says.
"I have friends who are aristocrats, I have friends who are upper class, I have friends who are you know working-class but- well not working-class..."
— Taj Ali (@Taj_Ali1) July 9, 2022
Rishi Sunak in his own words. pic.twitter.com/tzStoaa4vO
Updated
Summary
Here’s a short roundup of the day so far, with at least one other Tory MP expected to formally announce their leadership bid over the next few hours.
- Penny Mordaunt announces bid to succeed Boris Johnson It means there are now nine candidates in the race, with the trade minister joining Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak, Grant Shapps, Nadhim Zahawi, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Tom Tugendhat.
- Candidates rule out Scottish referendum for at least 10 years Former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid both expressed the view while setting out their pitches for the Tory leadership on the media rounds this morning.
- Jeremy Hunt says Esther McVey would be his deputy PM Speaking to the BBC, Hunt likened the Tatton MP to John Prescott as Tony Blair’s deputy, adding that McVey would “broaden his appeal” in the North.
- Sajid Javid says the Pincher scandal proved to be the ‘final trigger’ Detailing his resignation as health secretary, Javid said his doubts in Johnson’s leadership began when partygate claims were first revealed late last year.
Update – Penny Mordaunt appears to have uploaded a new version of her leadership campaign video.
This morning, viewers pointed out that the three-minute film featured a clip of convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius, while Paralympian Jonnie Peacock later requested to be removed from the footage.
The new version, free of both clips, features a voice over from Mordaunt herself. “Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship,” she says.
Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship. https://t.co/NlpxAb9Dp4#pm4pm pic.twitter.com/hhfFXD6KCs
— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) July 10, 2022
Attorney General Suella Braverman is continuing to set out her pitch for the top job.
On Sunday afternoon, Braverman took to Twitter (where else) to say the UK must leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to “fully take back control of our borders”.
“The British people should be able to vote for their priorities and expect that their government can carry them out,” she added.
We must fully take back control of our borders. That means leaving the jurisdiction of the ECHR. #Suella4Leader pic.twitter.com/ADU9jFcKwx
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) July 10, 2022
With several Tory leadership candidates having actively waded into so-called culture war issues already, it’s worth noting Grant Shapps’ response to a question over trans rights this morning.
Asked by Sky News’ Sophy Ridge if he believes trans men are men and trans women are women, the transport secretary refused to be drawn into the debate.
“I will not be spending most of my time on these issues,” he said. “I think we owe everybody love and respect. People should be able to get on and live their lives.
“There’s clearly a biological basis on your birth but when people want to transition gender, that is their choice and they will always have the support from me.
“I think the country is far more interested in things like the cost of living, the bread and butter issues, jobs and all the rest of it.”
It comes after Mordaunt, a trade minister, took to Twitter last night to say opponents were falsely depicting her as “woke” over her previous support of trans rights.
Setting out his stall for the leadership bid, Rishi Sunak also pledged to crack down on gender neutral language in a bid to “protect” women’s rights.
Updated
The knives are out. Tory peer Zac Goldsmith has compared Commons leader Mark Spencer to Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
It comes after Spencer announced his intention to back Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership on Friday.
In a tweet, Goldsmith suggested the Sherwood MP had struck a deal with the former chancellor to become the next environment secretary.
“Rishi Sunak has evidently agreed to make Mark Spencer the next DEFRA Sec of State,” said Goldsmith.
Claiming that Spencer had been the “biggest” blocker of targeted measures to protect nature, biodiversity and animal welfare, he added “he will be our very own little Bolsonaro”.
“Grim news for nature,” he said.
Rishi Sunak has evidently agreed to make Mark Spencer the next DEFRA Sec of State.
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) July 10, 2022
Mark was the biggest blocker of measures to protect nature, biodiversity, animal welfare.
He will be our very own little Bolsonaro. Grim news for nature. But great news for political opponents
Updated
Team GB Paralympian Jonnie Peacock has asked Penny Mordaunt to remove a clip of him from her Tory leadership bid video.
“I officially request to be removed from this video … Anything but blue please,” Peacock commented on Mordaunt’s social media post in which she shared the video.
I officially request to be removed from this video…. Anything but blue please 😊
— Jonnie Peacock (@JonniePeacock) July 10, 2022
The three-minute advert, which also boasts clips of Captain Tom and the Queen’s platinum jubilee, shows Peacock winning gold at the 2012 London Games.
Mordaunt, who announced her candidacy this morning after tweeting last night to insist she is not “woke”, is yet to respond to the request.
Updated
So, we’re on nine official candidates for the Tory leadership so far, and expecting at least one more (namely Liz Truss) to join over the next day.
But how will such a massive list be whittled down?
Bronwen Maddox, director of the Institute for Government, has some ideas.
She told Times Radio: “[The party] could set the bar quite high for the support in parliament that each candidate needs to get to win out this enormous field, as it looks at the moment, very very quickly.
“They can have the different rounds of that almost every day, certainly every two days, to charge ahead with that to get down to just the final candidates very, very quickly.
“They can at each round set the bar where they like.”
She added that if one candidate emerges very clearly at the end they could “not go to party members at all but say ‘we have got a clear winner’.
“If they do go after the MPs stage of voting and they do go to members, they could just say ‘look we are not going to take very long about that’.”
Penny Mordaunt has formally launched her bid to be Conservative leader with an apparent rolling back of her previous view about trans rights, a sign of how important so-called culture war issues could be in the contest to replace Boris Johnson.
Before even releasing her initial campaign video announcing her candidacy, Mordaunt tweeted to insist that opponents were trying to falsely portray here as “woke”.
The Portsmouth North MP, who is a trade minister, has long been known as one of the outliers in the party, speaking publicly in support of trans rights.
In a former role as equalities minister, Mordaunt said that “trans men are men, and trans women are women”, a statement that sets out the current legal basis for gender recognition but has become an increasingly fraught area of debate over issues such as safe spaces for women.
This has led to Mordaunt being criticised by some Conservative factions. The former defence minister wrote on Twitter: “I am biologically a woman. If I have a hysterectomy or mastectomy, I am still a woman. And I am legally a woman.
Leadership candidates rule out Scottish referendum for at least 10 years
Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have said there should not be another vote on Scottish independence for at least another decade.
Their comments come after Nicola Sturgeon said another vote would be held in October next year. Scotland’s lord advocate has referred a bill to the supreme court in a bid to ensure Sturgeon has the legal powers to stage a referendum without the UK government’s authority.
When asked on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme if he would allow another referendum, Hunt said: “Not in the next 10 years.”
Javid, responding to the same question in a later interview, said: “The last one was for a generation and the generation hasn’t changed, so no.
“Not forever, but not at least for a decade.”
Meanwhile, fellow leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat said that while the union was a voluntary one without rules stopping one country from leaving, “you can’t keep asking the same question hoping for a different answer”.
Updated
Sky News is reporting that Liz Truss is expected to announce her leadership bid within the next 24 hours, which would make her the tenth candidate to throw their hat in the ring.
The foreign secretary has already got the backing of work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey and has been burnishing her public profile in recent months.
Proud to be backing my friend @trussliz to be our next Prime Minister.
— Thérèse Coffey #PutinMustFail #SlavaUkraini (@theresecoffey) July 10, 2022
We need a leader who can unite the Red and Blue Wall, has a clear vision for the country and economy, and has the skills and experience to get the tough decisions right.
But despite her popularity among party members, candidates including Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt have recently edged ahead in some bookies’ estimations.
Updated
In case you missed it overnight, Boris Johnson is facing new allegations he lobbied to get a job for a woman who claimed to be having a sexual relationship with him while he was London mayor.
It’s alleged he lobbied for the woman to have a City Hall job, the Sunday Times revealed, but the appointment was blocked because Kit Malthouse – now one of Johnson’s cabinet ministers – suggested the pair had an inappropriately close relationship.
Johnson is said to have admitted pushing her forward for a job when the woman, who remains anonymous, confronted him in 2017 when he was foreign secretary.
You can read the full details of the claims from the Observer’s policy editor Michael Savage here:
Incidental to this week’s explosive news, the immediate outrage around a newly appointed education minister’s ‘gesture’ outside Downing Street has just about died down.
But unfortunately for Andrea Jenkyns, who yesterday said she was provoked by a “baying mob”, it’s still topical enough for other serving ministers to be asked about it.
Speaking to Times Radio about the incident earlier, Grant Shapps said: “I’d like to see a high standard of propriety with everyone. I wouldn’t endorse that.”
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While you might believe the writing has been on the wall for Boris Johnson for some time, it’s worth considering that not everyone was prepared for his departure.
According to one voter in the Tory heartland of Spalding, who spoke to my colleague James Tapper, the PM was “stabbed in the back” by his colleagues.
“All politicians are liars, but Boris is the one that’s been caught out. Look at Keir Starmer – he should be punished same as Boris,” added Steve Mason.
Meanwhile, Rosemary Burton said he had done a “fantastic job” with vaccinations. “I can’t see who would take over from him who would do better,” she added.
You can read the full feature from from James’ trip to Lincolnshire here:
Here’s a bit more from Sajid Javid’s interview with Sophie Raworth earlier. The former health secretary insisted he trusted what he was being told when he spoke on behalf of the government during media interviews.
“It turns out some of the things I was told – and I said this quite clearly in parliament when I made my statement – didn’t turn out to be true,” he said,
“Now, I don’t know why someone would have said something to me that wasn’t true. That’s a question for them. But I trusted what I was told.”
Like fellow candidate Jeremy Hunt, Javid has announced his intention to cut corporation tax should he prove successful in the race.
He said his tax-cutting plans would cost around £39bn a year but would not include slashing fuel duty further in the short term.
Explaining that he does not believe in “unfunded tax cuts”, Javid said he would set out “a scorecard which will show exactly how all of that we funded in a sustainable way” over the next few days.
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Bringing you a bit of Sunday morning joy in these politically uncertain times now.
Financial Times senior reporter Chris Cook has just drawn parallels between Penny Mordaunt’s leadership bid campaign video and a skit from the 90s satire show The Day Today.
You’ll forgive me for initially thinking the soundtracks were exactly the same.
This reminds me mostly of this, by @Aiannucci https://t.co/cvoxAI9pMn https://t.co/RPmjZbdIi0
— Chris Cook (@xtophercook) July 10, 2022
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Just a reminder of who the current Conservative leadership candidates are – we’re on nine now!
They are as follows:
- Rishi Sunak
- Sajid Javid
- Jeremy Hunt
- Nadhim Zahawi
- Penny Mordaunt
- Grant Shapps
- Suella Braverman
- Kemi Badenoch
- Tom Tugendhat
Jeremy Hunt says Esther McVey would be his deputy PM
With the barely concealed intention to win over red wall voters, Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt has said he would make Esther McVey his deputy prime minister if he succeeds.
Speaking on BBC’s Sunday Morning, he likened the Tatton MP to John Prescott as Tony Blair’s deputy.
“I also recognise that the leader of a political party has to win elections, and that means a broad appeal, so just as Tony Blair had John Prescott to broaden his appeal as his deputy prime minister, I will have Esther McVey as my deputy prime minister,” he said.
“She has won a lot of elections against Labour in the north, I have won them against Lib Dems in the south and I think we will be a formidable campaigning team.”
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Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said Boris Johnson’s admission he met with ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev at the height of the Salisbury crisis suggests a “serious security breach” took place.
Cooper told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday there were serious questions to be answered about why Johnson, then foreign secretary, allegedly went “with a guest who has never been disclosed” soon after attending a Nato summit about Russia.
She pointed to the scandal as part of a wider pattern of alleged problematic behaviour from the prime minister.
“I think the problem is that you have somebody who’s still in Downing Street who no one thinks has any duties, any sense of duty to the country, who’s been responsible for lies, for law-breaking and also today’s allegations around abuse of power towards a young woman while he was mayor of London.
“The point you raised in your introduction, the serious security breach that appears to have happened while he was foreign secretary, meeting with an ex-KGB agent straight after going to a Nato summit to discuss Russia at the height of the Salisbury crisis and going without officials, going without any security, apparently going with a guest who has never been disclosed.
“Nobody feels confident that Boris Johnson is going to do what is right for the country. That’s why he should be gone now and all of the Conservative candidates who you have been interviewing, they should all be supporting him leaving now before he does any more damage.”
You can read more about Labour’s calls for an investigation into the meeting here:
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Sajid Javid says Pincher scandal proved to be the 'final trigger'
Sajid Javid, who resigned as health secretary five days ago, is on BBC’s Sunday Morning discussing his leadership bid.
He says he didn’t want to give up the “very important” post and denies that his resignation was a move coordinated with former chancellor Rishi Sunak.
“I had no idea what he was going to do,” says Javid. “This was a decision made by me, no-one other than my closest advisers in my department had any idea I was going to do this.
“I had a very important job and I didn’t want to give it up lightly because I think a lot of people were depending on me.
“But I think once you lose confidence in your boss, your prime minister, I don’t think you can hide that.”
He adds that his “doubts” in Johnson’s leadership began at the end of last year as the first Partygate allegations were revealed by the media.
Though he believed the “reassurances” he received at the time, but he says the Chris Pincher scandal proved to be the “final trigger”.
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Penny Mordaunt joins Tory leadership bid
Trade minister Penny Mordaunt has just announced her candidacy in the race to replace Boris Johnson.
Announcing the move on Twitter, Mordaunt said: “Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.”
Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship. https://t.co/2O8T762DMT#pm4pm pic.twitter.com/Cib1w0sPBO
— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) July 10, 2022
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Jeremy Hunt: 'What you need is smart tax cuts that will grow the economy'
Former health secretary and Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt is being grilled by Sophie Raworth over his proposal to cut corporation tax amid the cost of living crisis.
He says current plans to increase corporation tax would mean “people won’t want to set up businesses” in the UK and underlines his position as having “more experience in the cabinet” than any of his opponents.
“What you need is smart tax cuts that will grow the economy,” he says.
“I set up my business because Nigel Lawson, Margaret Thatcher created a pro-enterprise environment. I was actually the only one of my friends leaving university who went off and set up their own business.
“I want more people to do that but if we’re going to increase corporation tax, which is one of the biggest taxes businesses pay, so that it’s more than not just Japan and America but more than France and Germany. Then people won’t want to set up businesses.”
Asked about the immediate issue of supporting families and individuals struggling to make ends meet, Hunt says such a policy would enable his government to ease the pressure on a long-term basis.
“When you cut people’s personal taxes, which I passionately believe we must, it must be forever and that means it must be sustainable on the basis of growth in the economy.” he says.
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More to come from the Sunday politics shows this morning, but with Rishi Sunak seemingly absent from the rounds, it’s worth noting the Observer’s splash today.
Senior Tories have accused Boris Johnson of trying to torpedo his former chancellor’s bid to succeed him as PM.
A former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, Sir Charles Walker, said pleas for restraint were pointless because there was so much bad blood.
Tomorrow’s front page pic.twitter.com/XutrEeelfL
— The Observer (@ObserverUK) July 9, 2022
“Clearly the prime minister remains deeply bruised by the chancellor’s resignation. Rishi’s camp will have to soak up a lot of anger over the days to come. That will apply to whoever takes over,” he said.
You can read the lowdown from the Observer’s political and policy editors, Toby Helm and Michael Savage, here:
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Grant Shapps says he ran transport department 'very competently'
Transport secretary Grant Shapps is up on Sophy Ridge on Sunday now. He says there’s three things needed now for leading the country and in order for the Tories to win the next general election.
“[They are] going to have to have complete competence, going to have to be able to communicate and going to have to be able to campaign,” he says.
Shapps says his track record as a former Conservative party chairman and the way he has ran the Department for Transport “very competently” shows he’s in possession of these skills.
“I think actually, I can use the same approach with the country,” he said.
He added that he believed he played a part in convincing Johnson to step down, saying he wanted to make sure the prime minister was “getting the facts” as “things were coming to a close”.
“I always just think that the best thing to do is be completely candid and just say it as it is,” he said.
“One of the problems in being a leader, eventually you get people around you who will just tell you what you want to hear.
“I just wanted to make sure that he was getting the facts, and that was my conversation with him. He listened carefully and, as we know, the next morning said that he would stand down.”
Asked if he thought his intervention was “part of the reason” for Johnson’s departure, he said: “Yes, I mean, it’s presenting the reality. So, yes, of course.”
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Tugendhat added, several times, that a “clean start” is needed for the UK, including for it to pave the way for a low-tax economy.
“What you need is a clean start. If you get a clean start what you get is the ability to look again at the economy and set out a 10-year economic plan that delivers a fairer and stronger economy,” said Tugendhat.
On voting to remain in the EU in the Brexit referendum, he said he had “always respected” the outcome of the vote.
“What I want to do is get a clean start on the six-year-old arguments we’ve been having,” he added.
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Tom Tugendhat: 'I fought for my country and have been attacked there too'
First up on the media rounds this morning is Tom Tugendhat, a senior Tory and former soldier currently serving as chairman of the foreign affairs committee.
Asked by Sophy Ridge on her eponymous Sky News’ Sunday morning show what experience he has for the job, given he has never served in any government role, Tugendhat highlighted his credentials as a veteran.
It’s not an entry-level position but it’s not a management position either, it’s a leadership position and the reality is my entire career has been about serving our country,” he led with.
“[In] leading in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, in leading in the foreign affairs domain, where as you know, I’ve very clearly stood up for our country.
“[I’ve defended] our country against Chinese economic threats and against Russian bullying in many different areas and that has led to me being sanctioned by one and quite viciously attacked by the other.”
“I fought for my country and have been attacked there too.”
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Transport secretary Grant Shapps, who’ll be on Ridge on Sunday shortly, has formally launched his leadership bid this morning.
Posting on Twitter, the Welwyn Hatfield MP declared himself “a problem solver, with a proven record of delivery”.
He also said environment secretary George Eustice is backing him to be the next Tory leader.
My Cabinet Colleague George Eustice is backing my bid to be the next Prime Minister.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) July 10, 2022
Read why 👇 pic.twitter.com/0eYBnotjYC
A message attributed to Eustice on social media, shared by Shapps, said: “Grant has always shown good judgment and an ability to handle anything thrown his way.
“We have challenges ahead as we wrestle with the consequences of the pandemic and that is why I am backing Grant to be our next prime minister.”
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More on the Conservative leadership candidates from the Observer’s political editor Toby Helm, who says the contest will highlight the rifts in the fractured party.
This weekend, Sunak is seen as the early favourite and was said yesterday to have at least 80 Tory MPs signed up behind his campaign. Announcing in a social media video his intention to stand, Sunak said he wanted to “restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country”.
Senior figures, including a former trade secretary Liam Fox, described Sunak as “an outstanding individual who’s actually got a plan to see the spending of the government controlled over time. What we can’t do is continue to spend money we haven’t got and leave the burden on future taxpayers.”
But no sooner had the ex-chancellor declared his ambition to run than the knives came out from his detractors, including cabinet ministers and people inside No 10.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, loyal to Johnson to the last, had his lines prepared. “We have had a high-tax chancellor and I belong to a low-tax party, and I want to see us getting back to being a low-tax party,” the Brexit opportunities minister told BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions. Earlier in the week, Rees-Mogg had said Sunak was “not a successful chancellor”.
You can read more here:
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Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt join Conservative leadership race
Good morning.
Former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt have thrown their hat in the ring to become Boris Johnson’s successor.
It means eight Tories have so far put themselves forward to replace the prime minister, three days after he was forced to hand in his notice.
In their separate bids for the Tory leadership, Hunt and Javid both pledged to slash corporation tax.
Declaring their candidacies in the Telegraph, both said they would not only scrap former chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plans to raise corporation tax from 19% to 25% in April, but reduce the rate to 15%.
It comes after two serving cabinet ministers, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and transport secretary Grant Shapps, revealed their intentions to run for the top job in the space of an hour on Saturday.
The other candidates in the race so far are the attorney general Suella Braverman, ex-equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and Sunak.
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