Quote of the day
I’ve mentioned the F word, family, and now to ensure I get coverage in the Guardian I’m going to mention the M word, marriage.
Miriam Cates, a rising star on the social conservative wing of the Tory party, bringing a smile to the faces of the party faithful at a fringe event in Manchester’s Midlands hotel hosted by the Legatum Institute.
Row of the day
Andrew Boff, a Conservative London Assembly member, was ejected from the conference for heckling a speech by the home secretary, Suella Braverman.
Accusing her of making the Conservative party look transphobic and homophobic, he told reporters that the home secretary was talking “trash” about “gender ideology”.
This home secretary was basically vilifying gay people and trans people by this attack on LGBT ideology, or gender ideology. It is fictitious, it is ridiculous.
“It is a signal to people who don’t like people who are LGBT+ people.”
The intervention refocused attention on Braverman’s controversial speech last month to a rightwing US thinktank, in which she said that fearing persecution over being gay or a woman is not enough to claim asylum.
After drawing criticism previously from fellow MPs after claiming that multiculturalism had failed, Braverman sought to play down the row, telling the BBC that her comments had been mischaracterised.
However, in her keynote speech to the Conservative conference she again returned to using stark language, claiming that the Human Rights Act had been “misnamed” when it was passed by Labour:
“I’m surprised they didn’t call it the ‘Criminal Rights Act’.”
Tweet of the day
In an unfortunate mistake later in the day which earned her further ire, the home secretary later stepped on the tail of a guide dog.
Not to be all insane moments in British politics, but here's Suella Braverman standing on a dog pic.twitter.com/fuilOOihFO
— Alexander Brown (@AlexofBrown) October 3, 2023
Tuesday’s highlights
After Rishi Sunak became embroiled on Monday in a row over HS2 with regional politicians, the transport industry and Tory members, the prime minister ensured that questions about the project’s future would continue to overshadow another day of the conference by declining to say in early morning interviews whether phase 2 of the planned high speed link would be axed or not.
Among others fighting to defend the project and seek clarity on its future was Mark Reynolds, the chief executive of a developer, Mace, who said Sunak and an adviser had “dodged the question” when he briefly met him at the event in Manchester.
Henri Murison of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, an organisation representing business and civic leaders across the north of England, said he “didn’t know what the prime minister is playing at”.
After the presence of Liz Truss on Monday brought an unwelcome reminder for Tory strategists of last year’s shambolic conference, another former party leader (though of Ukip and the Brexit party rather than the Conservatives) loomed over the conference on Tuesday.
Pressed on whether Nigel Farage could be allowed back into the Conservatives, Rishi Sunak hinted that the could potentially be welcomed back into the “broad church” of the party – only for the former Ukip leader to say he was not interested.
