Liz Truss is the strong favorite to become the next prime minister as she faces Rishi Sunak in the final vote of the Tory leadership contest. The bookmakers’ odds on the foreign secretary fell as she edged ahead of former favorite Penny Mordant in the latest round of voting by Tory MPs. Rishi Sunak remained ahead with 137 votes, while Ms Truss secured 113 votes to Ms Mordant’s 105. The result marked the end of the bitter Westminster contest scene, which has been marked by “sniping” and “smears”, in the words of former contender Tom Tugendhat. The final pair of candidates will now spend weeks making their case before facing Tory MPs in a final vote in September. In a latest attack, Ms Mordaunt’s campaign had argued that Ms Truss would lose the general election and put the Tories’ seats at risk. But Ms Truss, who was voted in ahead of Mr Sunak with Tory MPs, insisted she was “the only person who can deliver the change” needed.
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Mordaunt as Sunak and Truss to fight for Prime Minister
The Conservative Party faces a brutal summer of vicious infighting as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss battle it out for the keys to 10 Downing Street in what is expected to be the toughest leadership contest in decades (writes Andrew Woodcock). There have been calls for the two candidates to succeed Boris Johnson to avoid blue-on-blue attacks on each other, amid Tory fears that a bloody battle would undermine efforts to restore public confidence in the party. The new prime minister will be chosen by around 160,000 Conservative members, prompting calls for a snap election after the new Tory leader is installed on September 5 to give all voters a say in who rules Britain. Labour’s Conor McGinn said Tory members were being offered “two succession candidates … both subjects of the Johnson government whose fingerprints are all over the state of the country today”.
Mordant pulls out of Tory leadership race as Sunack and Truss to fight for PM
Around 160,000 Conservative Party members will choose the UK’s new prime minister Liam James21 July 2022 03:12 1658366040
Dominic Cummings mocks Tory Brexiteers for backing ‘absolutely useless’ Remainer Liz Truss
Dominic Cummings has mocked hard-line Tory Brexiteers for backing “absolutely useless Remainer” Liz Truss after she entered the final leadership run-off with Rishi Sunak (Adam Forrest writes). The Foreign Secretary is now the bookies’ favorite to be Britain’s next prime minister after his rival Penny Mordaunt was voted out in the last round of voting by party MPs. The former No 10 general, who masterminded the Leave campaign, mocked the European Research Group (ERG) for getting behind Truss in the Mordaunt passage. “Totally official for the ERG to support a truly useless Remainer who has done nothing in government but chatter hacks as she is reassuringly insane behind the scenes,” Cummings tweeted. Boris Johnson’s former adviser-turned-nemesis also claimed the Prime Minister quietly backed Truss’s campaign because he “knows she’s crazy and thinks she’s going to blow and she can come back”.
Mordant pulls out of Tory leadership race as Sunack and Truss to fight for PM
Around 160,000 Conservative Party members will choose the UK’s new prime minister Liam James21 July 2022 02:14 1658361900
Opinion | Tory leadership candidates should be banned from referencing Thatcher
No blouses with bows, no reference to the Falklands, no talk of free market economics and balancing the books. This type of behavior should come with severe disincentives, like literal sacks for anyone who even tries to engage in these terrible impersonations. We’ve had four Tory Prime Ministers since Margaret Thatcher’s tenure at No 10 came to a brutal end and, not to sound insensitive, she died almost a decade ago, so we’ve decapitated the party leader three more times. We have also exited the EU, gone through a global pandemic and are facing very high levels of inflation. Surely the Conservative Party has something better to offer than a repeat of 1979? Salmah Shah urges Tory candidates to stop pandering to Iron Lady nostalgia:
Opinion: Tory leadership candidates should be banned from referencing Thatcher
Surely the Conservative Party has something better to offer than a repeat of 1979, asks Salma Shah Liam James21 July 2022 01:05 1658358480
See: The highs and lows of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister
The Independent TV team put together the following review of Boris Johnson’s time at the top: The highs and lows of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister Liam James21 July 2022 00:08 1658356620
Liz Truss pledges ‘immediate’ tax cuts
Liz Truss has said she would cut taxes “immediately” if she beats Rishi Sunak to become the next prime minister. Setting out her agenda to the Daily Mail after securing a place in the final round of the Tory leadership race, the foreign secretary said she wanted to make Britain a “nation of ambition”. She wrote: “I will hit the ground running by immediately cutting taxes, growing our economy and unlocking the potential of everyone in the UK. “This is a key part of my mission to build a nation of ambition, where people from all parts of Britain, from all backgrounds, can succeed on talent and hard work alone. “That’s how I got to where I am today and that’s what I want for everyone in our country.” Her rival, the former chancellor, said she would only cut taxes once the levy was brought under control from its current 40-year high. In the Mail article, Ms Truss also said she would fight against “identity politics”, “cancel culture” and “people who abuse our country”. She echoed Mr Sunak in saying she is the only one who can beat Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor party in an election. Liam James20 July 2022 23:37 1658354979
The SNP has been accused of illegally spending taxpayers’ money on an independence campaign
Nicola Sturgeon’s government has been accused in Westminster of “illegality” in spending British taxpayers’ cash on its campaign to “break up Britain”. Public money has been used by the SNP administration to produce “party political propaganda” while neutral civil servants have been involved in pushing for a second Scottish independence referendum, the House of Lords has heard. The criticism was leveled by Tory Scottish Office minister Lord Offord of Garvel, using words from national poet Robert Burns to dismiss the SNP’s argument for independence. Lord Offord said: “This is fine dust. “As the bard said ‘Auld Scotland wants to sweep the scum, that’s a jap in langes.’ Taken from Burns’s Address To A Haggis, it roughly translates as “Old Scotland wants no watery substance, that splatters in little wooden dishes.” Liam James20 July 2022 23:09 1658353779
Truss vs Sunak – and the choice of two very different deadlines for Britain
“A choice of two futures” is a slogan often used by political parties in general election campaigns. Now Conservative Party members must make such a choice as they decide whether Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will be our next Prime Minister (writes Andrew Grice). The contest should finally resolve the split within the Tories, as the country’s decision to leave the EU six years ago left the party in an identity crisis. On the surface, the choice is between the fiscal responsibility offered by Sunak and the immediate tax cuts promised by Truss. But this debate hides a more fundamental question: whether Brexit Britain will adopt the Truss vision to take advantage of its new freedoms by becoming a low-tax, low-regulation country that deviates from EU rules, with a “smaller state’ – called ‘Singapore-on-Thames’ by Brexiteers? Or should he go Sunak’s way: live within his means, balance his books and recognize the growing demands on public services, especially from an aging population? “The party has a real choice. it’s a fork in the road at the moment,” one senior Tory MP told me. Another said: “This is now going to be a real battle of ideas.”
Truss vs Sunak – and the choice of two very different UK futures | Andrew Grice
On the surface, the decision is between the fiscal responsibility offered by Sunak and the immediate tax cuts promised by Truss. But this debate hides a more fundamental question Liam James20 July 2022 22:49 1658352039
Border Force ‘sub-optimal’ and due for overhaul, review finds
Plans have been announced to overhaul the Border Force as an independent review found it is performing at a “sub-optimal level” and stretching its resources in an “unsustainable and highly inefficient way”. The independent review, commissioned by Home Secretary Priti Patel to see how well it can meet future challenges, named a number of issues with the agency. Despite a “dedicated, capable workforce,” the agency appears to be “less than the sum of its parts with significant systemic challenges,” the report said. The review, by former Australian immigration minister Alexander Downer, said: “Overall, my impression of the Border Force is of an under-performing organisation. “He seems to be struggling to break out of a cycle of crisis management, reacting to the last challenge and preparing for the next, no matter how predictable the next challenge might be. “While the Border Force largely delivers what is required of it on a day-to-day basis, it does so by stretching its resources in an unsustainable and highly inefficient way. Mr Downer said his review comes as the Border Force faces “extraordinary challenges”, including people coming to the UK illegally in small boats, migrant abuse, illegal drugs, firearms and organized crime, along with the need to protect national security. Liam James20 July 2022 22:20 1658349999
