Inside Politics: Still in the hunt

Boris Johnson announces plan to slash 90,000 civil service jobs as senior Tory refuses to rule out leadership bid, writes Matt Mathers

Jacob Rees-Mogg wants officials to return to their offices in Whitehall (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Wire)

Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg is out on the broadcast round this morning, making the case for the government’s new controversial plan to slash 90,000 civil service jobs. There is still no end in sight to the Brexit protocol war of words. And a senior Tory is refusing to rule himself out of a future leadership contest…

Inside the bubble

Parliament is not sitting.

Daily Briefing

Civil Service cuts

As Inside Politics reported yesterday, Boris Johnson took his cabinet to Stoke for a merry away day, billed by Downing Street as a blue-sky thinking event for ministers to come up with ways to solve the spiralling cost of living crisis.

So what have they come up with? The prime minister has devised a plan to slash the size of the civil service by up to one fifth, or around 90,000 staff, from departments across the UK. The idea is that the money government saves on salaries can be passed onto the taxpayer to help with the increasing food, fuel and energy bills.

“We have got to cut the cost of government to reduce the cost of living,” Johnson exclusively told the Daily Mail. “Every pound the government pre-empts from the taxpayer is money they can spend on their own priorities, on their own lives,” he added.

Is the plan going to work? It certainly grabs attention and makes a cracking headline, duly splashing the Mail this morning. And it just so happens to come the day after the Metropolitan Police confirmed that 50 more fines had been issued for Covid law-breaking at the heart of government in Downing Street and Whitehall, taking the total to 100. Giving the civil service a good kicking also tends to play well with Tory backbenchers, whose support Johnson is attempting to regain.

Johnson singled out the Passport Office and DVLA as examples of where ministers could make savings. But there are plenty of other departments – such as DWP, the MoJ and HMRC – which are still facing huge pandemic-related pressures and whose workloads are likely to increase in the coming month rather than get smaller. It also remains to be seen just how quickly cutting such a large number of staff can be done. What the government still doesn’t seem to be able to comprehend is that people are struggling now – not next week or next month.

“There’s no sign of it just now,” Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, told BBC Radio 4 Today earlier this morning when asked if he thought the plan is a serious one. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the cabinet minister for efficiencies, is out on the broadcast round this morning for the government.

Today’s cartoon (Dave Brown / The Independent)

Jeremy Hunt is refusing to rule out a leadership bid (PA)

Still in the hunt

Conversations about who might become the next Tory leader are a constant feature of UK politics, as sure as day follows night. And those discussions have only intensified this year due to Johnson’s ongoing Partygate headache and the recent poor local election results, although there appears to be no immediate threat to the PM’s position, with many MPs said to be holding their council until Sue Gray’s report gets published in full.

But that doesn’t mean to say that there aren’t some restless Conservatives putting in the groundwork for when the time is right. One name that keeps cropping up in chatter about who could take the Tory crown is Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary. In the lead up to the local elections, a government minister loyal to the PM told The Sunday Times that they “knew exactly” what the West Surrey MP had been up to. He “hasn’t been very subtle,” the minister added.

And sure enough, Hunt is back in The Times this morning, warning Johnson that his majority is at risk and that the government has a “big mountain to climb” if it is to win again in 2024. He also refused to rule out another tilt at the top stop. The Tories almost always choose a successor who is the exact opposite of the leader they are trying to replace. So it’s not difficult to see why some Conservatives might think the former health secretary could be a good fit: a bit dull but competent, with a reputation for integrity. Hunt vs Starmer 2024? Lord save us.

On the record

“As I said, I don’t think it’s the right time, but I would be very open with you that I don’t rule out a return in the future.”

Hunt refuses to rule out another tilt at Tory leadership.

From the Twitterati

“Two really odd things about govt reluctance to raise Universal Credit to match inflation:

Many more Tory seats now have UC claimants

2 Many Tories are proud of UC as a flagship welfare reform that offers flexible help in the most direct way to those in need.”

i chief politics commentator Paul Waugh on why he thinks it’s strange the government is dragging its feet on raising UC.

Essential reading

• Sean O’Grady, The Independent: Why the Northern Ireland protocol deadlock means Brexit still won’t be ‘done’
• Cathay Newman, The Independent: Do MPs understand what the cost of living crisis means for people?
• Angela Rayner, The Guardian: Under Boris Johnson, the rights of working women have become a feeble joke
• James Forsyth, The Times: The housing crisis puts Tories in a death spiral

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