The Met Office has issued an extreme weather warning for the coming weekend, with temperatures expected to approach 40 degrees celsius. But the hottest topic in Westminster is the Tory leadership race (which has yet to feature much on the climate emergency). We now know when the winner will be announced, and we have a somewhat better of idea of who it might be than we did yesterday – though the field is still rather wide open.
Inside the bubble
The zombie cabinet meets this morning, as Boris Johnson tries to maintain the impression that he is delivering for the people who voted for him in 2019. John Major will no doubt gain banner headlines for his boring opinions about ministerial standards at the public administration committee at 11am. The Commons will sit from 11.30am, with questions to Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary and Liz Truss supporter. Main business is the Online Safety Bill, which has been attacked by Kemi Badenoch as part of her leadership campaign.
Daily Briefing
The heat is on in the Tory leadership race
The heat is very much on in the race to replace Boris Johnson. We now know that the new prime minister will be revealed on 5 September following a ballot of Tory Party members. Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, said the party’s volunteers had insisted upon “sufficient opportunities for hustings” around the country in August.
A new straw poll of those Tory members has Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch out in front as the favourites to win a final-round play-off, with Rishi Sunak just behind. While the regular ConservativeHome survey is unscientific it has in the past proven to be a decent guide to the mood among party activists, who will pick from the final two candidates sent to them by Tory MPs.
It’s early days in the contest, however – and other candidates aren’t about to give up any time soon. Sajid Javid has tried to rally support by warning fellow Tories of 1997-style “oblivion” unless they change course as he launched his leadership campaign, saying: “Voters have lost faith in us.”
It’s also been revealed that Liz Truss registered her leadership bid website more than a month ago, two days after the abortive Tory no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson. At the time she was playing the loyal minister.
While the leadership election so far has been relatively light on policy, contenders have been urged to ignore the “siren voices” pushing them to ditch the UK government’s plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Some Tory backbenchers are hoping to move Boris Johnson’s successor away from climate action, right in the middle of the hottest summer the country has seen.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson’s government is limping on through the summer. The prime minister has had to fill his front bench from an increasingly narrow pool of Tory MPs, including an education minister who thinks free school meals amount to “nationalising children”. Taxing situation
The scrutiny of Tory leadership candidates’ tax affairs has continued to roll on. The Independent understands that Sajid Javid exploited a tax loophole to benefit from non-dom perks while working in the Treasury as a ministerial aide.
The Conservative leadership hopeful, who on Monday called for greater scrutiny of candidates as he launched his campaign, would say only that he gave up the controversial tax status “before entering public life” and refused to answer further questions on his tax affairs.
Some, but not all Tory candidates have pledged to publish their tax returns if they make it to the final two of the contest.
It comes after Tory leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi previously claimed he was the victim of a smear campaign over his tax affairs and has pledged to publish his returns annually if he becomes prime minister.
That came after The Independent exclusively revealed HMRC experts are investigating the newly-appointed chancellor’s financial affairs.
Today’s cartoon
See all of The Independent’s daily cartoons here
On the record
“To my mind, this is tax avoidance – parliament intended that non-dom status end, and this is a loophole that avoids that result,”
Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates Ltd, on Sajid Javid’s tax planning
From the Twitterati
“Never seen so many ministerial cars in New Palace Yard on a Monday”
John Rentoul, The Independent’s chief political commentator, wonders whether something might be afoot in Westminster
Essential reading
Tom Peck, The Independent: Have these Tory leadership hopefuls learnt nothing from the downfall of Boris Johnson? Isabel Hardman, The Spectator: Can Sajid Javid’s leadership bid stand out from the crowd? Owen Jones, The Guardian: Relying on Johnson’s failures is Labour’s only strategy - its time is almost up Donnachadh McCarthy, The Independent: I have zero sympathy for victims of travel chaos – ban international flights
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