UK politics live: Rosie Duffield slates Labour ‘sleaze and nepotism’ as Badenoch warns of Tory ‘stitch-up’
MP quits party, attacking Sir Keir Starmer over two-child benefit cap, winter fuel payments and freebies
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MP Rosie Duffield has resigned the Labour whip, accusing the prime minister of “hypocrisy” and pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies.
In a resignation letter, Ms Duffield attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test winter fuel payments.
In her resignation letter, she wrote: “The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale.”
Ms Duffield, who will sit as an independent, also slated Sir Keir’s acceptance of more than £100,000 of freebies including clothes.
Earlier, Kemi Badenoch warned that Tory members will be “very angry” if MPs take part in a “stitch-up” to lend votes to other candidates to keep her out of the top two in the leadership contest.
Allies of Ms Badenoch claim she is the victim of a “dirty tricks” campaign, with Robert Jenrick in effect lending votes to James Cleverly, which the former has strongly denied.
Asked whether she believed Mr Jenrick was taking this approach, she told The Times: “I think that may be happening. But what else is happening is that there is tactical voting.”
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Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
Tory Party conference: John Rentoul answers your questions
With a leadership contest looming and the Conservatives facing tough decisions on the party’s strategy, join John Rentoul, The Independent’s chief political commentator, for a live Q&A.
If you have a question on the Conservative Party conference, submit it now here, or join live at 4pm on Monday 30 September for the “Ask Me Anything” event.
For more information, read this article:
Tory Party conference: John Rentoul answers your questions
With a leadership contest looming and the Conservatives facing tough decisions on the party’s strategy, join John Rentoul, The Independent’s chief political commentator, for a live Q&A
Is this the moment that Rachel Reeves put ‘what works’ before dogma?
This could be the moment that the Labour government started to find its feet. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is “ready to water down” her tax raid on non-doms because the Treasury fears that it may “fail to raise any money”, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The timing of this realisation is interesting, the day after the end of the Labour conference at which the news might have been greeted with howls of “betrayal” from the marginalised, but still vocal, usual suspects.
But what is important about this U-turn is that it means the cold light of realism has been allowed to penetrate the pie-in-the-sky slogans of Labour’s pre-election economics.
Read the full article here now:
Is this the moment that Rachel Reeves put ‘what works’ before dogma?
Ditch the non-dom tax, chancellor – and bring in a Robin Hood tax instead, writes John Rentoul
Revealed: Starmer’s ‘three pillar’ blueprint to rebuild EU ties with youth mobility a negotiating chip
Sir Keir Starmer is still open to agreeing a deal with the EU on free movement for young people – but does not want to give away his negotiating hand too early as he prepares to head to Brussels next week.
The Independent understands that the Labour government has a “three pillar” blueprint to reset the relationship with the EU in painstaking talks.
The main talks will be headed by European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is based in the Cabinet Office and has been handed some of the most complex and sensitive tasks in the Starmer government.
Read the full article here:
Youth mobility a negotiating chip as Starmer’s Brexit reset strategy is revealed
Exclusive: Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen have announced they will meet next week in Brussels and The Independent can reveal the government’s plan to reset the UK’s relationship after Brexit
Security ramps up ahead of Tory conference in Birmingham
Security measures have been ramped up around Birmingham city centre as the Conservative Party Conference gets under way.
The annual conference is an opportunity for the four candidates in the Tory leadership race to convince members to pledge their support. Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat are all hoping to take over from Rishi Sunak, with MPs due to vote for the final two after they return to parliament.
Armed police and high-visibility patrols are visible around the International Convention Centre (ICC), with access to roads around the centre blocked until Friday, 4 October.
Access to Broad Street, Great Charles Street, Street, Sandpits, Parade, Clement Street, St Vincent Street, Sheepcote Street and Oozells Way will be restricted so those travelling in via bus or tram are being encouraged to allow more time for journeys.
Bus services affected include 9, 12, 12A, 13, 13A, 126, X8, X10, 23 and 24.
Resetting UK-EU relationship will ‘not be easy’, Starmer says
Securing a closer trading relationship with the European Union will not be easy but it is possible, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister will head to Brussels next week for talks with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen as he pushes for a “reset” in the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Sir Keir also believes more can be done on defence and security and tackling the migrant crisis.
“I want to ensure that we’ve got a closer trading relationship if we can,” the Prime Minister said.
“I think it’s possible. I’m not going to pretend it’s easy, but I think it’s possible.”
Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
Dazed, confused, but with more than a hint of defiance (foolish or otherwise), the Conservatives meet for their party conference in Birmingham with some important business to transact.
The members and MPs will see a great deal of the four remaining leadership candidates, and naturally there will be much discussion about what went wrong for the party in the general election (and before). Robert Jenrick is now the bookies’ favourite, having overtaken Kemi Badenoch, with James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat the outsiders – but that could all change.
The official theme is “Review and Rebuild”, which sounds about right. Given their fratricidal tendencies, however, and the spectral presence of Boris Johnson through the medium of his memoir Unleashed, it could easily descend into acrimony. The Tories may not be too relevant right now, but it will be entertaining...
Read the full article here:
Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
As the Conservatives head to Birmingham this weekend for their annual gathering, Sean O’Grady wonders what they will find to talk about as they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again
Boris Johnson thought he ‘might have carked it’ in intensive care
Former prime minister Boris Johnson believed he “might have carked it” when he was in intensive care with Covid without the “skills and experience” of his nurses, according to an extract of his memoir.
Mr Johnson spent several days in intensive care with Covid in April 2020. In the extract of his Unleashed book published in the Daily Mail, he described not wanting to fall asleep on his first night in intensive care “partly in case I never woke up”.
He also recalled feeling “rotten” with “guilt” and “political embarrassment” in the days before he was admitted to hospital.
The nurses caring for Mr Johnson on his first night in intensive care were “Jenny from New Zealand and Luis from Portugal,” he recalled.
Following his release from hospital, the then prime minister spent some time at Chequers with his now-wife Carrie, and he recalled joining in with the clap for the NHS on a Thursday evening.
Robert Jenrick says he wants to ‘put Nigel Farage out of business'
Immigration has so far featured heavily in the leadership campaign, with frontrunner Mr Jenrick making it a centrepiece of his campaign and arguing the party’s defeat was because it broke its promises on immigration.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, he said he wanted to “put Nigel Farage out of business” and described Reform as “a symptom not a cause”.
He said: “It exists in its current state because my party failed. We made promises on issues that millions of people…small ‘c’ conservatives like me, care passionately about, like controlled and reduced immigration, like securing our borders, and we didn’t deliver on those promises.”
UK government urge Britons to leave Lebanon
Britons have been urged to leave Lebanon amid warnings the country faces a humanitarian “catastrophe” following the latest round of Israeli air strikes.
On Friday, the Foreign Office warned that British nationals should “leave now” as series of massive explosions levelled multiple apartment buildings in Beirut.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said it was “working to increase capacity” and secure seats for British nationals on flights out of the country.
In his own address to the UN on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: “I call on Israel and Hezbollah. Stop the violence. Step back from the brink.
“We need to see an immediate ceasefire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement and we are working with all partners to that end.”
Badenoch says she doesn’t mind if candidates ‘have a pop’ at her
Kemi Badenoch has hit back at criticism that she took a holiday with her family during the start of her campaign, saying that her husband and children are the “most important thing”.
She apologised to members for being unable to make the event in Yarm, north Yorkshire, as a result of long-standing family commitments in August.
“I heard from members who were there saying they didn’t like that,” Badenoch says. “So I don’t mind if other candidates have a pop at me because they’re showing more about themselves than they are about me. I’m a family person. My family is the most important thing.
“If my husband called me now and said, ‘I don’t want to do this any more, you need to pull out of this leadership contest’, I’d say OK. Because without him I can’t do this. Without my children and my husband my life doesn’t really have any meaning.”
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