UK politics live: ‘Pathetic’ to blame economic meltdown on me, Liz Truss tells Tory conference
Former PM Liz Truss dismissed claims that her mini-budget was to blame for the disastrous state of the economy
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Liz Truss has told the Conservative Party conference that it is “pathetic” to claim she is to blame for the economic meltdown follwoing her mini-budget.
During a fringe event, the unrepentant former prime minister dismissed Theresa May’s claim that she destroyed the party’s reputation after her economic policies.
She also lashed out at the four Tory MPs vying to replace Rishi Sunak as the party’s leader, claiming she will not endorse any of the candidates.
But she agreed with Kemi Badenoch’s controversial comments about maternity pay being “excessive”, and revealed she would be “really happy” with Robert Jenrick‘s suggestion to have the Star of David at UK borders.
It comes after Mr Jenrick described illegal migrants as “terrorists on our streets terrorising our citizens” during a rally at the conference.
During his speech, the former minister said the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a “leave or die” issue for the Tories and urged to exit the convention.
Mr Jenrick also called for the Star of David to be displayed at every point of entry to the UK to show “we stand with Israel” while wearing a “Hamas Are Terrorists” hoodie at a Conservative Friends of Israel fringe event.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Tugendhat and Badenoch face questions from Tory members on conference main stage
Sunak urges Tories to end infighting to avoid future election defeats
Rosie Duffield claims Keir Starmer ‘has problem with women’ after quitting Labour
Keir Starmer tightens rules on gifts and donations after Rosie Duffield’s ‘avarice’ accusation
Grant Shapps launches 'Conservatives Together'
Former Tory MP Grant Shapps has launched ‘Conservatives Together’ in a move to rebuild the party following its “catastrophic defeat”.
He told Times Radio: “Kind of being out of those roles is a little bit demob happy - you get on with your life, you don’t have to get up every single day and follow a particular structure.
“But on the other hand, the Conservative Party just went up to a catastrophic defeat. I’m a Conservative through and through.
“I just think to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, you’ve got to get your act together quickly, got to learn your lessons. And that’s why I’m at this conference launching Conservatives Together.”
Labour demands investigation into Robert Jenrick £75,000 donation
The Labour party chair has urged the Electoral Commission to carry out a “formal investigation” into a contribution to Robert Jenrick’s Tory leadership campaign.
The former immigration minister was given a £75,000 donation from a company which had reportedly received money from a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
But Mr Jenrick said The Spott Fitness is “as I understand it, a fitness company that operates in the UK”, and the donation was “perfectly legal and valid”.
Ellie Reeves wrote in her letter to the Electoral Commission that the Tory candidate still “has serious questions to answer”.
She added: “It is vital that we all work to preserve the integrity of our politics and I welcome your cooperation in this matter.”
Fuller rejects Farage’s claims Tories need to move right to regain votes
Richard Fuller, chairman of the Conservatives has responded to criticism of the party leadership candidates by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and said the Tories do not have to move to the right to regain vote share from Reform.
Mr Fuller, the MP for North East Bedfordshire, told Times Radio: “Nigel Farage is an MP, so if he’s like other MPs and he spent his time not trying to make big national prognostications, he’d be looking after local constituency issues, what his constituents care about, and for me, it’s issues with flooding, it’s about special education needs, that’s what an MP ought to be focused on.
“But for the Conservative Party more generally, with people who have thought about or have voted Reform in the recent elections, we need to make sure that we are strong on our small ‘c’ conservative principles doesn’t mean moving to the right, just being clear on what your principles are.
“When we’ve had to deal with things such as the Covid-19 response, which meant quite a large amount of extra public money, taxpayers money.
“The Conservative response at that moment was to say, ‘well, we’re not going to pass it on to future generations, we’re going to have to increase taxes’ but that makes it more difficult.”
Conservative Party conference schedule today
Today is the second day of the Conservative Party conference and leadership candidates are expected to make appearances as they continue their fight to become the new leader of the opposition.
Here’s what to expect:
- 9.30am: Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt to appear ‘in conversation’ on the main stage.
- 12.30pm: Former prime minister Liz Truss will make an appearance at an ‘in conversation’ event.
- 2pm: Leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat will answer questions on the main stage for around an hour.
- 3pm: Leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch will answer questions on the main stage for around an hour.
No changes to Tory leadership timeline, confirms chairman
There will be no change to the timeline of the Tory leadership race to allow a new leader to be in place before the autumn budget, Richard Fuller, chairman of the Conservative Party has said.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We had this debate some months ago. I think we had a very long discussion between the voluntary party and the 1922 Committee, which represents MPs.
“The 1922 Committee wanted a longer campaign. They wanted to have four candidates here at conference.
“And the logistics of that mean that when we whittle it down to two and it goes to the members, there’s a period of time for the members to vote, and my job is to make sure that members have enough time to get their ballot papers and return their ballot papers, and that’s why we ended up with the time frame we have.”
Asked, “no change?”, Mr Fuller added: “No change.”
Sunak urges Tories to end infighting to avoid future election defeats
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has urged the Conservative Party to cease its infighting, in his final address to Tory members before he stands down as leader.
Mr Sunak, who oversaw the Conservatives’ worst election loss in living memory during the summer, warned the party would face further defeats if it did not unite following the ongoing election to choose his successor.
Leadership candidates James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick were urged at the outset of the contest by party officials not to attack one another openly as they campaigned.
At a reception event in Birmingham, hundreds of Tory members gathered to hear Mr Sunak’s final address as leader of the party.
He cracked jokes about Sir Keir Starmer’s acceptance of freebies and gifts, claiming the conference was such a “hot ticket” he was surprised the Labour leader “hasn’t asked someone to buy it for him”.
The Richmond and Northallerton MP also apologised to Conservative members at the party conference for the summer election loss.
Fuller defends Kemi Badenoch for maternity pay claims
Richard Fuller, chairman of the Conservative Party, has said clarifying a position is a “sign of maturity”, when asked about comments made by Kemi Badenoch in relation to maternity pay.
Asked if the Tory leadership contest was exposing deep political divisions within the party, with reference to Ms Badenoch, Mr Fuller told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t agree with that, if I may say.
“But I think obviously, when there’s policy decisions to be made or policy positions to be made, then there is time to have a discussion about that, but on this particular instance, Ms Badenoch was clear subsequently, that she wasn’t talking about the issue of maternity pay.
“But I don’t think showing that we’re a united party means that there should be a commonality of response on every policy area.”
He added: “We all say things at certain times in the pressure of the moment where perhaps we need to clarify later.
“I think it’s a sign of maturity for each of the candidates that they’re able to set out their store about what they want to see as the future of the party and, from time to time, that will require clarification. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
“We don’t want a whole generation of glib politicians who are just fantastic in the moment, but don’t think through long term what their answers to questions should be.”
Pictured: Rishi Sunak during Conservative Party conference speech
Conservative party chairman urges rivals to stop ‘blue-on-blue attacks'
Richard Fuller, chairman of the Conservative Party, has urged the leadership contestants to “stop and think” and unite behind whoever wins the contest.
He told Times Radio: “Myself, the shadow chief whip and the head of the 1922 Committee (of backbench MPs) were very clear at the start, we wanted a campaign where there was no blue-on-blue (attacks).”
He added: “Each of them should stop and think about: they want to lead a party, would they want all of their colleagues who are unsuccessful – should they be elected – to go off into their own corners, or would they want them to come in behind them as leader?
“And I think when they do stop and think they’ll realise that they should be all on one team.”
On comments made by Kemi Badenoch about maternity leave provision, Mr Fuller said: “It’s important that the media are able to challenge our politicians, but equally, if you want to have coherent governance, you’ve got to give our politicians some space to do exactly what you said, to stop, think and then clarify.
“And that’s exactly what Kemi did.”
COMMENT | 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:
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
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