UK politics live: Jenrick cuts Badenoch Tory poll lead as Tugendhat won’t guarantee winter fuel reversal
Former PM Liz Truss dismissed claims that her mini-budget was to blame for the disastrous state of the economy
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Robert Jenrick has overtaken Kemi Badenoch by four points in a head-to-head poll of Conservative members.
Mr Jenrick was almost 20 points behind the former business secretary six weeks ago. However, a new YouGov poll has shown the former immigration minister has reversed his fate as the annual Conservative Party Conference enters its penultimate day.
Some 52 per cent of Tory members preferred Mrs Badenoch as Tory leader while 48 per cent backed Mr Jenrick, the YouGov poll found.
It comes as fellow conservative leadership contender Tom Tugendhat declined to commit to reverse Labour’s cuts to the winter fuel payments, if leader of the party.
He said he would not “undermine” his promise to restore trust in politics by writing a budget “four years’ out.”
The shadow security minister told LBC: “I’m not going to write a budget for four years’ time. You know that it wouldn’t be honest for me to do so.
“I’m not going to promise to restore trust and immediately undermine it by making promises that are four years’ out… there’s no way that anyone can write it at this stage.”
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Watch: Tory leadership hopefuls Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat address party conference
Tom Tugendhat says he does not accept the term ‘climate emergency’ in attack on Labour policies
Tory Party conference: John Rentoul answers your questions – from the next leader to winning back voters
The UK is in desperate need of an effective opposition
Jonathan Gullis complains he can’t get a job as a teacher because he’s a Tory
VOICES | Unleashed? No, it’s more like Boris: Unashamed
Johnson doesn’t even seem prepared to meet the truth halfway, writes Sean O’Grady. Instead, the former PM’s so-called ‘explosive’ memoir seems to have pre-detonated in the hands of the author:
Unleashed? No, it’s more like Boris: Unashamed (as well as smug and lazy)
Johnson doesn’t even seem prepared to meet the truth halfway, writes Sean O’Grady. Instead, the former PM’s so-called ‘explosive’ memoir seems to have pre-detonated in the hands of the author
Cleverly says ‘stop the boats’ messaging was an error
James Cleverly has said the “stop the boats” messaging was an error as it set an “unachievable target” to completely eliminate small boat crossings.
The former home secretary was asked at a Tory conference fringe event why he failed to stop small boats of migrants crossing the channel, and how effective his communication about the policy had been.
He said: “I think the phrase stop the boats was an error.
“It distilled a very, very complicated and challenging problem into a soundbite.
“The implication – not the implication, I suppose the self-imposed yardstick – was even one boat was a failure, and that was an unachievable target.”
He added: “One of my frustrations was that we failed to communicate our successes in the home office portfolio and, unsurprisingly therefore, everyone believed we had succeeded in nothing.”
Mr Cleverly was home secretary from November 2023 until the Tories’ election defeat in July this year.
‘Sorry millionaires,’ Badenoch not bringing back winter fuel payment for all
Asked if she would bring back the winter fuel payment, Kemi Badenoch said: “Certainly to a lot of them. Not millionaires, sorry, millionaires.”
“The real issue with winter fuel is that we are making energy more expensive, Government makes energy more expensive. So if it’s doing that then it needs to look after those who don’t earn enough or can’t increase their earnings.”
Young Tory explains what Conservatives need to do to make political comeback
ICYMI: Truss claims she would have done better than Sunak at general election
Liz Truss has claimed that the Tories would have performed better at July’s general election if she had clung on as prime minister.
The ex-PM, who sensationally lost her seat in the party’s landslide defeat, said that if she had not been forced out of Downing Street in the wake of her disastrous September 2022 mini-Budget, she would have secured a better result for the Conservatives than Rishi Sunak.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the full story below:
Liz Truss claims she would have done better than Rishi Sunak at general election
Former PM claims she could have delivered better result for Tories if she had clung on to power
Fake tan, friendship beads and Bobby J hats handed out to win over Tories
Attendees of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham have seen the four leadership hopefuls wanting to replace Rishi Sunak handing out all manner of merchandise - from lollipops to beauty products.
Although freebies and gifts have left Sir Keir Starmer and his government under increased scrutiny recently, the potential future leaders of the opposition have not been able to give merch away quickly enough to draw in Tory support.
While the usual fare of pens, badges and stickers are all available, each one - Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly - has tried to beat the competition with eye-catching gimmicks.
Read the full analysis from our political editor David Maddox here:
Fake tan, beads and hats: Leadership candidates’ merch handed out to win over Tories
News analysis: While freebies and gifts have left Keir Starmer and his new government under scrutiny, Tory leadership candidates have not been able to give merchandise away quickly enough. Here is what it says about each of the four candidates
National Education Union members vote to accept government’s 5.5% pay rise for teachers
Members of the largest education union in the UK have voted to accept the Government’s 5.5% pay rise for teachers in England.
In a National Education Union (NEU) snap poll, 95% of members who responded voted to accept the 2024/25 pay offer.
Schools will receive £1.2 billion of additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to help cover the costs of the increased teacher pay award, according to the NEU.
General secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Our members should be proud of what they have achieved through a hard-fought campaign.
“They have accepted this year’s pay deal, but the Government should be in no doubt that we see it as just a first step in the major pay correction needed.”
Badenoch says people are ‘scared to have families’ amid maternity row
Kemi Badenoch has said people are “scared to have families” due to the cost amid an ongoing row about her comments on maternity pay.
On Sunday, the Tory leadership contender had said the government was doing “too much” on statutory maternity pay, before backtracking on the remarks.
Speaking at a Conservative Women’s Organisation event on the fringes of the Tory conference in Birmingham on Monday, Ms Badenoch said “there are things that we have to do to make sure that we make life comfortable for those people who are… starting families”.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the full story below:
Badenoch says people are ‘scared to have families’ due to cost amid maternity row
Jacob Rees-Mogg also weighed in on row, saying women should not be able to ‘clock up holiday’ on maternity leave
Are Conservatives weird? Reactions from Tory party conference attendees
Tory leadership candidates have not acknowledged ‘how bad things are’ – Truss
The candidates for the Conservative leadership have not acknowledged “how bad things are in the country” and the Tory party, according to former prime minister Liz Truss.
Ms Truss said the four MPs vying to be Rishi Sunak’s successor have to “explain what went wrong”.
Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly are trying to drum up support from their colleagues and party members at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Speaking at an event at the conference on Monday, Ms Truss also said she thought the party would have fared better in July’s general election if she had still been leader rather than Mr Sunak.
She told the in-conversation event: “So far, I haven’t seen any of the candidates really acknowledge how bad things are in the country as a whole, and frankly, for the Conservative Party.”
“They think ‘all we need to do is show competence and we will be ushered back into office’,” Ms Truss said, adding: “They have to explain what went wrong, why things are so bad for the Conservatives and what they’re actually going to do.”
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