UK politics live: Robert Jenrick opens door for Boris Johnson return if he becomes Tory leader
Leadership rival Tom Tugendhat says he is ‘extremely concerned’ at Mr Jenrick’s remarks, while fellow contender James Cleverly urged him to justify his statement
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Robert Jenrick has suggested he would consider giving Boris Johnson a job if he becomes the next leader of the Tory party, saying: “Let’s get the Conservative family back together”.
When asked what job he would give the former prime minister during a Q&A at the annual Tory conference, he joked: “I haven’t read his book yet so I want to wait and see what he’s said about me before answering that question.”
It comes after he attracted criticism from his own colleagues for doubling down on a claim that UK special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists”.
The frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak defended his assertion that the military is taking lethal action because of fears that European laws would free any detained assailants as “absolutely correct”.
Asked on Tuesday whether he could back up the claim, he insisted he could not “elaborate on particular cases”.
Leadership rival Tom Tugendhat said he was “extremely concerned” at Mr Jenrick’s remarks.
Former foreign secretary and fellow contender James Cleverly urged him to justify his statement.
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
The UK is in desperate need of an effective opposition
If the atmosphere at the Labour conference was a good deal less euphoric than might have been expected for a party just returning to government on the back of a landslide majority after 14 years in the wilderness, the mood among Conservatives as they assembled in Birmingham was a little more upbeat than might have been predicted, given the scale of the party’s election defeat.
This slight uplift, however, largely reflected the missteps of the new government in its first weeks, rather than any achievement of the Conservatives over the same time.
Read the full editorial here:
The UK is in desperate need of an effective opposition
Editorial: The country needs not just a strong government with the integrity and service ethic that the prime minister initially promised, but a Conservative front bench capable of holding them to account
Starmer thanks Simon Case for his ‘years of service to our country'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has thanked the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case for his “support” and “years of service to our country” after it was announced he will step down at the end of the year.
In a statement on Monday evening, Sir Keir said: “I have been very fortunate to be able to draw on Simon’s advice in my first weeks and months as Prime Minister and so I know that we are losing a public servant of the highest calibre. I want to take this opportunity to thank him personally for his support – and more fundamentally for his many years of service to our country.
“It is right that Simon takes time now to focus on his health, and he should know that he does so with the well wishes of this Government and all those who he has served during a truly remarkable career.
“In addition to supporting the government of the day, he has played a vital role in the accession of His Majesty King Charles, helped to modernise the civil service during a period of great political and technological change, and overseen the first transition of power between parties in over a decade.
“By any measure, he has made a distinguished contribution to our nation, and for that he has our sincere gratitude”.
Tories have problem when recruiting young women, says shadow minister
The Conservatives have a “fundamental problem” when it comes to recruiting young women to the party, the shadow minister for women and equalities has said.
Mims Davies said the number of women wanting to work for and with the party is “diminishing”, and called for pride in being a Conservative woman to be boosted.
At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Ms Davies also argued that it’s “much harder to come out as a Tory than anything else”, whilst suggesting that Tory members could meet the love of their life at the annual event.
Speaking at a Women 2 Win fringe event, Ms Davies said: “I think we’ve got an existential crisis when it comes to the women vote, I don’t think women know what we stand for and how we support women, and therefore the candidates pool and the people who want to work with us is diminishing.
“Whoever gets into number 10 is decided by the women’s vote, that is the reality.
“So if we do not capture that turnout, we cannot win, and that’s why we often find ourselves languishing in terms of those majorities.”
Tom Tugendhat says he does not accept the term ‘climate emergency’ in attack on Labour policies
Tom Tugendhat said he doesn’t accept the term “climate emergency”, dubbing Ed Miliband’s plan for state-backed energy company “completely insane”.
Great British Energy will provide £8.3m of funding for renewable power projects across the UK and shield consumers from international market shocks. the new Labour government has said.
But speaking on the main stage at Monday’s Conservative Party conference, Mr Tugendhat claimed Mr Miliband’s policies were going to “destroy Britain”, adding: “Every single project he’s got is designed to make electricity and power more expensive, harder to get and to make us more vulnerable to foreign dictators.”
Read the full article here now:
Tom Tugendhat says he does not accept the term ‘climate emergency’
The leadership contender claimed Ed Miliband’s policies are going to ‘destroy Britain’ as he criticised the plans for a state-owned energy company
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
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