UK politics live: Tugendhat promises Thatcher-style Tory revolution before Badenoch and Jenrick speeches
Tugendhat, Cleverly, Badenoch and Jenrick deliver last pitch to become new Conservative party leader
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The four Conservative leadership candidates are delivering their final speeches at the party’s conference in their race to be Rishi Sunak’s successor.
During his speech Tom Tugendhat has called for Thatcher-style revolution for a “free economy” and more growth.
He has also blamed bureaucrats for failings in the NHS, warning the health service is “not the envy of the world”.
The next to speak is James Cleverly, followed by Robert Jenrick, and Kemi Badenoch, to address delegates in Birmingham.
As the four leadership candidates deliver their final pitches, relations between some of the rivals have been strained despite the “yellow card” rule to stop personal attacks.
Ms Badenoch sparked widespread criticism after joking that 50,000 civil servants were so bad at their jobs they should be jailed.
During a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference, the Tory leadership contender accused staff of undermining their ministers and leaking official secrets.
Mr Tugendhat slammed Mr Jenrick for using footage of a soldier he served with him in Afghanistan and subsequently died, in a widely criticised campaign video.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
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Tugendhat slams Tory rival: Jenrick’s comments factually inaccurate
Tom Tugendhat, who is doing the morning media round, has doubled down on his criticism of Robert Jenrick’s special forces comments.
It comes after the former immigration has been widely criticised for a campaign video in which claimed the SAS was “killing rather than capturing terrorists”.
Mr Tugendhat said one of the soldiers featured in the footage used to be a friend of his and died shortly after the video was filmed.
Responding to his claim, Mr Tugendhat told Times Radio: “I’m afraid what has been said in that video, it’s just factually inaccurate, it’s not true.”
Asked if the comments were dangerous, the shadow security secretary said they were “unwise”.
Kemi Badenoch tells migrants ‘our country is not a dormitory’
Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch said people who want to move to the UK need to be “very committed”, adding the country is “not a dormitory”.
Asked how she would make culture part of an immigration strategy, the former business secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s all about doing everything in tandem. I said numbers matter, culture matters more but leadership is key and we need to think about all of it together.
“What we did previously was just leave the Home Office to look at people coming in and out, but we need to make sure that when people are coming to this country they are people who are coming to contribute and also who want the success of our country.
“Of course there will be others who are passing through, like student visas, for example, but if people want to stay here, we live in an age where you need to be very committed: we are not a dormitory, we’re not a sponge.
“I’m somebody who came to this country at 16 and I did so wanting to be here, wanting to be from here, so culture matters.”
Pressed on what her integration strategy would be, Ms Badenoch said: “It is about making sure that we keep our values… it’s values like citizenship, being more than just having a passport, it’s an expectation that you create for people, and government does need to talk about that.”
Final day of Conservative Party conference in Birmingham
The Conservative Party conference is coming to an end with Tory candidates set to address delegates to make their final pitches.
Tom Tugendhat will be the first to take the stage at 10.45am. The shadow security minister will set out his plans for a “new Conservative revolution” in areas such as the economy and housing.
James Cleverly will speak second and Robert Jenrick will make the third pitch amid backlash from his rivals for claiming that UK special forces were “killing rather than capturing” terrorists.
Kemi Badenoch, tipped as grassroots favourite, will be the one to close out the conference with her keynote speech.
We will bring you all the updates and analysis live from the Conservative party conference throughout the day.
Cleverly suggests axing stamp duty on home purchases if he becomes PM
James Cleverly has signalled he is willing to axe stamp duty on home purchases in order to help the economy “thrive”.
Asked if he would pledge to slash the tax should he win the Tory leadership contest, the Conservative former minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme stamp duty “stagnates the market”.
He added: “At the last general election, my party – the Conservative Party – was being criticised by the Labour Party for taxing too much.
“If we don’t start cutting taxes, we stifle the economy and we will ultimately not be able to thrive as a country.”
When put to him that the measure was explored by Liz Truss in her short tenure as prime minister, Mr Cleverly replied: “Your argument is because one of my predecessors proposed it, we can never propose it?
“This is why we have now got the highest tax burden since the war. Higher than many of our international competitors and high enough that the Labour Party felt liberated to criticise us.”
Watch: Tugendhat hits out at Jenrick for using video of dead friend in false claim on UK special forces
Tugendhat hits out at Jenrick for using video of dead friend in special forces claim
Tom Tugendhat has criticised Robert Jenrick for using footage of his friend, a Special Forces soldier, in a video claiming that British special forces are “killing rather than capturing terrorists”. The former immigration minister made the claim in a clip promoting his campaign to be the next Conservative party leader. His leadership contest rival told Newsnight that the footage contained images of a soldier who died shortly after the footage was filmed. "What's particularly upsetting is that video is using a piece of footage of some of the people I served with, one of who died shortly after that film was taken in an accident and is not able to defend himself against the allegation that is being effectively levelled against him," Mr Tugendhat said.
Nigel Farage slams Conservative brand ‘completely damaged'
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the Conservative brand is “completely damaged” and he has no intention of doing a deal with the next Tory leader.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Farage said of the four Conservative Party leadership candidates: “They all think with a new leader ‘it’ll all be fine, all the voters will come back to us’, and what they don’t understand is the Conservative brand is completely damaged, they have no chance of winning the next election.”
He added: “There would be no deal with them, I wouldn’t trust them anyway, they have a pattern of behaviour pretending to be one thing and then when they’re in government being quite the opposite.
“And, frankly, what I’m trying to do with Reform is replace them.”
Pressed on the Tory record on Brexit and asked if he was proud of the UK’s exit from the EU, Mr Farage said: “Do I think getting back our independence was the right thing to do? You bet your life.
“Do I think we’ve handled it well? Good Lord, no.”
UK forces ‘played their part’ in attempt to prevent further Middle East violence
British forces “played their part” in attempts to prevent further violence in the Middle East, the Defence Secretary has confirmed, after Sir Keir Starmer said he stands with Israel following an attack on the country by Iran.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, John Healey said he “completely condemn(s) Iran’s attack against Israel”.
“British forces have this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East,” he added.
“I want to thank all British personnel involved in the operation for their courage and professionalism.”
Earlier the Prime Minister had said he was “deeply concerned that the region is on the brink” and again urged British nationals in Lebanon to leave amid escalating violence in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Britons fleeing Lebanon were set to board a UK Government-chartered flight to safety on today.
Mr Healey is visiting Cyprus to meet troops who are preparing for the possibility of evacuating British citizens from Lebanon.
EU pushes Starmer to open door to youth mobility scheme
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to open the door for the European youth mobility scheme during his visit to Brussels today.
The prime minister will hold a bilateral meeting with president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
He aims to reset Britain’s relationship with the European Union but is facing early demands from leaders on migration, fishing and youth mobility.
Sources close to his senior negotiator - european affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds - say he is unwilling to agree to a youth mobility scheme too quickly and will want to use the EU’s enthusiasm for the project as a negotiating chip.
Such demands for concessions by the EU leades are likely to be raised this week before detailed negotiations later this year.
Starmer travels to Brussels for EU talks
Keir Starmer kicks off his bid to reset Britain’s relationship with the European Union on Wednesday morning - but is facing early demands from leaders on migration, fishing and youth mobility.
The prime minister wants to tackle defence and security, crime and immigration, and then trade under a “three pillar” strategy for the crunch talks with EU leaders in Brussels, as revealed by The Independent last week.
But Sir Keir will also arrive in Belgium under growing pressure to agree to a youth mobility scheme to allow under-30s to travel more freely between Britain and the EU.
Our political editor David Maddox has the full story below:
Starmer facing EU demands on youth mobility as he begins Brexit reset talks
The prime minister is set to start his EU reset in ernest on Wednesday - but is facing pressure on the youth mobility scheme
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