UK politics live: Starmer pays back £6,000 in gifts amid donations row as Lord Alli faces interest probe
Prime minister ‘covering cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four races tickest and designer clothing deal’ for his wife
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Sir Keir Starmer has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since the election, after the row over ministerial donations, it’s been revealed.
The prime minister is covering the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four tickets to the races and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The prime minister has commissioned a new set of principles on gifts and hospitality to be published as part of the updated ministerial code. Ahead of the publication of the new code, the prime minister has paid for several entries on his own register. This will appear in the next register of members’ interests.”
Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli is under investigation over alleged non-registration of interests that could lead to a possible breach of the members’ code of conduct.
The fashion mogul, who has been at the centre of the row over donations accepted by Sir Keir Starmer, is being probed by the Lords’ commissioner.
Meanwhile, James Cleverly issued an apology to Tory members following the party’s brutal election defeat in July, urging the party to avoid complacency, warning against “wallowing in self-pity”.
Watch: Tory leadership hopefuls Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat address party conference
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‘Last government did not defend capitalism'
Attacking Rishi Sunak’s administration, Kemi Badenoch has said the last government did not defend capitalism.
She added: “Capitalism does not mean corporatism. It does not mean monopolies. It means free markets and competition.
“We didn’t always protect those principles.
“Like Labour, we raised taxes on business, corporation tax, capital gains tax, we tax dividends, and we regulated like labour.”
Kemi Badenoch is a net zero sceptic
The shadow business secretary, like Robert Jenrick, has said she is a net zero sceptic.
She told Tory members: “We set a target with no plan on how to meet it just so politicians could say we were the same country to do so.
“Now we have a net zero strategy addicted to state subsidy, making energy more expensive and hurting our economy.
“I am not a climate change sceptic, but I am a net zero sceptic. I did not become an MP just to deliver an agenda delivered by Ed Miliband... Plans must be delivered by principles, that is the Conservative way.”
ANALYSIS | Kemi Badenoch goes back to first principles
Badenoch has had a difficult week but there is no doubt that her speech is landing best in the conference hall, David Maddox writes from the conference.
“Facing truth” about a party speaking right and governing left is one which chimes with Tory members.
Most powerful though is her description of growing up in Nigeria where fear of crime and despotism was an everyday reality.
The Tories have always been willing to go where Labour will not - electing female UK leaders.
Some people think of Badenoch as a new Thatcher. She is making a good go at proving them right today.
Badenoch opens up about family background
Like her Tory rivals, Kemi Badenoch has opened up about her upbringin and being born in the Uk but growing up in Nigeria.
She said: “I was born here, but I grew up in a place where fear was everywhere.
“You cannot understand it unless you’ve lived it, triple checking that all the doors and windows are locked, waking up in the night at every sound, listening as you hear your neighbors scream as they are being burgled and beaten, and wondering if your home will be next.
“When you’ve experienced that kind of fear, you’re not worried about being attacked on Twitter.
“You appreciate how rare and precious it is to live in a country with security, democracy, equality under the law and above all else, freedom – free speech, free enterprise, free markets, conservative freedoms, conservative principles.”
Badenoch says ‘system is broken’ and ‘it’s time to tell the truth’
Kemi Badenoch has began her speech by telling Tories that “the system is broken” and “it’s time to tell the truth”.
She added: “The truth about our party, the truth about our politics, the truth about our future. For too long, politicians have been scared of the truth. For too long, politicians have hidden behind spin.
“For too long, politicians have been scared of the truth for too long.
“Politicians have hidden behind spin for too long. Politicians have told the public what they wanted to hear and then done their own thing.”
Jenrick: Labour government already out of answers
Ending his speech, Robert Jenrick said: “Britain rises when all our people rise, all of them. So let’s help them to rise again. 1974, 2024, a country facing huge challenges. A Labour government already out of answers, an opposition, a Conservative opposition facing a big choice.
“To go along with a failed consensus that is driving our country into the ground or to have the courage, to summon the courage to change course, to unite around the practical solutions that we face. And to change, really change. I want to lead that change. I want to be that change.
“So come with me, join me, work with me in this new Conservative Party. And together let’s take a stand for the country that we love.”
Jenrick attacks foreign aid
Robert Jenrick has just made a huge announcement, David Maddox writes from the conference.
Cutting foreign aid to find spending three per cent of GDP in defence would almost wipe out the aid budget.
The announcement went down well in the hall with Tory members but will see the party lurch to the right with a potential civil war with the centrists in the party.
Robert Jenrick brands net zero targets ‘crazy’
The right-wing Tory has branded net zero targets set by the current Labour government “crazy”.
He told the conference: “Factories have closed, families have suffered and this is all so because we have become so reliant on expensive forms of energy like offshore wind.
“We have to oppose the root of the problem, and that’s not the principle of net zero but the crazy interim binding targets put into law by Gordon Brown. It’s the mad targets, the carbon budgets, that don’t take any account of innovation that’s driving the mad policy.
“So I say that with our new Conservative Party we will stand for cutting emissions but we will never do it, never, on the backs of working people and by deindustrialising our great country.”
‘All four candidates have to justify their own actions’ in previous government, Cleverly says
Asked how he will do things differently to the last Conservative government, given he held such a prominent role, Mr Cleverly said pointed out that all four candidates had jobs in the previous administration, adding: “We all have to justify our own actions”.
James Cleverly held the most prominent roles in government of the four candidates, having served as both foreign secretary and home secretary.
Speaking to journalists after his speech, the Tory leadership candidate said support for his campaign is building.
When asked how confident he is that he will make it into the final two, Mr Cleverly said: “Throughout the party conference I’ve been getting commitments from additional MPs who hadn’t voted for me before, so my support is building.
“People have sensed I can communicate effectively, I can lead from the front and I can enthuse our party.”
ANALYSIS | Jenrick cements his place as the hard right candidate
Robert Jenrick’s puns may have been a bit cringe worthy but his right-wing message is going down very well in the hall, David Maddox writes from the conference.
Once he got on to abolishing the Human Rights Act and leaving the European Convention of Human Rights then the audience started to applaud.
His attack on Netflix Zero got even louder cheers
Another reminder that to win the party a candidate needs to be rightwing even if that is the one thing that stops them winning the country.
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