The New Tory Leader Will Be Badenoch or Jenrick. Either Would Be a One-way Ticket to Another Political Planet

THE GUARDIAN: By rejecting James Cleverly, MPs spurned the chance to renew their party. Their chosen path is further right, a blow for all who want an effective opposition

So the final Tory run-off, whose result will be announced on 2 November, will be between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick. The one who thinks there’s too much maternity pay and that 10% of civil servants should be in prison, versus the one who alleges that UK special forces are killing suspects rather than arresting them and who promises to withdraw from the European human rights system as a priority.

There are no two ways about reading the result of the fourth and final round of voting by the 121 surviving Conservative MPs at Westminster today. It marks a triumph for the Tory right and another existential crisis moment for a party that was battered into a record election defeat in July. With this vote, Tory MPs have bought their party a one-way ticket to another political planet. » | Martin Kettle | Wednesday, October 9, 2024

The Conservatives did themselves in with that ridiculous Brexit referendum. My regular visitors will know that I have said over and over and over again that the Conservatives will go the way of the dodo and the Whigs before them. I firmly believe that this leadership race has proved me right. The four contenders were/are duds: not of them had/has good policies and not one of them had/has charisma.

Once upon a time, the Conservative Party was synonymous with class, intellectual superiority, character, and at least a modicum of style. Those days are well and truly over. The choice of leaders on offer has been nothing other than Hobson's choice. The Party is dead. Just as I stated — as dead as the dodo. Short of a miracle that could breathe life back into the Party, the party for the Tory Party is well and truly over. R.I.P. – © Mark Alexander

Boris Johnson Says He Will Not Stand in Tory Leadership Contest

THE GUARDIAN: Move means Rishi Sunak almost certain to be PM

Boris Johnson at Gatwick Airport on Saturday morning after cutting short his Caribbean holiday.Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Boris Johnson will not stand in the Conservative leadership race, leaving Rishi Sunak very likely to enter No 10.

The former prime minister had not formally declared but he had told supporters he wanted to run, drumming up backing from seven cabinet ministers – Jacob Rees-Mogg, James Cleverly, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Nadhim Zahawi, Alok Sharma, Simon Clarke and Chris-Heaton Harris.

After cutting short a Caribbean holiday, Johnson spoke to rivals Sunak and Penny Mordaunt in a bid to persuade them to get onboard with his attempted political comeback.

However, Johnson has said he is not running after only making it to about 60 declared backers by Sunday afternoon – well short of the 100-MP threshold required to make it on to the ballot. » | Rowena Mason, Whitehall editor | Sunday, October 23, 2022

Gott sei Dank! Dieu merci ! Alhamdulillah! Diolch i Dduw! Thank God! – Mark

Penny Mordaunt: ''People Deserve a Leader Who Understands the Life They Lead'

The country deserves a leader who “understands the life they lead”, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt has said.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Ms Mordaunt, who was the first candidate to announce her bid to be the country's next prime minister, said: “What this country needs is a fresh face, someone that can unite the Conservative Party and get things to work in this country.”

Rishi Sunak Enters Race to Be Next Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak has announced his bid to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister, six weeks after Liz Truss beat him to the top job.

The former chancellor has put himself forward for the second time in a matter of months after the extraordinary resignation of Ms Truss on Thursday, 44 days into her premiership.

Tories Choose Third PM This Year As Reality of Brexit Bites

Following the resignation of Liz Truss after just 44 days in office, the Tories are choosing their fifth prime minister in six years and the third this year. In the meantime, the economy is in serious difficulty with soaring prices and interest rates, food shortages and widespread anxiety.

Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are expected to be joined by the disgraced Boris Johnson who was rejected by his party and forced to resign less than three months ago

. Whilst Sunak has the support of the majority of the parliamentary party, Johnson is still popular with the members of the Tory party who are likely to be asked to choose if a winner is not decided upon on Monday. BREXIT - It's not going too well, is it?"

My book is available from my website here

Boris Johnson 'Flying Back to Take Soundings' over Leadership Bid

A former adviser to Boris Johnson says the former prime minister is returning from holiday to consider joining the Conservative Party leadership election race.

Will Walden, who worked as Mr Johnson's press secretary, said his former boss is unlikely to run unless he is sure he can get the support of the 100 MPs needed to make the second round.

Liz Truss Plan to Divert NHS Funds to Social Care Is ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul’

THE GUARDIAN: Health expert says NHS needs money too and diverting promised £13bn is not a sustainable solution

Liz Truss said in 2009 that the health service ‘cannot not be put on a pedestal’. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
Liz Truss would be “robbing Peter to pay Paul” if she diverted £13bn of funding for the NHS to deal with a Covid backlog in social care, experts have said.

The Conservative leadership frontrunner told a hustings on Tuesday night that she would spend the £13bn earmarked for the NHS to catch up on delayed treatment after Covid on social care instead.

She said: “I would spend that money in social care. Quite a lot has gone to the NHS. I would give it to local authorities. We have people in beds in the NHS who would be better off in social care. So put that money into social care.

“We put the extra £13bn in and what people who work in the NHS tell me is the problem is the number of layers in the organisation they have to go through to get things done, the lack of local decision-making. That’s what people are telling me is the problem, rather than a lack of funding.” » | Rowena Mason, Deputy political editor | Wednesday, August 24, 2022

This woman is out of her depth. Further, she is just plain silly. She's making up policy as she goes along, on the hoof. Heaven forfend that she should become prime minister! – © Mark Alexander

Michael Lambert : Clueless Liz Truss Set to Turbo-charge UK Economy!

Aug 20, 2022 Liz Truss says she will TURBO-CHARGE the UK economy, whatever that means? The seemingly endless Tory leadership fiasco continues with Truss and Sunak announcing ever more right wing policies. Truss is expected to be announced as the winner on 5th September.

Inflation is at 10% and set to reach 13%, taxes are the highest for 70 years, according to Truss, interest rates are going up as are food prices. Energy prices are rising so steeply that thousands of businesses will find it difficult to survive and many will fail.

The cost-of-living crisis for those with limited means are set to make their lives almost impossible. The railway workers, the post office workers and the employees of Folkestone container port are just some of the unions going on strike and there are many likely to follow them.

Truss's plans to cut taxes now have been roundly criticised by the IFS, the OBR and others. She has said that she will confront the EU over the UK's illegal refusal to abide by the NI Protocol which is likely to risk a trade war with the EU which provides 40% of our food. She also wants to legislate against certain industrial action making strikes illegal. This would almost certainly lead to a catastrophic General Strike.

Truss's government is likely to be even more right-wing than Johnson's and may even include the almost impossibly deluded and incompetent David Frost (aka Lord Gormless) It is perfectly clear that Truss does not have a clue beyond talking about Turbo-charging the economy, 'Unleashing' British business whilst promising she will 'deliver, deliver, deliver' whilst claiming she 'Get's Things Done'

Thatcherism Is an Obsolete Ideology – But It’s the Only One That Sunak and Truss Have

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: The Tories see fresh thinking as a luxury, so their leaders are sticking with an orthodoxy that’s well past its sell-by date

It’s generally agreed that the last dozen years have been some of the most turbulent in our modern history. So much has changed or been called into question: our climate, the cost of living, the state’s ability to protect us, capitalism’s ability to spread prosperity, the continuation of the United Kingdom, our relationship with Russia and the EU, even our sensethat we can be a functional society. To an extent that was almost inconceivable in 2010, when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took office, this has become a different country.

Some politicians have tried to adapt. Labour has moved leftwards and then back towards the centre. The Lib Dems have moved rightwards, supporting Tory austerity, and then become more hostile to the Conservatives under Ed Davey. The SNP has become more assertive in its push for independence. Meanwhile some Tories, such as Boris Johnson and Theresa May, have at least talked about governing in new ways, by “levelling up” or helping the “just about managing”.

Yet one group of politicians, who have gradually become the most powerful in the country, and are about to become our rulers, whoever wins the Tory leadership contest, have seemingly not adjusted their thinking at all amid the chaos and flux. As a result, we may face our worst peacetime crisis since the 1930s under a government with a disastrously out-of-date worldview. » | Andy Beckett | Friday, August 19, 2022

Rishi Sunak Has a Sterling Résumé. It’s Not Helping Him Replace Boris Johnson.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Mr. Sunak is viewed by many in his party as too distant from ordinary Britons, and is being blamed by some for setting off the rebellion that toppled Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

CARDIFF, Wales — Just a few weeks ago Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, seemed well-placed to become Britain’s next prime minister, topping the short list of two contenders selected by Conservative Party lawmakers to replace the departing Boris Johnson.

With an impeccable résumé, a reputation for competence and a reservoir of good will from having guided Britain’s economy through the pandemic, Mr. Sunak was regarded as perhaps the country’s brainiest, most polished and most successful frontline politician.

But some of those same qualities now seem to be working against him. That resistance has hindered his pursuit of 10 Downing Street, according to opinion polls that show him trailing the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, in the race to succeed Mr. Johnson, with the winner to be announced on Sept. 5.

Mr. Sunak’s diminished fortunes have added urgency to his campaign as he faces off with Ms. Truss in a series of debates across Britain. At an event in Cardiff, he bounded onto the stage with a broad smile and pleaded for votes from hundreds of activists in his party who will be among those who decide the outcome of the contest.

“I will give you my everything, my heart and my soul — everything I’ve got,” he said, turning to face different parts of the hall and promising to make his audience “feel enormously proud of the Conservative government that I will be privileged to lead.” » | Stephen Castle | Thursday, August 11, 2022

The Guardian View on Tory Infighting: A Bad Policy Auction

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: ‘Blue-on-blue’ bickering makes a lively spectacle – but it gives a narrow, rightwing frame to bigger, broader issues

The timetable for the Tory leadership was supposed to be tight, installing a replacement for Boris Johnson without gratuitous delay. But in the absence of a functional government, it feels interminable. Mr Johnson has awarded himself a summer of gardening leave, despite mounting evidence that Britain is heading for an autumn of discontent, leading to a winter of strife. A massive energy price shock is due when the cap on domestic bills is lifted at the start of October. Inflation is degrading household incomes. The lack of direction from Downing Street would be problem enough, but the character of the leadership contest – petty, bitter and unequal to scale of the task ahead – compounds the impression of a country drifting aimlessly into crisis.

Neither of the candidates has displayed any imagination in responding to the cost of living crisis. Also, the contest gives them incentive to appeal only to a tiny, mostly wealthy, retired, propertied electorate. Their prescriptions for shielding people from the coming storm are written for an audience that is disproportionately protected already. » | Editorial | Wednesday, August 10, 2022

The post-Johnson era is taking shape — and it looks like a massive lurch to the right: Fixated on the tax cuts beloved of Tory members, Truss and Sunak have no plan at all to deal with the UK’s looming crises »

Liz Truss Dismissal of ‘Attention Seeker’ Sturgeon Will Horrify Scots, Says SNP

THE GUARDIAN: Tory activists cheered leadership favourite when she said first minister should be ignored


Liz Truss says she would ignore 'attention seeker' Nicola Sturgeon – video
Liz Truss has been accused of tarnishing the unionist case against Scottish independence after calling Nicola Sturgeon an “attention seeker” who ought to be ignored.

John Swinney, the deputy first minister and Sturgeon’s closest political ally, said Scottish voters would be “absolutely horrified” by Truss’s “obnoxious” remarks, made during a Conservative leadership hustings in Exeter on Monday evening.

“Unionist campaigners suggest that Scotland should be at the heart of the United Kingdom. How Scotland can be expected to be at the heart of the United Kingdom when the democratically elected leader of our country is, in the view of the person most likely to be the next prime minister of the UK, somebody that should be ignored is completely and utterly unacceptable,” he told BBC Scotland.

“So, I think Liz Truss has with one silly intemperate intervention fundamentally undermined the argument that she tries to put forward that Scotland somehow can be fairly and well treated at the heart of the United Kingdom.” » | Severin Carrell, Scotland editor | Tuesday, August 2, 2022

If Nicola Sturgeon is an “attention seeker”, what are you, Ms. Truss? Not only are you an attention seeker, but you are also a turncoat. You were raised in a Labour-voting household, became a staunch Liberal Democrat, pro-EU, and a Remainer to your very core. Then, when you saw that it might be to your advantage to join the Conservatives, you turned coat yet again and became a staunch Conservative Brexiteer! And you have the nerve to call Nicola Sturgeon an attention seeker. It would seem to me that it is indeed you, Madame, who are the attention seeker, not Nicola Sturgeon.

That comment about Nicola Sturgeon was extremely unwise. In a few words, you have alienated many Scots. Moreover, if I am not greatly mistaken, you have given Nicola Sturgeon an enormous boost in her quest to separate from this England-dominated Union.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that if you win this Conservative leadership race, we Brits have a very rough, stony and bumpy road ahead. We Brits would all be well-advised to fasten our safety belts. – © Mark Alexander

Truss v Sunak: A Sorry Spectacle of Playground Bragging from a Party without a Purpose

THE GUARDIAN: When it comes to the most pressing issues for our nation, all this divided Tory party can do is repress, displace and deny

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. ‘There is no ballast of gravitas to level out the swagger, so it comes across as the overcompensating neurosis of careerist nerds.’ Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
The two candidates in the race to succeed Boris Johnson represent two parties, although the distinction between them is not acknowledged. Rishi Sunak is the candidate of conservatism as it was until 2019, when Theresa May’s government was still trying to reconcile Brexit ideology with the demands of economic and diplomatic reality. Liz Truss appeals to the successor movement, the “Boris” party, which resolved the tension by denying its existence.

That conflict is buried in a contest that purports to be about other things. Tax policy is the measurable difference between the two candidates and so it dominated Monday night’s TV debate. The lines are by now well-rehearsed: Truss wants immediate cuts; Sunak wants to wait. He says fiscal loosening will stoke inflation; she says it will unleash growth. He frets that lost revenues will mean less money for the NHS; she would borrow the shortfall.

But those positions are proxies for different notions of what it now means to be a Conservative. Sunak embraced the label of “bean counter” when Truss used it as a pejorative. He is styling himself as a frugal Tory of the old school. Truss accused him of sounding like Gordon Brown, wedded to outmoded Treasury rules. She would “take on the orthodoxy” – an appeal to the Johnsonian maverick spirit. » | Rafael Behr | Monday, July 25, 2022

First Truss-Sunak Tory leadership debate: five key takeaways: The rivals did not pull their punches, on the economy or China, as they kicked off a month of debates »

Truss and Sunak trade blows in acrimonious first TV debate: Leadership candidates ignored calls from fellow Conservatives not to ‘tarnish the brand’ as they wrangled over tax cuts, inflation and relations with China »

Succession de Boris Johnson : Liz Truss conforte son statut de favorite : La ministre des affaires étrangères a évité les faux pas lors du premier débat, lundi sur la BBC, avec l’ancien chancelier de l’Echiquier, Rishi Sunak. Les échanges entre les deux candidats au 10 Downing Street se sont concentrés sur la question du pouvoir d’achat au Royaume-Uni. »

Truss und Sunak liefern sich harten Schlagabtausch: Die Bewerber um die Nachfolge von Boris Johnson an der britischen Regierungsspitze streiten sich über die Steuerpolitik und China. Der frühere Finanzminister Sunak bezeichnet die Pläne von Außenministerin Truss als „nicht verantwortungsvoll und sicherlich nicht konservativ“. »

Michael Lambert : The Tories Would be Mad to Choose Truss but They Probably Will

Jul 23, 2022 Liz Truss is currently expected to beat Rishi Sunak in the race to become the next UK prime minister. The eventual winner will be chosen by around 160,000 members of the Conservative party and announced on 5th September.

Rishi Sunak is by far the better candidate in that he has been Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout the recent pandemic. He is committed to sound finance and, being very wealthy, is unlikely to be corruptible.

Liz Truss, the current Foreign Secretary was a former vociferous backer of the remain campaign but now says she was mistaken and supports Brexit. She also supported Boris Johnson till the end of his premiership.

Whilst Sunak says he will not cut taxes Truss has promised to reverse the recent increase in National Insurance and cancel the proposed increase in Corporation Tax. She has also promised to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP. She intends to borrow the money to cover these costs and then recover the money by 'boosting business' without specifying how.

The Guardian View on Tory Leadership and Democracy: A Dangerous Deficit

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The next prime minister will have a threadbare mandate and badly depleted authority

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the final two candidates in the Conservative leadership race.Composite: Guardian Design/Henry Nicholls/Toby Melville/Reuters
The method by which the UK’s next prime minister will be chosen is not unprecedented but it is unusual. In 2019, Boris Johnson was propelled into Downing Street on the votes of 92,153 Tory members. But the result was, by then, a foregone conclusion. Mr Johnson had comfortably won the preceding ballot of Tory MPs and went on to trounce Jeremy Hunt.

The race between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss looks much closer. The winner will not have been the first choice candidate of many of their colleagues. Even a comfortable margin of victory among the membership will amount to the endorsement of about 0.01% of the UK population. This is not just a peculiar way to appoint a leader in a democracy. It is dangerous to give the highest elected office to someone on these terms.

In the summer of 2019, Mr Johnson claimed the result of the Brexit referendum as a personal licence to govern. That was nonsense in constitutional terms, but politically resonant since he had been the figurehead of the leave campaign. He then won a substantial general election victory. That mandate will give constitutional legitimacy to his successor, but not authority. » | Editorial | Thursday, July 21, 2022