Tory leadership
BBC News
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have held talks as they edge closer to the deadline for nominations in the contest to replace Liz Truss as prime minister.
Two separate sources told the BBC the meeting took place, but neither camp has disclosed what they discussed.
Rishi Sunak continues to forge ahead in the race, gathering the support of 128 MPs from all wings of his party, including former Johnson allies.
Mr Johnson is in second place with 53 backers, according to the BBC’s tally.
However his campaign claims he has the support of 100 MPs – the number required to officially enter the race.
Mr Sunak’s supporters raised doubts over this and called for the former PM to show proof.
Penny Mordaunt is the only candidate to officially declare they are in the race, but she lags behind on support with 23 MPs.
The BBC has been keeping a running total of MPs who have gone on the record with support.
The voting intentions of only 204 out of 357 Conservative MPs are currently known and have been verified by the BBC, leaving many still to declare their interest.
Mail
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak held a crunch summit over a power-sharing pact that could unite the Conservative Party and finally set Britain on the path to prosperity last night that lasted three hours – as a bombshell Mail on Sunday poll found the former Prime Minister would offer the Tories the best chance at a General Election.
Mr Johnson met his ex-Chancellor at 8pm last night, where he argued that if he re-entered No 10 with Mr Sunak in a senior role it would avoid a divisive battle.
Allies claimed Mr Johnson’s hand in the negotiations is strengthened as he would most likely win any ballot of Tory members. In return for giving his former Chancellor a top job, Mr Johnson would expect ‘strict loyalty’ – and if he couldn’t secure that, he would ‘leave Rishi to it’. Another supporter said the former Prime Minister, who flew back to the UK from his Caribbean holiday yesterday, aims to forge ‘an alliance in the national interest’.
The crunch summit is believed to have ended shortly before 11.20pm. No details about the talks were immediately forthcoming. Plans for a face-to-face meeting yesterday afternoon were delayed, with both sides blaming the other for the hold-up.
The two men have been political foes since Mr Sunak’s resignation this summer helped to bring down Mr Johnson, and last night allies of the former Chancellor questioned the claim by the Johnson camp that they had secured the backing of the 100 Tory MPs needed to secure a place on the ballot. They suspect they were being ‘bluffed’ into ‘folding’ too soon. By yesterday evening, the number of MPs offering their public backing had reached 127 for Mr Sunak, 53 for Mr Johnson and 23 for Ms Mordaunt.
Ms Mordaunt, well behind her rivals, appeared to position herself the kingmaker in the leadership contest next week. In an article in the Telegraph today, the Commons Leader made no mention of her own leadership bid, instead emphasising the need to ‘consolidate everything we’ve worked for over the last decade.’
Guardian
Senior Tories are engaged in a frantic campaign to stop Boris Johnson staging a dramatic return to Downing Street, with claims he would cause further economic damage and risk “the end of the Conservative party”.
Johnson’s team was claiming on Saturday night that he had privately secured the support of the 100 MPs necessary for entering the race, despite only 55 backing him in public. The assertion was immediately disputed by MPs and rival leadership campaign sources. Johnson released a photo of himself lobbying an MP on the phone, but his allies on Saturday night could not confirm he would officially enter the contest to win back the leadership he was deposed from just months ago.
In another day of high political drama in the race to succeed Liz Truss as prime minister, supporters of frontrunner Rishi Sunak were attempting to secure support from MPs so overwhelming that Johnson would be forced to drop out.
They believe a final indicative vote among MPs overwhelmingly backing Sunak would send a message to members not to lumber them with another leader they do not support.
The two frontrunners held talks on Saturday night as they approached Monday’s 2pm deadline for nominations and while neither camp disclosed the content it is understood that Johnson was proposing a deal which he claimed would avoid a divisive battle in the party.
Telegraph
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are being urged to strike a deal to avert a Conservative civil war, amid fears that the party is on course for a historic split.
The former prime minister and his ex-chancellor held talks on Saturday about agreeing to a joint ticket, as Mr Johnson’s allies claimed that he had joined Mr Sunak in reaching the threshold of 100 MP supporters needed to move to the next stage of the leadership contest.
On Saturday, Mr Johnson flew into London from the Caribbean as Priti Patel, the former home secretary, joined prominent MPs on the Right of the party, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Bill Cash, in backing him.
But Kemi Badenoch, the Trade Secretary, Lord Frost, the former Cabinet Office minister, and David Davis, the ex-Brexit secretary, all declared their support for Mr Sunak.
Senior figures in the party fear that a sizeable number of MPs on both sides would refuse to accept the leadership of a rival candidate.
One senior MP said: “Rishi and Boris both have to concede something and recognise their strengths. Rishi has no real mandate from the electorate and may not from MPs. Crossing the threshold is not the same as support.
“Boris needs to recognise that he is as divisive and must try and bring Penny and Rishi together.”
Express
Two separate sources have said to BBC News that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak met on Saturday evening, but it is currently unknown what was discussed.
Laura Kuenssberg, the political editor of BBC News, confirmed on Twitter that Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak held a meeting, but added she was not sure “if any conclusions, or any news likely to come out of it tonight”. It comes at a time 128 Tory MPs have come out in public support of Mr Sunak, and Mr Johnson’s campaign has claimed the former Prime Minister has over one hundred supporters within the party.
Those wishing to become the next Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives need at least a hundred nominations from Conservative party MPs.
They have until 14:00 on Monday to confirm they have received the support they need to qualify to appear on the ballot for the Conservative leadership election.
However, Mr Sunak’s supporters have expressed doubt Mr Johnson has secured the backing of 100 MPs as only 53 MPs have publicly expressed their allegiance to Mr Johnson.
Penny Mordaunt, the only candidate who has officially declared to be running in the leadership election, has 23 MPs supporting her, making the vote of 204 out of 357 Tory MPs publicly declared.
ITV News
Conservative sources claim that if Boris Johnson returns as prime minister he could be ‘gone by Christmas’, due to damning new evidence about the partygate scandal which brought him down.
Several people familiar with the Privileges Committee’s investigation into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs over parties in No10 have spoken to ITV News.
They say that a large amount of damaging evidence from inside No10 has already been handed over to Harriet Harman, who is chairing the inquiry.
ITV News understands that the Labour MP is particularly focused on what happened in Downing Street as the scandal unfolded last December.
“She’s not interested in the colour – who was drinking what, was there a cake?”, one source with knowledge of the inquiry told us.
Evening Standard
Boris Johnson could be gone in months if he returns as Prime Minister due to the new evidence concerning the Partygate scandal, sources have claimed.
The Privileges Committee, which investigates misconduct allegations directed at MPs, will begin to hear evidence from witnesses in the coming weeks as it decides whether the former Prime Minister misled MPs over the Partygate scandal.
The investigation will also examine documents released by Downing Street and could recommend suspending Mr Johnson from the House of Commons.
According to ITV News, Mr Johnson could be “gone by Christmas” if he were to win the Tory leadership race as the evidence against him is so damning.
Express
Penny Mordaunt is the first person to officially declare to be the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister.
Penny Mordaunt has become the first candidate to declare in the Tory leadership election. The Leader of the House, who narrowly missed out on getting into the final run-off, over the summer Tweeted that she had been persuaded to make a second bid. She said: “I’ve been encouraged by support from colleagues who want a fresh start, a united party and leadership in the national interest. I’m running to be the leader of the Conservative Party and your Prime Minister – to unite our country, deliver our pledges and win the next General Election.”
Ms Mordaunt is currently running in third place among Tory MPs for the 100 nominations needed to go to the members vote.
She has 21 supporters while Boris Johnson has 62 but the frontrunner is former Chancellor Rishi Sunak with 78.
Mr Johnson has been boosted by support from three current cabinet ministers – Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Communities Secretary Simon Clarke.
But Ms Mordaunt will hope that making an early declaration will allow her to gain some extra momentum.
Tax
Mail
The Halloween Budget statement will go ahead regardless of who becomes Prime Minister, it was suggested last night.
The crunch October 31 announcement will take place regardless of which contender triumphs in the Tory leadership contest and irrespective of who was Chancellor, sources said.
The statement – known officially as the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan – is expected to set out how the Government will juggle tax rises, spending cuts and welfare system changes to fill an estimated £40billion hole in the public finances.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who has scrapped most of the tax cuts announced by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, has already warned MPs that ‘decisions of eye-watering difficulty’ would be needed to stabilise public finances.
Express
Jeremy Hunt may be considering up to £20billion in tax rises for high earners in the new budget that is due to be set out on October 31.
The Chancellor has been told by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to raise £40billion to repair public finances, and Mr Hunt may be planning to raise half the amount by raising taxes. This weekend, the OBR is expected to deliver an economic forecast to Mr Hunt over the weekend and it will be discussed with the next Prime Minister.
The Newspaper speculated that Mr Hunt could seek to reform capital gain rules and keep them aligned with general taxation, which could earn the Government £3.5billion a year.
He may also abandon a Government-funded removal of green levies from energy bills and reintroduce the cost in April.
The new Chancellor could slash defence spending despite former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s pledge to increase defence spending to three percent of GDP, a move which may save £15billion.
Government sources reported by the Telegraph have said that Mr Hunt will try to find the additional £15million needed with tax rises for the wealthy.
It’s expected that the Chancellor will not be considering measures which will affect those in lower-income households who are currently struggling with the cost of living crisis, such as a rise in fuel duty.
Telegraph
Jeremy Hunt is considering up to £20 billion of tax rises in the Halloween budget, with high earners to bear the brunt of his quest to balance the books.
The Chancellor has been told by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that there is still a £40 billion black hole in the nation’s finances, even after he axed almost all of the mini-Budget.
He is looking to raise as much as half that amount from putting up taxes, reducing the need for painful and highly controversial cuts to public spending.
Mr Hunt could seek to reform generous capital gains rules and bring them more into line with general taxation, bringing in around £3.5 billion a year.
He is also looking at ditching the two-year removal of green levies from energy bills, which is being subsidised by the Treasury, and reintroducing them next April.
Liz Truss repeatedly hailed the move as one of her flagship cost of living policies and said it would save 28 million households around £150 a year.
The Chancellor is mulling axing the Prime Minister’s commitment to increase defence spending to three per cent of GDP, which would save £15 billion.
That would leave him needing to find up to £15 billion in tax rises, with Government sources saying they will fall on those with the broadest shoulders.
Illegal migrants
Sky News
A former RNLI crew member in Kent has described the pressure on lifeboat volunteers called out to rescue migrants crossing the channel as “unsustainable”.
Referring to the rise over the summer in arrivals of asylum seekers from Albania, David Wimble said: “Albania is, I think, probably the straw that’s broken the camel’s back.”
The issue of how to deal with the arrival of small boats continues to divide some in Kent’s coastal communities.
The charity Care4Calais meets migrants at Dungeness with food, water and flipflops – they say they want to counter hostility towards migrants on the beach.
The RNLI crews are almost all volunteers. Their remit is to save lives at sea and they rely on donations.
NHS
Guardian
Raiding the NHS budget or scrapping plans to rebuild crumbling hospitals would plunge the health service into its deepest crisis in decades. This was the stark warning this weekend from Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, who said the government is “living in a fantasy land” if it believes it can cut funds to the NHS without endangering patients.
Jeremy Hunt promised spending cuts of “eye-watering difficulty” last week after becoming chancellor of the exchequer. Yet he also did not reverse his predecessor
Kwasi Kwarteng’s decision to scrap the £7bn health and social levy that had been earmarked for the NHS.
Taylor, whose organisation represents hospitals, ambulance trusts, mental health care, community care and GP services, said his members were issuing the “starkest warning” about “the huge and growing gulf between what the NHS is being asked to deliver and the funding and capacity it has available”.
“We’re already looking at making unprecedented efficiency savings,” he told the Observer. “If the NHS is asked to deliver even more savings, then patients and local communities will pay the price. There is now a real and present danger to the NHS and anyone who thinks that further public sector funding cuts won’t have a direct impact on patient care and safety is living in fantasy land.
“NHS staff continue to do all they can, where they can, to improve NHS efficiency and productivity and tackle the care backlog.
But they are being held back by budgets which have been hit very hard by inflationary pressures.”
Infected blood
BBC News
Thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal will receive compensation payments of £100,000 by the end of this month, the government has confirmed.
It comes after a report published in July by infected blood inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said the interim payments should be made “without delay”.
But bereaved relatives say the announcement fails to recognise most family members, who will miss out on this raft of interim payments.
The scandal has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.
Patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products imported from the US. It is thought about 2,400 people died as a result.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi said: “I know from my own discussions with constituents who are victims of the infected blood scandal just how traumatic their heart-breaking experiences have been and I was proud to campaign as an MP on their behalf and continue that work as a government minister.
“No level of compensation will ever make up for the appalling treatment and circumstances that those affected by this scandal and their families have had to endure, but I hope that these interim payments go some way to demonstrate that we are, and always will be, on their side.”
ITV News
Thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal will receive interim compensation payments of £100,000 by the end of October, the government has confirmed.
Survivors and bereaved partners will receive letters this week confirming the money will be sent to them in the following 10 days, according to the Cabinet Office.
It comes after a report published in July by infected blood inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said the payments should be made “without delay”.
However many parents say the recognition should go further, as there will be no compensation for victims’ children or bereaved parents.
Some relatives say the announcement fails to recognise all affected close family members, leaving many to miss out on the raft of interim payments.
CWU
Telegraph
The trade union bringing Britain’s postal and phone services to a standstill has put its multi million-pound headquarters up for sale as it digs in for a campaign of strike action this winter.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which is locked in bitter industrial disputes with Royal Mail and BT, has solicited offers for its base in Wimbledon, according to City sources.
More than 115,000 Royal Mail workers joined 40,000 BT and Openreach staff in a nationwide strike on Thursday.
The CWU has promised another 15 days of industrial action against Royal Mail before Christmas, a move that bosses warn will force retailers into the hands of rival delivery companies during the crucial sales period.
It is understood that the CWU executive is on the hunt for smaller premises and is considering one offer that has already been made.
A union source denied speculation within the City that the headquarters – on which the CWU owns the freehold – had been put up for sale because the union is facing financial pressures. The source said: “Running strikes and ballots isn’t cheap. But our finances are in decent shape.”
Johnson flies back to this country after having yet another holiday in the Caribbean when to be honest he should be in the House of Commons representing his constituents, and then announces he will be contesting the Conservatives Party leadership. He apparently engages in talks with Sunak to discuss I don’t know what, but claims to have sufficient support even though the BBC stated he only had the support of 57 MP’s whilst Sunak had enlisted the support of 126 MP’s and with only another 120 odd MP’s who hadn’t publicly declared support either way. To any rational person looking on it appeared that the maths did not add up and that he couldn’t bank on relying on those others to put their tick in his box. This evening Johnson announces that he is pulling out of the contest probably realising that the game is up, but nevertheless states that the time is not right blah blah blah. However, did it not occur to Johnson that to even contemplate standing in this particular leadership election was a foolish thing to do considering it was only two months or so ago he was forced into resigning by a substantial number of his colleagues over the shenanigans concerning the breaches of Covid legislation that he himself rammed through parliament without so much as a debate. And did it not occur to him that he was still under investigation by the House of Commons Privileges Committee over whether he misled parliament etc, and that if found guilty he may be subject to a suspension etc and with all the problems that that may entail. Pure theatre maybe, but only the other day Biscotte intimated that Johnson was a bumbling twit, but I said here that I would not say it myself……..
Illegal Migrants
Encouraging illegal immigration and allowing unfettered access to this country raises a number of issues. The problems caused by importing criminals has been recognised. However, there has been little discussion concerning the importation of diseases not seen in this country for decades. Recent events at the asylum centre at Manston, Kent give cause for concern. Fortunately, according to The Home Office, “Health facilities are available at the immigration centre 24 hours a day”. We can’t even get a GP appointment.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/cases-of-potentially-fatal-illness-at-asylum-centre-275635/
Those of us who have joined centre Right challenger parties are playing our part Ken. Are things bad enough yet for you to join us yet?
Jake – recent events prove it doesn’t matter which party you join or who you vote for. Democracy is out the window now. The orthodoxy must prevail and one way or another a Klaus Schwab, WEF puppet will be installed. It’s going to need more than voting to change this mess, but good luck to the challenger parties.
Ken With respect, you sound as though you will be a perfect model citizen for Uncle Klaus’s brave new world.
Jake – Thanks for the endorsement. Keep voting. Each to his own. 🙂
The One Nationers, the wets and all the other non-Conservatives on the left of the Party, plot and scheme and sabotage endlessly [viz. Brexit, for one], but they now have all the candidates so they feel they are in the ascendency and they cynically call for unity behind their man (or women) and call everyone else devise. Same old projection.
And the Globalists are not even hiding it now.
In his smug glee, Tobias Elwood could not contain himself, and slipped up tweeting that the free market experiment is dead. Experiment? It was never an experiment; it was a philosophy. But if he’s talking about Truss’s blink-and-you-missed-it ‘experiment’, well if a rival walks into your lab and smashes your test tubes and flasks before you even get set up, calls you a charlatan and throws you out of the building, then of course it’s dead. Just like everything remotely conservative.
And lookee here. Stanley Johnson says Boris has unfinished business on the things he (Stanley) cares about: Europe [he means abolishing nation states], the environment [he means reducing food supply through bogus pollution claims], peace in our time [he means war in our time against Russia] and net zero [he means Agenda 21]. Oops he forgot population reduction! Notice anything missing? The people. His cares are not about running the country and alleviating the life stresses that most people outside his comfortably isolated moneyed class are suffering, but about imposing his agenda.
Not to worry Phil, Stanley probably cost Bowis a lot more support with that speech.
It’s irrelevant. Rishi is in bed with the bankers and will drive Britcoin; Mordaunt is a female Boris, and like him economical with the truth, and friend of Gates. The planned decline and impoverishment will continue whoever gets in.
I see Nigel backing Boris in some forlorn hope it may avoid a labour landslide and create a space for a move to PR. Fat chance. New leaders and party splits is just talk. We need to stop waiting for westminster to sort itself out and vote them all out. The tories and labour have made their choices. We need alternatives-not pipe dreams. Moaning about FPTP gets you nowhere. Farage needs to stop pretending there are differences between labour and tory. Both leaderships hate him, the nation and his supporters, equally. Time to pick up that agenda started by the Brexit party and run with it..’change politics for good’.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/22/boris-johnson-victory-best-hope-reforming-uks-rotten-electoral/
Matt up North………Sorry, I cannot see that happening. Farage has been guarded with what he has been saying recently, but reading it between the lines I think he feels that there should be a new party to replace the Conservative Party, but has been saying that he cannot do this by himself. Perhaps he is courting those so called big hitters he talks about behind the scenes, getting together sufficient major donors to bank roll a new party, and encouraging some unhappy Conservative MP’s to defect to Reform UK in the process. I would be surprised if something like this was not happening to be honest. That’s my take on it all at least.
RNLI crews are now part of the illegal invasion problem. They are, I fear, acting as the useful idiots of the crooked political establishment. Like all charity organisations their management are fully signed up to the globalist liberal agenda in order to receive government grants. Time these crews refused to go out except for genuine maritime emergencies.