We are closing this blog now, thanks for following all the day’s developments with us. You can read all our politics coverage here
A summary of today's developments
- At the third hustings in Cardiff, Liz Truss said she wants to “extend” the government’s contentious Rwanda migration policy “to more countries” in an attempt to stop small boat crossings. The foreign secretary also told the audience she would increase economic growth first by “getting rid of all EU laws” still in place by the end of 2023.
- On Liz Truss’s public sector pay U-turn, Rishi Sunak said he is “glad she U-turned on that policy” and says it would have cut the wages of half a million workers in Wales. Truss blamed “the media” for having “misinterpreted” her £8.8 billion policy to cut public-sector pay outside London that she abandoned after criticism from Conservative colleagues.
- Sunak’s flagship policy in Wales of introducing two new freeports in the country was met with muted applause.
- Sajid Javid has backed Liz Truss to become the next Conservative leader. The former home secretary believes Rishi Sunak’s economic plans would lead Britain “sleepwalking into a high-tax, low-growth” economy and suggested his refusal to cut taxes risked Britain becoming a “middle-income economy” with a loss of “global influence and power”
- A new poll by ConservativeHome finds Liz Truss is most likely to become the next prime minister, with 58% of those asked backing her. Rishi Sunak has the support of 26% and 12% are undecided.
- Parliament has taken down its newly created TikTok account after Conservative MPs sanctioned by China raised concerns about the social media platform’s data security.
- A YouGov poll conducted for the Times found that Conservative party members still believe Boris Johnson would make a better prime minister than the two leadership contenders, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. Asked who they thought would make the better prime minister, Truss leads Sunak by 58% to 29%. But throwing Johnson into the ring shows him winning, with 40% saying he would make the best PM, to Truss’s 28% and Sunak’s 23%.
And that brings the hustings in Cardiff to a close.
The next one is on Friday evening.
Updated
Finally on the environment, Truss speaks out against green taxes on fuel bills when they are so high and says her proposed cuts are “affordable within our current Budget envelope”.
On small businesses, Truss says the party has not done enough to win back the support of entrepreneurs, farmers and the self-employed, blaming “Treasury orthodoxy” for making it harder to be self-employed.
“The fundamental principle for me is we have to be on the side of people who set up small businesses, people who are self-employed, people who go out to work every day. That is whose side we need to be on.”
Updated
Asked about the housing crisis, Truss says she wants to make it the case that when you are renting “for a number of years” this counts towards your mortgage eligibility.
She added: “In terms of housing supply overall, what I want to do is get rid of the top-down targets set by Whitehall and instead have different systems operating in different areas.”
Updated
On what she would do to repair “demeaning and damaging” mudslinging, Truss admits there have been “unfortunate occurrences during this leadership contest” and would have preferred fewer debates.
She said: “Frankly, it wasn’t a contest I wanted. Some of the things like the debates I wouldn’t necessarily have so many debates again.
“I think it’s better if we’re talking to each other within the Conservative party, rather than airing our dirty linen in public.”
Updated
Asked by an audience member with a severely autistic brother how she would fund social care if she cut National Insurance, Truss says she is still committed to the funding for the NHS and social care, adding: “I would pay for that out of general taxation.”
She says her “priority” would be funding social care instead of the NHS because the facilities of the former are lacking.
Updated
Asked if she is “flaky” because of her changes from Liberal Democrat to Conservative and remainer to brexiter, Truss says she joined the Tory party when she was 21 and has been an activist since.
“On the subject of the remain vote, yes I was unsure at the time, I was pretty much on the fence.
“I’ve always said that if we weren’t part of the European Union I wouldn’t want to join it. But I was concerned about some of the disruption. The fact is that disruption didn’t happen.
“And since the Brexit vote I’ve done more than most people in government to deliver on the opportunities of Brexit.
“Who on earth has the same views at 15 that they have at 55?”
Updated
Truss is asked if she would increase the portion of the UK government’s money which is given to Wales.
She doesn’t give a straight answer but says spending “automatically follows” from the Barnet formula, which is used to calculate how much money the devolved nations receive from the UK government.
But the foreign secretary does not say whether she would tweak the formula.
Updated
Asked if Nancy Pelosi should have gone to Taiwan, Truss says the US House Speaker is “well within her rights... to travel to Taiwan”.
She added: “The issue here is the language and the escalatory language that we’ve heard from China and I think that is irresponsible and I urge them to de-escalate.”
Truss believes the best way to tackle inflation is monetary policy including changes to the Bank of England’s mandate so it matches “some of the most effective central banks in the world at controlling inflation”.
“The last time the mandate was looked at was in 1997 under Gordon Brown.
“Things are very, very different now. What is simply wrong at this time is to be putting taxes up on ordinary people when they’re struggling to pay their fuel bills, they’re struggling to pay their food bills.
“Reducing a tax that was increased in April is not inflationary, it is helping people with their everyday costs.”
Updated
Liz Truss is now facing questions. Asked about the row over her public sector pay proposals, she responds: “What happened was we announced the policy, it was misinterpreted by the media.
“It was never intended to apply to doctors, nurses and teachers - so I wanted to clear the matter up straight away and I have been very clear we are now not going ahead with that policy.
“It wasn’t a central part of my policy platform and I’ve been clear that it is not happening.”
Asked about where the mooted £8.8bn savings will now come from, Truss says: “I’ve been very clear, this is not part of my central costings.”
Updated
Sunak ends his Q&A by saying he is the best person to “smash Keir Starmer” at the next election.
His questioner had pointed out that Sir Keir appears to be neck-and-neck with Sunak according to national polling but that Truss is consistently ahead of Sunak in polls of Tory members.
“Thank you - I think - for highlighting the stats,” the former chancellor replies.
Updated
Sunak insists he will be “bold enough” to scrap the onshore wind embargo in England where this is wanted by communities and the same will go for fracking.
Sunak is asked about the number of small boats crossing the Channel and to “be more specific and what it is you’re going to do and what’s going to be different”.
He replied with his 10-point plan and says the ECHR definition of a refugee “is far too broad and allows lefty lawyers to exploit it and frustrate our efforts, so I think we should move to the Refugee Convention which is another international legal standard but it is narrower and tighter and will give us a greater ability to say to people ‘you can’t stay’.”
He says at present Britain will give other countries aid and make trade agreements with them, but “neglects” to say ‘can you take back our failed asylum seekers?’
“I am prepared to do whatever it takes, legal changes as required, to get the Rwanda policy working, to get control of this situation...”
Updated
Asked about his proposals to reduce the size of the Cabinet Office and ending work-from-home, Sunak cited asking all departments to cut the number of civil servants as one of his last acts as chancellor.
He says the coalition government “deserves enormous credit for being tough on this and driving efficiencies. I’d like to carry on with that plan and get civil service numbers back to where they were five years ago. But how are we going to do that? We have to think boldly and differently about public services across the board.”
Updated
Just to highlight an earlier policy pledge from Liz Truss.
She told the audience she would increase economic growth first by “getting rid of all EU laws” still in place by the end of 2023.
These include ditching rules procurement and investment in order to “unleash enterprise and opportunity”.
Updated
Sunak is asked by an audience member why he has not mentioned Ukraine once.
He says the UK needs to do “two things” to tackle the war with Russia. “One is to strengthen Ukraine the second is to weaken Russia.”
Sunak added he played an “instrumental part” in weakening Vladimir Putin through economic sanctions.
Updated
Sunak insists “of course it’s right” for the government’s Prevent programme to focus more on addressing Islamist extremism and says the balance “is probably not right and we should look at that” as he believes that far-right extremism is not as “prevalent”.
“What this is is guidance [his proposals] to all the people involved in the Prevent programme so they know what to look for.
“It’s right that we call out those who are trying to undermine the values of our society and Islamist extremism is a big part of that.”
Updated
On Liz Truss’s public sector pay U-turn, Sunak says he is “glad she U-turned on that policy” and says it would have cut the wages of half a million workers in Wales.
Updated
Asked if he will abolish inheritance tax, Sunak says he believes in supporting aspiration “and inheritance tax is a way to do that, so over time is that something we should look at? Of course we should... That’s an entirely Conservative instinct.”
Hannah Vaughan Jones, the journalist and broadcaster, is now posing some questions.
Asked if he could have been a bit clearer on his tax proposals, Rishi Sunak replies: “No, I think there’s two separate things going on here and my position is I think consistent, clear and as I said in my speech honest.
“The response to dealing with inflation right now is for us to be careful. I don’t think launching on a spree of unfunded promises costing tens and tens of billions of pounds is a sensible thing to do. I think it risks making the situation worse, I think it risks making it last far longer.
“What I do want to do on tax is the following. Over time I want to make sure that we deliver a lower-tax economy and I’ve set out a plan to cut the rate of income tax at a consistent rate over time because I believe in hard work.”
He suggests he will stick with his corporation tax plan.
Updated
Truss then took aim at the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, saying: “Whether it’s stopping the M4 relief road, whether its whacking a tax on our tourist industry, I will crack down on his negativity about Wales and about the UK.”
She added: “We promised great things to people in 2019, we promised a great future - we promised levelling up.
“People didn’t vote Conservative because they wanted Labour policies. They wanted more enterprise, they wanted more opportunities ... they wanted control over their own future.”
Updated
Truss wants to extend Rwanda policy 'to more countries'
On the contentious Rwanda migrant policy, Truss says she wants to “extend” it “to more countries” in an attempt to stop small boat crossings.
The foreign secretary moves on to the war in Ukraine, saying the UK “needs to do more” and increase defence spending to 3% by 2030.
Updated
Liz Truss is now addressing Tory party members and says parts of Wales need “levelling up”, in particular north Wales which she says has been “left behind”.
She pledges to invest in these areas while setting up “low-tax investment zones”.
Updated
Martyn Jones, MP for Clwyd West, is introducing Liz Truss and highlights her plans to expand investment zones and improve the transport links between Wales and the rest of the UK.
Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy in Wales seems to be introducing two new freeports in the country which was met with muted applause.
He said: “As prime minister, I want to ensure that we have not just one but two freeports here in Wales, attracting jobs and investment in the industries of the future, including hydrogen and of course, nuclear in north Wales.”
The former chancellor added he has set out a “bold plan” to reform the NHS.
“Whilst I’m doing that, I’m going to call out the fact that in spite of receiving 20% more funding, here in Wales waiting lists are the worst in the UK.
“That’s why we need to kick out the Labour government and give the people of Wales the NHS that they deserve.”
Updated
Lord Michael Howard says Sunak can provide the leadership needed “not only in this country, but across the wider western world” and insists he is confident “we will choose to lead us, to inspire us, to take us to a great and glorious future, our next prime minister - Rishi Sunak”.
He then introduces Sunak on stage.
Updated
Before the main action kicks off, we have had some speeches from Peter Booth, the Chairman of the National Convention, and Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader.
We are still awaiting Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to make their way on stage.
A spokesperson for the Liz Truss campaign said she is delighted with the support of Sajid Javid in the past hour.
The spokesperson said: “Having worked closely with him for years in Cabinet, Liz is delighted to have Sajid on her team.
“We need the best players on the pitch and his experience provides yet another boost to our campaign.
“His support signals that Liz is bringing the party together and they’re uniting behind her bold plan to cut taxes, grow the economy and deliver for the country.”
And the hustings is now underway..
A group of protestors are outside the All Nations Centre in Cardiff where the leadership hustings are about to begin.
The demonstrators are protesting against policies including sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and the handling of the cost of living crisis.
Sunak and Truss due at Cardiff hustings after Javid backs foreign secretary
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will go head-to-head in a hustings in Cardiff on from 7pm to 9pm which we will be liveblogging.
This will be the third hustings of the contest.
Updated
A new poll by ConservativeHome finds Liz Truss is most likely to become the next prime minister, with 58% of those asked backing her.
Rishi Sunak has the support of 26% and 12% are undecided.
Here is more from Sajid Javid’s article in The Times.
“Over the long term we are more likely to be fiscally sustainable by improving trend growth.
“Only by getting growth back to pre-financial crisis levels can we hope to support the high-quality public services people rightly expect. Some claim that tax cuts can only come once we have growth.
“I believe the exact opposite - tax cuts are a prerequisite for growth. Of course we need more than that, especially significant supply side reform, but tax cuts now are essential.
“There are no risk-free options in government. However, in my view, not cutting taxes carries an even greater risk.”
Sajid Javid throws his support behind Liz Truss
Sajid Javid has backed Liz Truss to become the next Conservative leader.
The former home secretary believes Rishi Sunak’s economic plans would lead Britain “sleepwalking into a high-tax, low-growth” economy and suggested his refusal to cut taxes risked Britain becoming a “middle-income economy” with a loss of “global influence and power”. Javid told The Times that Truss had the “willingness to challenge the status quo” warning there were “no risk-free options in government”.
His move comes ahead of the latest Tory leadership hustings in Cardiff at 7pm tonight.
Updated
Talks between the government and Transport for London over a long-term funding settlement are to continue.
Discussions have been continuing for several weeks, with the latest deal due to end today. A spokesperson for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “While a funding proposal from the government is welcome, it’s clear there are significant issues that need discussion with the government in order to avert managed decline and to safeguard the capital’s public transport network - for the sake of Londoners and the wider economy.
“Discussions between TfL and the government are ongoing to ensure the draft funding proposal is deliverable and provides the funding needed to prevent reductions in TfL services.
“It’s unfortunate this was not resolved by the time the current funding deal expired. It’s vital we get a sustainable funding agreement for TfL in place swiftly, and these discussions must be concluded successfully as soon as possible.”
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have responded to a letter from the Lionesses urging them to commit to allowing all girls to play football at school. The letter came after the Department for Education refused to say whether it would change current guidance.
Sunak’s campaign said he would launch a review of women’s football immediately if he became prime minister. According to PA, Sunak’s spokesman said:
Like the rest of the country, Rishi has been inspired by England’s performance at the Euros and wants to use their inspirational success to get more women and girls into the game.
“He has already said that he will tighten the accountability that surrounds the primary school PE and sport premium to make sure children are receiving the education they deserve, and has also said he will ask Ofsted to inspect sport in schools as part of every inspection.
“He has also committed to launch a review of women’s football immediately if he is made Prime Minister to make sure that all women and girls have the opportunity to take part in the beautiful game.”
A spokeswoman for Truss said the team had paved the path for the “next generation of girls”. She added:
Liz wants equal access to all sports for boys and girls, and supports campaigns such as the FA’s Let Girls Play campaign.
“She is committed to investigating what prevents schools from delivering the recommended minimum of two hours PE per week.
“As part of her forthcoming spending review, her government would have the opportunity to look at how best to deliver for girls in schools across the UK.”
The full story about the letter is here:
Liz Truss has been chartering a “luxury” private helicopter as part of her leadership campaign, the i is reporting.
Truss has taken at least two helicopter flights in the two weeks since the Tory leadership race was whittled down to a head-to-head vote between her and Rishi Sunak, according to the paper.
Sources claimed she had flown around 200 miles from Leeds to London after the first leadership hustings last week, and a similar distance to and from Exeter on Monday.
It comes after the foreign secretary was criticised in January for taking a private jet to Australia for official business rather than using a scheduled flight.
A spokesperson for Truss said it was “inevitable” that she would fly in a private helicopter as she tries to meet as many members as possible. But the Liberal Democrats said “needlessly flying around like this makes a complete mockery of her promises on net zero”.
Liz Truss has criticised China’s “inflammatory” response to a senior US politician visiting Taiwan and called for a de-escalation ahead of military drills expected over the coming days.
Hours after the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, ended a historic trip to the island about 100 miles east of China, the UK foreign secretary said her meetings with human rights activists and others were “perfectly reasonable”.
Beijing reacted with hostility to Pelosi’s visit, announcing a series of “military operations” including missile tests and live-fire exercises in the waters around Taiwan scheduled to begin on Wednesday night.
As Pelosi travelled to the next leg of her tour of east Asian countries, Truss expressed support for the decision to visit the self-ruled nation, which China sees as a breakaway province.
Truss, speaking on a visit to Ludlow, Shropshire, as part of her campaign to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister, said:
I do not support China’s inflammatory language on this issue.
She added:
It’s perfectly reasonable what is taking place and I urge China to de-escalate.
Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have responded to the open letter from the Lionesses calling for girls and boys to be given equal access to football in schools.
A spokesperson for Truss said:
Liz wants equal access to all sports for boys and girls, and supports campaigns such as the FA’s Let Girls Play campaign.
She is committed to investigating what prevents schools from delivering the recommended minimum of two hours PE per week.
Sunak’s campaign said:
Rishi passionately believes in the importance of sport for children’s development and would love to see all schools provide two hours of PE a week.
They added:
He has also committed to launch a review of women’s football immediately if he is made prime minister to make sure that all women and girls have the opportunity to take part in the beautiful game.
Updated
The UK parliament has closed its TikTok account following objections from senior Conservative politicians about the social video app’s connections to China.
The Speakers of the House of Commons and House of Lords said they had not been consulted on setting up the account and would close it immediately.
Last week, Tom Tugendhat MP, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, and Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, were among the signatories of a letter calling for the account to be taken down. Both have been banned from entering China or Hong Kong after consistently criticising China’s treatment of its Uyghur population.
In a reply to Tugenhadt, Duncan Smith and their colleagues, Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Lord McFall, the respective speakers of the Commons and Lords, said:
The account was an attempt to engage with younger audiences – who are not always active on our existing social media platforms – regarding the work of parliament. However, in light of your feedback and concerns expressed to us we have decided that the account should be closed with immediate effect.
Updated
The Lionesses have written to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak calling on them to ensure that every young girl in the country can access football at school.
In a joint letter signed by the entire England women’s squad, the Lionesses called on the Tory leadership hopefuls to ensure that all girls have access to a minimum of two hours of football each week in PE lessons.
They also urged Truss and Sunak to invest in and support female PE teachers to act as role models for young girls.
They wrote:
We have made incredible strides in the women’s game, but this generation of school girls deserve more. They deserve to play football at lunchtime, they deserve to play football in PE lessons and they deserve to believe they can one day play for England. We want their dreams to also come true.
"We see this as only the beginning."
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) August 3, 2022
An open letter from our #Lionesses... pic.twitter.com/Ty9kA7zgGa
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Truss says she would extend Rwanda policy to more countries
Liz Truss has said she would “support and extend” the government’s Rwanda deportation policy “to more countries”.
Both Truss and her rival, Rishi Sunak, have previously committed to continuing the controversial policy if they become prime minister, but today the foreign secretary went further to say she would broaden it to other countries.
Asked about her plans to tackle the rising number of Channel crossings, Truss said:
We need to make sure that the appalling people traffickers don’t succeed in bringing small boats across the English Channel.
She added:
I would support and extend the Rwanda policy to more countries but also I would make sure in British law that we can’t be overruled by the ECHR (European court of human rights) so we are able to protect our borders.
Updated
Truss was also asked why she did not reshape the regional pay policy if it had been misrepresented, rather than ditching it completely.
She told reporters:
I’m very clear we are not proceeding with this policy.
She added:
What’s important to me is that we support people at this difficult economic time by reversing the national insurance rise, by getting rid of the green energy levy to save people money on their fuel bills. That will be my focus as prime minister.
Truss was also asked if the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, should be ignored following her comments about Nicola Sturgeon earlier this week.
Wales had been “let down by 20 years of Labour rule”, Truss replied.
She added:
I believe Mark Drakeford has not delivered for the people of Wales and I will be holding him to account.
Liz Truss has said she is “not taking anything for granted” after a YouGov poll showed her leading 34 points over Rishi Sunak among Conservative party members.
Asked if she was looking forward to being prime minister, Truss replied:
There is still a long way to go in this leadership election.
On a campaign visit in Ludlow, Shropshire, the Tory leadership hopeful insisted her U-turn on civil service pay showed she was “decisive”.
She repeated her claim that the policy had been “misrepresented” although she did not say how, or why it was being abandoned entirely rather than clarified.
Truss said:
The policy that I put forward was misrepresented.
I wanted to make sure that our important frontline workers like doctors and teachers weren’t worried, that’s why I cancelled the policy.
I did it straight away, I was decisive and I was honest with the public about what I was doing.
Updated
Miqdaad Versi argues that Rishi Sunak’s plan to widen the government’s definition of extremism to include those who “vilify our country” is idiotic and dangerous.
Rishi Sunak promises new leadership for the UK, but that doesn’t seem to be attracting enough support from the Conservative “selectorate”, so this is what he is promising today: he will double down on the failing Prevent strategy, by pivoting to targeting “Islamist extremism” and those who “vilify” the United Kingdom.
This would require some agility, so Sunak promises to widen the already fuzzy government definition of extremism – criticised widely for being too expansive – to encompass those who “vilify our country”.
The implication seems to be that any public sector worker covered by the Prevent duty would be required to refer anyone they believe is “vilifying” to the authorities.
Updated
Some insight from Jessica Elgot regarding Labour’s thoughts on Truss/Sunak
Finding it quite weird seeing all these "Labour has underestimated Liz Truss" takes.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) August 3, 2022
Every senior Labour person I have ever spoken to has told me they would prefer Sunak because his record is super easy to attack as chancellor and Truss is far more unpredictable.
Sunak brings his own problems for Lab because they see him as more likely to stop the LDs taking seats (every Lab majority needs good LD performance) and most Labour people I spoke to saw Truss as preferable to Mordaunt. But no one I know thought she'd be a walk in the park.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) August 3, 2022
A spokesperson for TikTok, after parliament closed its account on the platform, said:
While it is disappointing that parliament will no longer be able to connect with the millions of people who use TikTok in the UK, we reiterate the offer to reassure those members of parliament who raised concerns and clarify any inaccuracies about our platform.
Updated
Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs at Facebook’s parent company, is partly relocating to London as he joins senior colleagues in moving to the UK capital.
The former Liberal Democrat leader will divide his time between California, where he lives currently, and London. Clegg’s new executive role at Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta will require more travelling and it is understood that Clegg sees London as a suitable base for visiting Europe and Asia.
The Financial Times, which first reported the move, said Clegg wanted to spend more time in the UK and continental Europe for personal reasons, including wanting to be closer to his elderly parents.
Campaigners have called for an end to “unchecked political patronage” as polling found most people oppose plans for Boris Johnson to appoint new peers in the final weeks of his premiership.
Alarm was raised by the Electoral Reform Society over a proposal drawn up by CT Group – a political lobbying firm run by the Conservative adviser Lynton Crosby – for the prime minister to appoint up to 50 new Conservative lawmakers to ram contentious legislation through parliament.
The leaked document sparked condemnation from Gordon Brown, and led to accusations the Lords was already “bursting at the seams”, meaning more “meaningful checks and balances” on appointments were needed.
Polling from Opinium found 54% of people are against Johnson drawing up a “resignation honours” list that could ennoble key allies who stuck by him during the dying days of his administration and urged him to fight on. Just 13% backed the move, while 34% expressed no view.
Among voters who backed the Conservatives in 2019, 41% were against the plan while 21% were in favour. There were 2,000 adults surveyed at the end of July and their responses were weighted to be nationally representative.
Updated
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has welcomed the decision to close parliament’s TikTok account, after MPs raised concerns about the social media platform’s Chinese links.
He told the PA news agency:
We are pleased that parliament, immediately they were told, understood there was a problem and shut it down
It’s important for others to look at that now and we need to start talking to people about not using TikTok.
Updated
Boris Johnson seen as a better PM than either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, poll shows
Here’s more from that YouGov poll conducted for the Times, which found that Conservative party members still believe Boris Johnson would make a better prime minister than the two leadership contenders, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
Asked who they thought would make the better prime minister, Truss leads Sunak by 58% to 29%. But throwing Boris Johnson into the ring shows him winning, with 40% saying he would make the best PM, to Truss’s 28% and Sunak’s 23%.
Those who intend to vote for Truss are divided, with 49% backing Johnson compared with 45% who think Truss will be an improvement. By contrast, few Sunak voters are deterred: 76% think the former chancellor would be the better PM, with only 18% switching their vote over to Johnson.
Tory members think that Boris Johnson would make a better PM than either of his potential replacements
— YouGov (@YouGov) August 3, 2022
Boris Johnson: 40% say would be best
Liz Truss: 28%
Rishi Sunak: 23%https://t.co/r58kzKSrfX pic.twitter.com/58sCXvPy6L
Only 39% of members believe that the Tories will win a majority at the next election under Liz Truss. Even fewer (19%) say so if Rishi Sunak is in charge.
Of those who intend to vote for Sunak, just 37% expect him to lead the Tories to a majority in 2024.
Few Tory members expect the Tories to win a majority under either leadership candidate
— YouGov (@YouGov) August 3, 2022
Truss
Majority: 39%
Majority/largest party: 66%
Sunak
Majority: 19%
Majority/largest party: 52%
Only 37% who intend to vote for Sunak expect him to win a majorityhttps://t.co/r58kzKSrfX pic.twitter.com/YpnzP6haxl
Updated
A parliamentary aide and former partner of a Labour MP has won a claim against him for unfair dismissal with a tribunal also agreeing she was “isolated and marginalised” for a year before being sacked.
Elaina Cohen won two claims that she made against her former boss Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr. But she lost other claims including that her dismissal was related to race, religion or belief.
Cohen had accused Mahmood of sacking her after she raised concerns with him under whistleblowing regulations about allegations of criminal behaviour by a fellow staffer.
Mahmood maintained that Cohen was dismissed for breaking protocols of parliamentary office and sending him “derogatory” and “offensive” emails, one of which described him as a “first-class idiot”, which was forwarded to the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
In his letter dismissing Cohen he accused her of repeatedly disrespecting him, calling him names and copying in additional people to intimidate him.
The tribunal heard, over a six-day hearing in May, that Cohen’s nickname for Mahmood in WhatsApp messages was “catfish”.
This week the tribunal published its findings, agreeing that Cohen was unfairly dismissed.
Parliament ditches TikTok account over China security concerns
Parliament has taken down its newly created TikTok account after Conservative MPs sanctioned by China raised concerns about the social media platform’s data security.
Last week, senior MPs and members of the House of Lords, including Tom Tugendhat, Iain Duncan Smith and Nus Ghani, criticised parliamentary authorities for setting up the account on TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance.
In a joint letter to the speakers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and seen by Politico, the group of Conservative politicians said they were “surprised and disappointed” with the decision to set up the account.
They said:
The prospect of Xi Jinping’s government having access to personal data on our children’s phones ought to be a cause for major concern.
The letter urged parliamentary authorities to take down the account “until credible assurances can be given that no data whatsoever can be transferred to China”.
The TikTok account has now been locked and its content deleted, Politico’s Eleni Courea reports.
NEW - Parliament has shut down its TikTok account after MPs sanctioned by China raised concerns about data security in a letter revealed by Playbook
— Eleni Courea (@elenicourea) August 3, 2022
Parliament spox: “Based on Member feedback, we are closing the pilot UK Parliament TikTok account earlier than we had planned"
Ghani, a vice-chair of the party’s 1922 Committee, shared a letter from the speakers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and thanked them for the decision.
The letter said:
We were not consulted on the plans for this pilot project, but over the last few days we have discussed the initiative with officials. The account was an attempt to engage with younger audiences - who are not always active on our existing social media platforms - regarding the work of Parliament.
However, in light of your feedback and concerns expressed to us, we have decided that the account should be closed with immediate effect.
TikTok Update.
— Nus Ghani MP (@Nus_Ghani) August 3, 2022
Thank you @CommonsSpeaker & @LordSpeaker for standing up for our values and protecting our data.
Common sense prevails.
@ipacglobal @MPIainDS @timloughton @CommonsBEIS @TomTugendhat @lukedepulford pic.twitter.com/8ecjX0yaKk
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Tory peer calls for leadership contest to be halted over cyber security concerns
Former Conservative party treasurer, Lord Cruddas, has called for the leadership contest to be suspended after the delivery of ballot papers to party members was delayed following security concerns.
Cruddas, who has led a campaign for Boris Johnson’s name to be on the ballot, suggested the PM’s resignation should be rejected and that he should stay in his role until any security issues are resolved.
In a letter to the party’s board seen on the Conservative Post website, Cruddas said:
The board should reject the resignation of the prime minister and ask him to stay on whilst the board fixes any cyber issues and the leadership campaign can be revisited in due course.
He called for the board to “immediately” suspend the leadership campaign and to allow party members to decide on a yes/no ballot to accept Johnson’s resignation.
He added:
If the members vote to keep Boris then there is no need for a leadership campaign and no more cyber security threats.
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Rishi Sunak’s proposals to strengthen the government’s anti-terrorism programme risk “straying into thought crimes” and are potentially damaging to national security, a former senior police chief has said.
The former chancellor announced measures to beef up the Prevent programme on Tuesday night, as part of a bid to boost his flagging campaign to succeed Boris Johnson as the next prime minister.
These would lead to more people being referred to Prevent by widening the definition of “extremism” to include those who “vilify” Britain, with Sunak pledging to focus on “rooting out those who are vocal in their hatred of our country”.
But former counter-terrorism chief Sir Peter Fahy, who was also chief constable of Greater Manchester police, questioned the precise meaning of “vilification”.
He said:
The widening of Prevent could damage its credibility and reputation. It makes it more about people’s thoughts and opinions.
It is straying into thought crimes and political opinions.
He added:
Political opposition is not where police should be, it is those who pose a serious threat and risk of violence, not those opposed to political systems.
Read the full article by my colleagues, Vikram Dodd and Aubrey Allegretti, here.
More from the Tory MP David Davis, who claimed the delay in ballot papers for the Conservative leadership election could help Rishi Sunak, who he is backing for party leader.
Davis said the delay would be beneficial due to the “judgmental errors” he said Truss had made in recent days, referring to the Tory leadership contender’s U-turn on civil service pay.
He told Sky News:
You can’t afford to make those sorts of judgmental errors. And I think that’s one of the reasons I think it’s actually going to turn out to be good that the polling is delayed slightly by a week because people have more time to see with both candidates whether they think their judgement is good, whether they think their instincts are good.
And that, I think, will favour my candidate.
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Ballot papers for Tory leadership vote delayed after security concerns
The delivery of ballot papers to Conservative members to vote for the next prime minister has been delayed following security concerns.
The postal ballot packs were due to be sent out from Monday to about 160,000 Tory members to choose between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
However, members have been informed the ballot papers will arrive later than scheduled and could arrive as late as 11 August. An email on Tuesday evening said:
Your ballot is now on the way – but it will arrive with you a little later than we originally said.
Please do not worry. This is because we have taken some time to add some additional security to our ballot process, which has delayed us slightly.
The announcement of the leadership contest is due to take place on 5 September, which is expected to remain the same despite the delay.
The decision to delay the sending out of the ballots follows advice from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the UK’s GCHQ listening post.
Here’s more on that YouGov poll for The Times, which found that Liz Truss has a 34-point lead over Rishi Sunak among Conservative party members.
The poll suggests a significant widening of Truss’s lead compared with the last YouGov poll, carried out after Penny Mordaunt’s elimination from the race on 20 July.
A YouGov poll for The Times and Times Radio found that almost nine in ten Tory members had made up their minds.
— Times Politics (@timespolitics) August 3, 2022
26% said they would support Sunak. The rest were undecided or said they would not vote pic.twitter.com/v5SUNEPYXp
According to the poll, Truss leads Sunak among all age groups, across different parts of the country and among men and women. The only category where Sunak beats Truss is among Conservative party members who supported remain.
The poll also found that 53% of Tories believe it was wrong that Boris Johnson was forced to resign, compared with 41% who think Conservative MPs and ministers made the right decision.
Given a choice between Johnson, Sunak and Truss, 40% of members would vote for the prime minister to continue in office, 28% would support Truss and only 23% would back Sunak pic.twitter.com/AFINurjKWG
— Times Politics (@timespolitics) August 3, 2022
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Tory MP David Davis, who is backing Rishi Sunak, has played down the significance of recent polls showing Liz Truss clearly leading in the leadership contest.
He told Sky News:
To be fair to the polls, these are difficult to do - how do you find Tory members? You know we don’t publish their names. You ring someone up - ‘Are you a Tory member?’, ‘Well, I voted Tory so that makes me a Tory member’, ‘No, it doesn’t.’
He added that the polls, which came out yesterday, were taken before Truss’s U-turn on civil service pay after a backlash from within her own party.
He said:
I think the public will come to a view on [her] judgment on that. It’s very, very important in this process.
Davis said Truss’s team “didn’t think through” the proposed policy and that they “can’t afford to make those sorts of judgmental errors”.
He said:
They started by accusing journalists of misrepresenting it, and the journalists then quite properly read back their press statement - it was very, very obvious. And now they are accusing us of misrepresenting it.
No. This is what they said. The people who misrepresented them was themselves.
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Some members of the LGBT+ Conservative group are questioning their future in the party amid concerns their rights are being weaponised during the leadership contest in a bid to pander to the “far right”.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have taken aim at “woke” issues during the course of the campaign and been accused of using these as “red meat” to whip up support among the party’s grassroots.
Although Truss was endorsed by Penny Mordaunt, who urged rivals not to fuel a culture war before she was knocked out of the race last month, the trade minister’s supporters have not followed suit en-masse.
Instead, some privately accused Mordaunt of “selling out” and putting the possibility of a cabinet job over her principles.
The prospect of either Truss or Sunak winning given the campaign has caused concern among several LGBTQ+ members.
Liz Truss has 34-point lead over Rishi Sunak, poll shows
A YouGov poll for The Times published last night showed that Liz Truss has a 34-point lead over her rival, Rishi Sunak, among Conservative party members.
The poll, which the paper said was conducted over the past five days, showed 60% support for Truss versus 26% for Sunak, with the remainder undecided. Almost nine in 10 Tory members have already made up their minds about who to vote for, it said.
The results of the poll suggest a significant widening of Truss’s lead. The last YouGov poll, carried out on 20 July, had support for Truss on 49% compared with 31% for Sunak. Truss is ahead of Sunak among all age groups, across different parts of the country and among men and women.
The poll also suggested that Boris Johnson would “easily beat” both Truss and Sunak if he were on the ballot paper, with widespread resentment among Conservative party members about the way he was ousted from office.
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Asked if Truss believes that Taiwan should be supplied with defensive weapons, the Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, said:
I think one of the things we’ve seen with Ukraine is the fact that it’s important that we are supporting sovereign democracies, that’s something we’ve got to do.
I think it is right that we in the West stay firm and strong against some of the pressures we see from (Vladimir) Putin’s regime, but also actually some of the challenges that we’re seeing from China, and, as somebody who’s been the security minister before, I’ve seen the growth in the economic power (and pressure) of China - it’s something that we need to be aware of.
As we mentioned earlier, the Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has spent the morning attempting to defend Liz Truss a day after she was forced to abandon the cornerstone of her plan for a “war on Whitehall waste” after a backlash within her own party.
Lewis has been speaking in the morning round of interviews, where he claimed Truss “made it very clear yesterday this is not a policy that is being taken forward”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
We saw yesterday a number of people extrapolating figures, talking about pay cuts for various people which was never the outline of the policy, and what Liz was looking at was part of a wider package.
Obviously what we do see during these campaigns is people setting out policies. We’ve obviously seen Rishi (Sunak) float ideas and then change around eight or nine times over the last couple of weeks.
He added:
What Liz was outlining yesterday is the wider package, the issue around dealing with waste in Whitehall... reducing the Civil Service, the 91,000 increase we’ve seen over the last period and making sure that money that is spent, taxpayers’ money is spent on frontline services.
But it was never about, at any point, reducing the pay of the public sector workers who’ve been so brilliant through Covid and the work over the last few years.
He also said:
The wording in there that’s important is the word ‘if’, that was not something that was ever proposed... Liz made it very clear yesterday this is not a policy that is being taken forward.
Lewis was also asked about relations with Scotland after the Tory leadership hopeful described the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, as an “attention seeker”.
Truss “has got huge credentials” on the issue of keeping the Union together, Lewis told Sky News.
He added:
We had a referendum, now we’re all a few years older, but there’s not been a generational change just yet, and that was always clear, and the SNP were, that that was a once-in-a-generation. That decision has been made. What we should all be focused on, including the SNP, is how we improve the lives of people in Scotland.
They’re failing them on education, I would argue the health service, and other areas of the economy as well. What Liz wants to do is make sure everybody across the UK and every part of the UK gets better education opportunities to take part in a better and stronger economy in the future.
Updated
Lewis: 'never the case' that Truss intended to cut public sector pay
Good morning. The Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has attempted to defend Liz Truss by suggesting it was “never the case” that the Tory leadership contender had planned to cut public sector pay.
Lewis, who is backing Truss’s leadership bid, said “there was never any risk to the pay of the brilliant public sector” after the foreign secretary suffered a humiliating setback when she was forced into a U-turn on civil service pay after a backlash from within her own party.
Asked if her campaign was abandoning a flagship policy to slash £8.8bn from public sector pay outside London, he told Times Radio:
You do see during leadership campaigns obviously people putting out ideas - we’ve seen Rishi Sunak’s team have put out eight or nine different things that they’ve changed around.
The reality of yesterday is, what Liz was outlining was part of a package of dealing with Whitehall waste. We all want to see that dealt with, it’s part of a programme of work actually to get the civil service - it’s grown by about 91,000 just in the last few years, back down to levels where we’re using taxpayers’ money efficiently and effectively.
He added:
What Liz was looking at yesterday and what the campaign was looking at is what you do in new contracts as people come in, but look, she made it very clear yesterday, we’re not taking this forward, this isn’t something that’s going to happen and we value obviously all of the work - and there was never any risk to the pay of the brilliant public sector who’ve done so well through the Covid period and the challenges that we’ve seen over the last couple of years.
Lewis’s comments came as Truss and her rival, Rishi Sunak, prepare to face party members in a third set of Tory leadership hustings later today. A new YouGov poll suggests that almost nine in 10 Tory members have made up their mind about who to support, with 60% plumping for Truss and just 26% for Sunak despite a difficult week for Truss. Tonight’s event in Cardiff marks the first time either has visited Wales since the contest began.
Conservative members who were due to receive their postal ballot papers have been informed that the papers will arrive later than scheduled following security concerns and could arrive as late as 11 August.
An email on Tuesday evening said the papers, due to be sent out from Monday to about 160,000 Tory members, said:
Your ballot is now on the way – but it will arrive with you a little later than we originally said.
Please do not worry. This is because we have taken some time to add some additional security to our ballot process, which has delayed us slightly.
The announcement of the leadership contest result is due to take place on 5 September, which is expected to remain the same despite the delay.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, will hold a press conference to mark the launch of the second paper concerning the reform of Scotland and the UK.
Morning: Boris Johnson begins his summer holiday from today.
7pm: Tory leadership hustings in Cardiff.
I’ll be covering for Andrew Sparrow today. Do drop me a line if you have any questions or think I’ve missed anything. My email is leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com or you can reach me on Twitter.
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