A summary of today's developments
- Newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt have all joined the race to replace Boris Johnson.
- Grant Shapps also launched his leadership bid by telling the Sunday Times he was ruling out a general election if he becomes prime minister.
- A spokesperson for Boris Johnson said reports that he is planning to stand down as prime minister on Monday in order to run again for Tory leader are completely untrue.
- Ben Wallace has announced that he will not stand to be the next leader. The defence secretary had been seen as a promising outsider in the race, but said he wanted to focus on his current job and keeping the country safe.
- The early favourite in the contest, Rishi Sunak, has been criticised as “treacherous” for his resignation on Tuesday.
- Education minister Andrea Jenkyns said she was “standing up for herself” after shouting and sticking her middle finger up to protesters outside Downing Street on Thursday. She has been criticised by MPs in both parties, but in a statement said she had received death threats.
- Justin Tomlinson, MP for North Swindon, said he had resigned as deputy chairman of the Conservative party in order to “be free to support Kemi Badenoch to be our next PM”.
- A new prime minister could be named in the next two weeks, according to Andrew Bridgen. The backbencher said that if the 1922 committee, which presides over the parliamentary Conservative party, changed the rules and the final two candidates made a deal, Boris Johnson’s successor could be named within a fortnight.
- Jake Berry, head of the Northern Research Group pressure group, said he won’t be standing to become leader, despite suggestions by some of his parliamentary colleagues.
- Leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has made his first pitch to Scottish Tory members, stressing the need for “serious and tested leadership” for the party to be successful in Scotland.
- Meanwhile, the Royal Navy is threatening to “walk away” from Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plan to stem the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel as official data shows how spectacularly the policy has backfired.
Updated
Labour has called for an urgent Cabinet Office investigation into Boris Johnson’s meeting with an ex-KGB agent two days after attending a high-level Nato summit that focused on Russia.
The deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper have written to the newly appointed chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Kit Malthouse, to demand a full investigation into a matter they say exhibits a “shocking disregard for national security”. They warn that if Johnson is found to have breached national security, he must leave Downing Street immediately and “face the full consequences of the law”.
The Observer revealed in 2019 that Johnson had met former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev at an Italian palazzo without officials or security present in April 2018, when he was foreign secretary. But it was not until Wednesday, the day before he resigned as prime minister, that Johnson finally admitted it had happened.
Trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is the first Cabinet endorsement for Tom Tugendhat MP as Conservative leader, the Sunday Times reported.
Updated
Boris Johnson is facing new allegations he lobbied to get a job for a woman who claimed to be having a sexual relationship with him while he was London mayor.
It is alleged that Johnson lobbied for the woman to have a City Hall job during his time as London mayor and MP for Henley.
The appointment was blocked because Kit Malthouse, then a senior figure in City Hall and now one of Johnson’s cabinet ministers, suggested the pair had an inappropriately close relationship, according to the Sunday Times.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “This [is] not about his time as PM and [has] no public interest as I see it. And we don’t talk about his private life.”
Chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke writes in the Telegraph, revealing he backs foreign secretary Liz Truss to become leader, and believes she would reverse the national insurance rise.
Clarke tweeted: “I am supporting @trussliz for the leadership of @Conservatives. She will galvanise growth, cut taxes and launch a new Spending Review.
“She’s tough on our enemies abroad, will seize the opportunities of Brexit and has a strong record of delivery.”
Senior Tories accused Boris Johnson of trying to torpedo Rishi Sunak’s bid to succeed him as prime minister – and of refusing to leave No 10 with good grace – as the leadership race descended into bitter infighting.
As a trio of cabinet ministers entered the contest last night, senior MPs said the battle now risked inflicting even more damage on the party than the fall of Margaret Thatcher more than three decades ago.
One party grandee accused Johnson of installing unsuitable MPs to middle-ranking and junior government posts when he knew he was on his way out “to cause maximum problems for his successor” who would inevitably have to sack most of them on taking office.
“Those appointments were the most appalling thing I have seen in politics,” said the senior source. “It was obviously a move to sabotage his successor’s first weeks in office.”
Sajid Javid launches Tory leadership bid
Sajid Javid has joined the race to replace Boris Johnson.
The former health secretary, who resigned from the role on Tuesday sparking a mass of resignations from government, told the Sunday Telegraph he is looking to scrap an increase in national insurance.
Updated
In comments similar to former chancellor Rishi Sunak’s opening campaign gambit, Hunt told the Sunday Telegraph he is standing to be leader “because we have to restore trust, grow the economy, and win the next election”.
He added: “Those are the three things that have to happen and I believe I can do that.”
Updated
Jeremy Hunt enters leadership race
Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and foreign secretary, has announced his intention to run to be the next prime minister.
He pledged to cut business taxes to the lowest rate in the western world in an article in the Sunday Telegraph.
Updated
Here is the full story on the latest Tory candidates to throw their hat in the ring.
A trio of cabinet ministers declared they were running for the Tory leadership on Saturday night, amid calls to alter party rules to thin out the increasingly crowded field of candidates.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and transport secretary Grant Shapps all threw their hats into the ring.
Shapps, who was among the cabinet ministers to tell Johnson that his time was up last week, said he would end the period of “tactical government”, repeatedly distracted by crises. He was not among the ministers to resign last week and pointed to his loyalty to previous premiers.
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A “flag” was raised by officials over the financial affairs of the new chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, before he was promoted, the Observer can reveal.
Civil servants in the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team are said to have alerted Boris Johnson to a HM Revenue and Customs “flag” over Zahawi before his appointment. The PM appointed him despite the possible concerns over his tax affairs.
“It’s extraordinary that flags were raised ahead of Nadhim’s appointment by the Downing Street proprietary team,” one source said this weekend. “These sorts of concerns would stop someone receiving an MBE or OBE. The idea he could be chancellor or even prime minister is unbelievable.”
A spokesperson for the chancellor said: “All Mr Zahawi’s financial interests have been properly and transparently declared.” A source close to Zahawi said he and his wife had never claimed non-domicile status.
Updated
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, appeared to be less than satisfied with education minister Andrea Jenkyns admitting she “should have shown more composure” after making a rude gesture to a “baying mob” outside Downing Street.
Without directly referencing her explanation or the incident in question, Barton tweeted: “In my 32 years as a teacher, 15 of them as headteacher, I inevitably dealt with moments of poor behaviour and inappropriate conduct – from young people and staff.
“I have to say, ‘I’m only human’ was never good enough as an excuse from any of them for any of it.”
The UK Russian embassy tweeted the picture, commenting: “British culture definitely has a new prospects with A.Jenkyns.”
Updated
Here is more from Nadhim Zahawi on his pitch to become Boris Johnson’s successor, four days after being appointed chancellor.
“The Conservative party has made me who I am today. It gave me an education, it provided my family with a home and, most importantly, it provided hope. Making the most of my education, with the security of a safe home, I grew up with the understanding that nothing was impossible.
“Society is a reflection of its leaders, and under Margaret Thatcher, the Britain I knew was full of boundless optimism and opportunity. That has been lost and a change is needed. The country is confronting some of the greatest challenges for a lifetime.
“My aim is a simple one: to provide the opportunities that were afforded to my generation, to all Britons, whoever you are and wherever you come from. To steady the ship and to stabilise the economy. Thanks to Brexit, we are now a free nation.
“Let’s not just talk about the opportunities that follow, let’s take them. If a young boy, who came here aged 11 without a word of English, can serve at the highest levels of her majesty’s government and run to be the next prime minister, anything is possible.”
Updated
Marcus Fysh, the MP for Yeovil, said he was backing foreign secretary Liz Truss to be the next Tory leader.
In a tweet, he said: “There are many great talents and friends standing for Conservative Leader but for me the one who is experienced, tough, practical, has the right economic plan, will sort the NI Protocol and make the most of independence from the EU, unite Party & country and win, is Liz Truss.”
Foreign secretary Liz Truss 'to launch Tory leadership bid'
Foreign secretary Liz Truss will launch a bid to become next Conservative leader by pledging that she will advocate “classic Conservative principles”, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The newspaper said she will reverse the government’s national insurance rise, cut corporation tax and introduce measures to ease the cost of living crisis when she announces her campaign as early as Monday.
Updated
Michelle Donelan, who resigned from the role of education secretary on Thursday less than 36 hours after accepting it, said she was backing Nadhim Zahawi to be the next Tory leader.
I’ve worked with @nadhimzahawi in the Department for Education, and around the cabinet table over the last 10 months. I’m backing him to be our next Prime Minister because he gets things done and delivers just like he did as Vaccines Minister 💉
— Michelle Donelan MP (@michelledonelan) July 9, 2022
Nadhim Zahawi launches Tory leadership campaign
Newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has launched his campaign to become Conservative leader.
Zahawi MP, the former education secretary and vaccines minister, has pledged to lower taxes for individuals, families and business, boost defence spending and continue with education reforms he started in his previous role.
Updated
Summary
It’s been a busy day in Westminster with prospective Tory leadership candidates declaring left, right and centre – for want of a better phrase.
Here is a round-up of the day’s top stories:
- Grant Shapps launched his leadership bid by telling the Sunday Times he was ruling out a general election. He said he would produce an emergency budget, instructing his chancellor to cut personal tax for the most vulnerable and giving state support to firms with high levels of energy consumption.
- A spokesperson for Boris Johnson said reports that he is planning to stand down as prime minister on Monday in order to run again for Tory leader are completely untrue.
-
Ben Wallace has announced that he won’t stand to be the next leader. The defence secretary had been seen as a promising outsider in the race, but said he wanted to focus on his current job and keeping the country safe.
- The early favourite in the contest, Rishi Sunak, has been criticised as “treacherous” for his resignation on Tuesday.
- Morley and Outwood MP Andrea Jenkyns has said she was “standing up for herself” and not apologised after shouting and sticking her middle finger up to protesters outside Downing Street on Thursday. She has been criticised by MPs in both parties, but in a statement said she had received death threats.
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Justin Tomlinson, MP for North Swindon, said he had resigned as deputy chairman of the Conservative party in order to “be free to support Kemi Badenoch to be our next PM”.
- A new prime minister could be named in the next two weeks, according to Andrew Bridgen. The backbencher said that if the 1922 committee, which presides over the parliamentary Conservative party, changed the rules and the final two candidates made a deal, Boris Johnson’s successor could be named within a fortnight.
-
Jake Berry, head of the Northern Research Group pressure group, said he won’t be standing to become leader, despite suggestions by some of his parliamentary colleagues.
- Leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has made his first pitch to Scottish Tory members, stressing the need for “serious and tested leadership” for the party to be successful in Scotland.
- Meanwhile, the Royal Navy is threatening to “walk away” from Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plan to stem the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel as official data shows how spectacularly the policy has backfired.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Nadeem Badshah will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news.
Updated
Justin Tomlinson, MP for North Swindon, said he had resigned as deputy chairman of the Conservative party in order to “be free to support Kemi Badenoch to be our next PM”.
In a series of posts on Twitter, he added:
Determined, honest, straight-talking – Kemi Badenoch presents a real opportunity for change with a new style of politics that focuses on people not big government.
As a campaigner, focused on getting colleagues re-elected I know how the Westminster bubble is so detached from voters – Kemi Badenoch will smash through this disconnect and deliver on what ordinary people want. This is how we renew as party and win the next general election.
As a campaigner, focused on getting colleagues re-elected I know how the Westminster bubble is so detached from voters - @KemiBadenoch will smash through this disconnect and deliver on what ordinary people want. This is how we renew as Party and win the next General Election
— Justin Tomlinson MP (@JustinTomlinson) July 9, 2022
Updated
Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns was filmed sticking her middle finger up to protesters outside Downing Street on Thursday after Boris Johnson’s resignation speech.
The minister has since said she was “sticking up for herself” after receiving death threats.
Updated
Grant Shapps launched his leadership bid by telling the Sunday Times he was ruling out a general election.
He said he would produce an emergency budget, instructing his chancellor to cut personal tax for the most vulnerable and giving state support to firms with high levels of energy consumption.
He said:
I have not spent the last few turbulent years plotting or briefing against the prime minister. I have not been mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back. I tell you this: for all his flaws – and who is not flawed? – I like Boris Johnson. I have never, for a moment, doubted his love of this country.
Shapps added:
It is easy to criticise Boris after keeping one’s head down for years while being happy to benefit from his patronage. I am glad that I did not do that.
Even as the skies darkened over his premiership, often because of errors committed by him, I hoped he could pull it back. Because in losing him, we would lose a man who makes a unique connection with people.
Updated
Grant Shapps announces Tory leadership bid
The transport secretary Grant Shapps has launched a Conservative Party leadership bid, the Press Association has reported.
He has said he will end “tactical government by an often distracted centre”.
More on this story as we get it.
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The Conservative MP Steve Baker, who has ruled himself out of running for the leadership of the party, has been setting out his reasons for supporting the attorney general Suella Braverman in her bid.
He told GB News:
In terms of experience, she does, of course, run her own department and she is the Attorney General so she is in the Cabinet and she advises on the law across all government departments. For me, I’ve been with Suella through hell and high water, the moment that came when we had to decide would we be the last people to stand against Theresa May’s deal and when I wobbled under the pressure, Suella didn’t.
I can still see her sitting there completely across all the detail as I was, and absolutely resolute. This country needs to be led by someone, as it has been before, someone with absolutely fierce resolve and the ability to listen to others, authenticity, good character, the charisma, and she has got it all. I’m excited to back her.
I believe in freedom because that’s the best way to make the people of this country prosper. We are not going to be going back to 1979, 1980 or 1990, we can only go forward. Margaret Thatcher famously said ‘no such thing as a society’ but what she meant was it is intangible.
What does that mean? It means societal relationships and individuals and how they relate to one another. We’ve got to go forward with somebody who inspires in others a warm relationship and professionalism and responsibility. Whether it be at work, at home or in the family, we can’t go back to Thatcherism, we can only go forward with a new commitment to the values we know endure.
The Conservative leadership election appears to be wide open, with candidates from almost every ideological wing of the party. With one nation Tories and fiscal conservatives, Brexiters and remainers, there will be an array of views for MPs and activists to consider.
Here is a rundown of the runners and riders – and what we know of their political and social stances.
A spokesperson for Boris Johnson said reports that he is planning to stand down as Prime Minister on Monday in order to run again for Tory leader are completely untrue.
Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party on Thursday, but said he intends to remain in office until his successor is elected, PA Media reported.
Speaking in Downing Street, he said:
It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.
And I’ve agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week.
And I’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.
Updated
In a large state room in the heart of Downing Street, as they waited to deliver their fateful verdict to Boris Johnson, a group of cabinet ministers was forced to mingle awkwardly with the prime minister’s closest allies.
The delegation had slowly grown throughout Wednesday evening. Nadhim Zahawi, who had accepted the job of chancellor less than 24 hours earlier, home secretary Priti Patel, trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, cabinet office minister Kit Malthouse, Welsh secretary Simon Hart and transport secretary Grant Shapps were all present at various points.
Even Simon Clarke, the Treasury minister and one of Johnson’s most loyal supporters from the earliest days of his leadership campaign, joined by phone. “Everybody in that room agreed the game is up,” said one present. “Every single person was there to say that.”
Defence minister Ben Wallace, who earlier today ruled himself out of the Tory leadership race, has visited the military camp in the north-west where up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers will arrive for specialist military training.
The Royal Navy is threatening to “walk away” from Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plan to stem the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel as official data shows how spectacularly the policy has backfired.
Defence chiefs are said to be fed up with trying to enact the prime minister and home secretary’s rapidly imploding plan of using the military to control small boats in the Channel.
Ministry of Defence data shows crossings have close to doubled since the military was given “primacy” over the issue from mid-April compared with the first three months of this year.
Patel and Johnson were warned that deploying the Royal Navy would be likely to increase the number of crossings but ignored expert advice because, according to internal sources, they wanted to appear tough.
Summary
Here’s a quick-roundup of today’s developments as the Conservative party leadership contest continues to take shape.
- Ben Wallace has announced that he won’t stand to be the next leader. The defence secretary had been seen as a promising outsider in the race, but said he wanted to focus on his current job and keeping the country safe.
- The early favourite in the contest, Rishi Sunak, has been criticised as “treacherous” for his resignation on Tuesday.
- Morley and Outwood MP Andrea Jenkyns has said she was “standing up for herself” and not apologised after shouting and sticking her middle finger up to protesters outside Downing Street on Thursday. She has been criticised by MPs in both parties, but in a statement said she had received death threats.
- A new prime minister could be named in the next two weeks, according to Andrew Bridgen. The backbencher said that if the 1922 committee, which presides over the parliamentary Conservative party, changed the rules and the final two candidates made a deal, Boris Johnson’s successor could be named within a fortnight.
- Kemi Badenoch has thrown her hat into the ring to be the next Conservative leader, saying the party needs a “nimble centre-right vision” needed to take on “cultural establishment”.
- Jake Berry, head of the Northern Research Group pressure group said he won’t be standing to become leader, despite suggestions by some of his parliamentary colleagues.
- Leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has made his first pitch to Scottish Tory members, stressing the need for “serious and tested leadership” for the party to be successful in Scotland.
- Away from the annual trade union jamboree the annual Durham Miners’ Gala takes place today.
I’ll be handing over to my colleague Tom Ambrose, who will keep you updated for the next few hours. Thanks for following.
Conflicting reports are emerging about the scene outside Downing Street on Thursday, when Andrea Jenkyns shouted at protesters and later stuck her middle finger up at them. In a statement earlier today explaining her actions, Jenkyns called them a “baying mob”.
The Guardian’s chief political correspondent Jessica Elgot was among those who were there.
I saw this too and the vast majority seemed to me to be people who had turned up out of curiosity, a few people bereaved from Covid who had pictures and a small number of protesters including Steve Bray etc https://t.co/8dpXy84t8K
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) July 9, 2022
More declarations of support. Chris Philp, who resigned earlier this week, has said he would back Sajid Javid if he runs, saying he has “the competence, values and wide electoral and pan-UK appeal”.
Meanwhile Ben Bradley, once called the “first blue brick in the red wall” as Mansfield MP, will be supporting Kemi Badenoch, perhaps unsurprisingly as the two have shared similar thoughts on identity politics before.
Bradley told LBC: “I think she’s a really fresh face, actually, she’s not tainted by the kind of current frustrations and the chaos that we’ve had in recent weeks.”
For Suella Braverman, Richard Drax and Philip Hollobone have joined her team according to the Sunday Times’ chief political commentator Tim Shipman.
Updated
Rishi Sunak has thanked his supporters as the number of MPs saying they want him to be the next party leader continues to grow.
Thank you.
— Ready For Rishi (@RishiSunak) July 9, 2022
I’ve been truly overwhelmed by the support and so grateful for the thousands of people who have signed up to join the campaign.
Together we will restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country.
Get involved👉 https://t.co/IhqYFneXQk #Ready4Rishi pic.twitter.com/pg03T4WrDA
My colleague Peter Walker has this profile of Kemi Badenoch and how she is bringing culture war rhetoric to the leadership contest.
Kemi Badenoch, the latest entrant to an increasingly crowded race to succeed Boris Johnson, has marked her brief time in parliament by the relative speed of her ascent and a willingness to embrace controversy and conflict over culture war issues.
Elected to the safe Essex seat of Saffron Walden in 2017, Badenoch took just two years to join the frontbenches and was, until her resignation this week, a joint minister for levelling up and equalities.
Last year Badenoch, a former junior education minister, was even briefly tipped to succeed Gavin Williamson as education secretary, although in the end she was reshuffled to another second-tier role.
Badenoch’s pitch to Tory MPs places her very much on the right of the party, where she risks seeking support from a similar ideological pool to Suella Braverman, the attorney general, who entered the race on Wednesday.
Updated
'I stood up for myself' says MP after gesturing at Downing Street protesters
The minister who was seen shouting and sticking her middle finger up to crowds outside Downing Street earlier this week has said she was “standing up for herself” after receiving death threats.
Footage of Andrea Jenkyns showed her sticking her middle finger up to protesters as she entered Downing Street, and then shouting at them as she left after watching Boris Johnson’s resignation speech on Thursday.
There have been complaints about the newly appointed education minister’s behaviour from both Labour and Conservative MPs. The chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, Dame Alison Peacock, has also written to the Department for Education’s permanent secretary, Susan Acland-Hood, to say she has fallen short of “high standards of behaviour” expected from ministers.
Jenkyns’ statement, published on Twitter, said: “On Thursday afternoon I went to Downing Street to watch the prime minister’s resignation speech. A baying mob outside the gates were insulting MPs on their way in as is sadly all too common.
“After receiving huge amounts of abuse from some of the people who were there over the years, and I have also had seven death threats in the last 4 years. Two of which have been in recent weeks and are currently being investigated by police, I had reached the end of my tether.
“I responded and stood up for myself. Just why should anyone have to put up with this sort of treatment.
“I should have shown more composure but am only human.”
Updated
Here is Ben Wallace’s full statement. He was the bookmakers’ second favourite, behind Sunak, before pulling out of the race.
After careful consideration and discussing with colleagues and family, I have taken the decision not to enter the contest for leadership of the Conservative party.
I am very grateful to all my parliamentary colleagues and wider members who have pledged support.
It has not been an easy choice to make, but my focus is on my current job and keeping this great country safe.
I wish the very best of luck to all candidates and hope we swiftly return to focusing on the issues that we are all elected to address.
Ben Wallace will not join race to become leader
The defence secretary, who had been an early frontrunner, now says he does not wish to run as leader. Instead, he says his focus should remain on “keeping this great country safe”.
After careful consideration and discussing with colleagues and family, I have taken the decision not to enter the contest for leadership of the Conservative Party. I am very grateful to all my parliamentary colleagues and wider members who have pledged support. 1/2
— Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) July 9, 2022
It has not been an easy choice to make, but my focus is on my current job and keeping this great country safe. I wish the very best of luck to all candidates and hope we swiftly return to focusing on the issues that we are all elected to address. 2/2
— Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) July 9, 2022
Updated
Andrew Bridgen, who was one of the MPs to become a prominent early critic of Boris Johnson as his premiership entered its final months, has said that he believes a deal could be struck to choose a new prime minister within the next fortnight.
It would mimic the short timeframe between David Cameron’s resignation, expecting him to be a caretaker prime minister, before Theresa May won the Conservative party leadership - meaning that Tory members would not get a vote. It would mean a new leader before the upcoming summer recess.
Bridgen told LBC’s Matt Frei: “The 1922 Committee will truncate the leadership rules so we will be down to two candidates before summer recess, they will go out to the membership, probably three weeks or four weeks and we’ll have a new prime minister and a new government before the end of August.
“I think it’s even possible Matt, that in just over two weeks time we’ll get down to two candidates, who may even come to an accommodation given the pressures to form a government and move on both domestically and internationally.”
He said there would be a candidate from the right of the party who would win, and it was possible that there would be a deal with the other candidate to speed up the process.
“I think the 1922 will make that threshold at least 20 ... they will move it up to 20 or 25 nominations to reduce the field to four or five and we can easily whittle that down in a fortnight to two candidates.”
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen says it's possible there could be a new Prime Minister in just over 2 weeks if the final two candidates come to 'an accommodation'.@mattfrei | @ABridgen pic.twitter.com/hX2ojDpF7d
— LBC (@LBC) July 9, 2022
Updated
Endorsements are starting to trickle in. Caroline Dineage, the Gosport MP, has told Penny Mordaunt that she has her support.
Mordaunt has not formally declared her candidacy yet but is thought to be popular among MPs and members.
Elsewhere Bim Afolami, who resigned as vice-chair of the Conservative party during a live TalkTV interview on Wednesday, has said he will back Rishi Sunak.
I’m backing Rishi. https://t.co/hf5omLI6yW pic.twitter.com/P7BK4kRVn6
— Bim Afolami MP (@BimAfolami) July 9, 2022
Updated
RMT head Mick Lynch is appearing on Sky News, live from the Durham Miners’ Gala (see 10:10).
Disputes still continue between the union and railway companies, as Lynch calls for the government to intervene and says firms want to “strip thousands of jobs out of our industry, dilute or rip up our terms and conditions and they won’t give us a payrise”.
Lynch says more strike action is likely. “They are proposing to make our people poorer. Now railworkers won’t accept that and I’ve got a feeling ... that workers want to fight back.”
Updated
Tory MPs hit back at 'treacherous' Sunak
My colleague Peter Walker has written this piece on the rows inside the Conservative party as the leadership contest gets under way.
The race to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister was already slipping into acrimony on Saturday as Conservative factions briefed against Rishi Sunak, the early favourite, while one senior MP called for “no hope” candidates to drop out.
With four candidates confirmed, but predictions that up to 15 could put themselves forward as the next Conservative leader, Tory MPs expressed concern at the potential timetable for the race, and the prospect of bitter in-fighting.
Sunak, the former chancellor, who entered the race on Friday evening with a slickly edited video campaign message posted on Twitter under the slogan “Ready for Rishi”, is viewed as one of the likely frontrunners.
But he has already faced criticism among fellow MPs for indicating he will focus more on fiscal prudence than immediate tax cuts, with his video taking aim at other candidates who might offer “comforting fairytales” rather than economic truths.
Updated
George Freeman, who was once regarded as one of the policy brains behind Theresa May’s government and resigned as a minister on Thursday, has criticised Andrea Jenkyns for her gesture to protesters outside Downing Street earlier this week (see 10:00).
Ministers should set the highest standards in office.
— George Freeman MP (@GeorgeFreemanMP) July 9, 2022
I’m sorry but this is appalling conduct for a Minister of the Crown.
This is exactly why we need a new Prime Minister: to restore the Ministerial code & respect for the responsibilities of service in public office. https://t.co/zV1DPUZwL4
Treasurer of the 1922 Committee Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has criticised Nadine Dorries’ comments about the leadership race after she said it had “unleashed the hounds of hell”.
The senior Tory told Times Radio: “I think it’s not helpful ... However we do this process we do want to unite the Conservative party behind a candidate.
“And that is why I think it needs to be a proper, open, democratic process so that everybody can see what’s going on.
“Hopefully, we will do it without any hitches and I think that is the way that we will end up with a candidate that everybody will ultimately support as a leader of the party and the next prime minister.”
Updated
There will be a lot of behind-the-scenes pieces on what exactly happened in No 10 this week as Boris Johnson tried to cling to political office, before slowly coming to accept that he had to resign.
Alex Wickham has written this account for Bloomberg, after speaking to people close to events inside Johnson’s final hours before resigning.
It includes details of a teary meeting between Priti Patel and Boris Johnson, the exchange between the PM and Michael Gove when he was sacked, and an awkward embrace between Johnson’s director of communications Guto Harri and Rishi Sunak, hours after Johnson announced his resignation.
That night, some of those who might replace him attended a garden party hosted by the Spectator magazine.
Johnson’s communications chief Guto Harri got into a blazing and public row with Gove adviser Josh Grimstone, who accused Harri of briefing against his boss.
A Sunak aide spotted Harri and went over for a hug. According to people present, a smiling Sunak, standing next to her, asked Harri: “Don’t I get one?”
“You want a hug?” Harri said in disbelief, knowing that the former chancellor had made no contact with Johnson since his shock resignation. Harri had spent his week fighting to save the prime minister, Sunak was aiming to replace him, and in front of London’s political elite, the two men shared an awkward embrace.
Updated
Tugendhat in pitch to Scottish Tories for 'strengthened union'
Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has made his first pitch to Scottish Tory members, stressing the need for “serious and tested leadership” for the party to be successful in Scotland.
The MP, who this week put himself forward to replace the beleaguered Boris Johnson as prime minister, said the party required a “fresh start” after the dramatic exit of the former leader.
Tugendhat is thought to have support among Scottish Tory MSPs, with chief whip Stephen Kerr and North East representative Douglas Lumsden having publicly declared their desire to see the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman take over.
Writing in the Times, Tugendhat said the party is the only one that voters can “trust to unequivocally stand up for the union and Scotland’s role within it”.
He added: “If we are to defeat Labour and the SNP-Green coalition, our party will need a fresh start under serious and tested leadership.
“I have put my name forward to lead the Conservative party to help deliver that fresh start.”
Tugendhat continued: “We must act now to restore trust and repair integrity in British politics; the challenges we face at home and abroad require sober leadership.
“A clean slate is an opportunity to restore this integrity to our politics.”
A brief break from the contest to become the next prime minister, as the annual trade union jamboree the Durham Miners’ Gala takes place today. Brass bands and banners will be marched through the centre of the city in north-east England.
It comes as trade unions have had higher prominence recently with the cost of living soaring, and RMT strikes in June. The railway union is celebrating getting a deal with Merseyrail that has secured 220 jobs.
Unlike his predecessors Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer won’t be addressing crowds.
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Away from Sunak’s leadership campaign, Spencer also responded to the video of newly-appointed education minister Andrea Jenkyns giving the middle finger to protesters outside Downing Street.
The previous day she had shouted at crowds as she left the security gates at the end of Downing Street, following Boris Johnson’s resignation speech.
He refused to say whether Jenkyns should be sacked, but said: “I don’t think it is [acceptable]. I don’t seek to condone that at all. Andrea will have to justify that for herself. I do understand that emotions were running pretty high and pretty raw that day, but I don’t think it was the right thing to do at all.”
Andrea Jenkyns, the new education minister, giving the finger to the public outside Downing Street on Thursday pic.twitter.com/LhnoPoodV3
— Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) July 9, 2022
Mark Spencer, the leader of the House of Commons who is backing Rishi Sunak, has just been speaking to BBC Breakfast.
He was keen to praise the former chancellor’s “experience and ability”, using the phrase three times in the interview with Naga Munchetty. He said that the furlough scheme and recent cut in national insurance was a sign that Sunak understood people’s concerns about the cost of living, despite his own wealth, and was prepared to take big action to support the economy.
However Spencer didn’t indicate whether Sunak would cut taxes, after his line about “comforting fairytales that might make us feel better in the moment” in his leadership launch video.
He said: “What he’s saying is ‘I’m prepared to make big decisions and I’m prepared to take decisions that might not be popular. When you look at his record, this is the chancellor of the exchequer who took £5bn off fuel duty, and lowered the national insurance threshold this week. That’s millions of people who have been taken out of that tax bracket.
“He’s also the chancellor that kept lifting the threshold for people on universal credit at the bottom of the wage bracket, so they keep more of their cash. That’s fiscal responsibility and that’s what we will require.”
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Will Walden, who was Boris Johnson’s communications director for four years until 2016, has an interesting anecdote about the former prime minister that feels indicative after the last few months.
It’s from 2015, when Johnson had tried to wheel his bicycle impossibly through the steel rotating exit gates that people have to pass through to get in and out of parliament.
Two minutes later and Boris Johnson stood shamefaced, sheepish, that ‘caught with his hand in the sweetie jar’ look on his face. “Bollocks it’s bloody stuck,” he offered.
Not you will note “I’ve got the bike stuck”, rather “it’s stuck”, almost as if someone else put it there, and unfairly blamed him. Having ignored advice, ploughed on, and tried and failed to force a big object through a tiny gap, Johnson said “can you sort it” and simply disappeared.
Ten minutes later I’d extricated the bike, wheeled it out of the bicycle exit, returned it to its owner and watched him pedal off in that “nothing to see here guv” way of his.
I tell this story not because it wasn’t amusing at the time, it was, but because it is instructive of why, six years on, Johnson is on the way out of a different exit gate, his dream of remaining world king in tatters.
Crazy idea, corners cut, hopeless execution, a stubborn refusal to listen to others, no plan B, no need for change, responsibility, er no, and aside from a wry smile the next day, the distinct sense that it had never happened.
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Jake Berry, who leads the Northern Research Group that represents Tory MPs in northern England, says that he won’t be running for leadership, despite “being asked by colleagues to throw [his] hat into the ring”.
In a thread on Twitter, he called for a fair funding formula for the regions and an education system that helps people get “higher level apprenticeships”.
Incremental government has had its day, it’s time for radical solutions to level up every region in this great country.
— Jake Berry MP (@JakeBerry) July 9, 2022
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Rishi Sunak’s allies are lobbying former health secretary Sajid Javid to join his campaign for the leadership rather than run himself, according to the Times (paywall).
Javid resigned on Tuesday, minutes before Sunak stood down as chancellor. A day later he gave a resignation statement to the Commons after a torturous Prime Minister’s Questions for Boris Johnson.
In it he encouraged other cabinet ministers to resign, telling MPs: “I have concluded that the problem starts at the top, and I believe that is not going to change.”
The Times is reporting that members of Sunak’s campaign team have been in contact with Javid, telling the Bromsgrove MP that he “lacks the support and basic ‘infrastructure’ to make significant inroads and that they are vying for the same voters”.
So far the former chancellor has rejected the overtures and is expected to focus his campaign on tax cuts, something that looks likely to be a key topic in the contest, with Sunak warning against “comforting fairytales that might make us feel better in the moment”.
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Badenoch: 'nimble centre-right vision' needed to take on 'cultural establishment'
Another Conservative MP to throw their hat into the ring late last night is Kemi Badenoch.
She resigned earlier this week as equalities minister and a minister in the department for levelling up.
Badenoch has been one of the MPs involved with the party’s focus on “culture war” topics of race and gender. One of Johnson’s closest aides during his time in Downing Street, Douglas Smith, is quoted as saying: “She fights his war on woke.”Badenoch has written a piece for the Times (paywall) launching her leadership bid. It trends heavily on the Brexit vote and Boris Johnson’s election win in 2019.
She said:
My vote for Brexit in 2016 was a vote of confidence in our abilities as a sovereign country. We have failed to capitalise on that election winning majority of 2019. Change does not mean reheated versions of 1970s, ’80s or ’90s policies, but a new mission for our age. This requires a smart and nimble centre-right vision that can achieve things despite entrenched opposition from a cultural establishment that will not accept that the world has moved on from Blairism.
On critics of the government’s approach over areas like identity politics, she says it is the “very opposite of our crucial and enduring British values”.
Meanwhile our country is falsely criticised as oppressive to minorities and immoral, because it enforces its own borders. We cannot maintain a cohesive nation state with the zero-sum identity politics we see today.
Exemplified by coercive control, the imposition of views, the shutting down of debate, the end of due process, identity politics is not about tolerance or individual rights but the very opposite of our crucial and enduring British values.
And if we are to see the change we need in this country we need an intellectual framework which recognises that in politics, there is no division between the cultural or economic sphere. It is no surprise the fiercest proclaimers of “social justice” usually believe in the power of government over the people, in the power of the bureaucrat over the individual, and have a distrust of people making their own decisions in the economic sphere just as much as the social.
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Tory MP Rehman Chishti has confirmed he is “actively considering” running for leader.
The newly appointed Foreign Office minister retweeted quotes attributed to him by the BBC, stating: “We need leaders who best reflect modern Britain and can provide solutions to the challenges our nation is facing now.”
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Stayt asks about Rishi Sunak’s bid and why Baker is not supporting him. Baker saying he is a “huge fan” of the former chancellor.
“Of course we’ve all known for a long time that Rishi wants to be prime minister. He’s entitled to have that ambition, he is famously well resourced and I don’t begrudge him that and it’s no surprise he’s come out of the traps with a well-resourced campaign launching immediately,” Baker replies.
He says he fears that Sunak will have to “double down” and that taxes are too high at current levels.
Baker adds: “Taxes are so high that they will be doing more harm than good at these levels.
“Unfortunately because Rishi’s record is saying he wants lower taxes then putting them up, he’s got to double down on that during this campaign. That leaves him in a very unfortunate bind.
“I just recognise that he is forced by his record to adopt a policy position on tax that I profoundly disagree with.”
Steve Baker, one of the MPs who is backing Suella Braverman to become the next Tory leader, is on BBC One’s Breakfast programme.
He had initially said he would be interested in running, but said he changed his mind when he realised he wouldn’t win without cabinet experience. He says he is “excited and enthusiastic” to back the attorney general in a broad pitch about why she should be the next prime minister, praising her “authenticity ... and fierce resolve”.
Both are former chairs of the European Research Group, set up by Eurosceptic MPs after the Brexit vote to put pressure on the prime minister.
Charlie Stayt asks Baker why Braverman backed Johnson when he was prime minister if she had misgivings she has since aired with her leadership pitch.
She’s entitled to take a view as situations develop, I took a slightly different view as people will know. Part of that is about the politics of how he was conducting himself and our view of his ability to change.
David Canzini did a great job of shifting the dynamic in Downing Street and moving things on, I’d long since come to the conclusion that Boris wouldn’t be able to change, Suella had a slightly different view.
Suella is attorney general and has been in the cabinet. You would expect a cabinet minister to back a prime minister. It’s a decision they have to take through collective responsibility or resign, and I would not have expected her to resign over any of the issues that went on throughout this process.
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Sir Charles Walker, Tory MP for Broxbourne, is on the BBC’s Today programme.
Walker, who was also acting chair of the 1922 Committee during the 2019 leadership election, says a limit could be set on the number of candidates if too many look likely to run.
He adds that rather than just the lowest-placed MP being eliminated in each round, the rules could be changed so that candidates had to get a certain level of support at each round to pass. That, he says, would avoid the need to have – for example – 15 rounds of voting.
How quickly can this process be done?
The out-turn of the final two to go before the membership will be the 21st July I suspect, which is when the house rises.
[When] the final two names go to the membership, the only ways you can truncate that process ... is if one of the candidates pulls out, as happened in 2016 with Andrea Leadsom, or the second way ... the party chair says we’re not having regional hustings, we’re just going to send ballot papers out to the membership.
But that very much favours the better-known candidate and it would require the less well-known candidate to say OK to that.
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How will a new Tory leader be chosen?
It is for Conservative MPs and then party members to determine a new Tory leader, who is then prime minister as the party has a Commons majority.
To take part in the race, a Tory MP has to be nominated by eight colleagues.
Once all the candidates have declared, Tory MPs will hold a series of votes until only two remain. In the first round, candidates must get 5% of the votes to stay in the running, which is 18 votes.
In the second round they must get 10%, which is currently 36 MPs. In the following rounds, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated until two candidates remain.
When two MPs are left in the race, party members get to make their final choice before a deadline set by the 1922 Committee.
In 2019, when Johnson replaced May, the entire leadership process took about six weeks.
Assuming the new leader was able to command the confidence of the Commons, they would not be required to call a general election.
Analysis: why the media took such an interest in Carrie Johnson
Carrie Johnson is the prime ministerial spouse who has had to face more questions over her political influence than any predecessor in Downing Street since Cherie Blair. At the same time, the 34-year-old has got married, had two children and seen her husband admitted to intensive care with Covid in three years that began with uncertainty about whether she would even move into No 10.
But it is the fact that she came from the Westminster political milieu – a former special adviser (spad) to two cabinet ministers – and that there was a rivalry with Johnson’s best-known adviser, Dominic Cummings, which marked Johnson out for media attention during her husband’s chaotic tenure.
Contrast that with Theresa May’s husband. A City fund manager, Philip May did not arrive with external relationships in the media, and although at times he attended No 10 meetings, according to insiders at the time, he maintained a low and loyal profile in a style calculated to evoke little public interest.
Friends and allies describe Carrie Johnson as spirited and witty with firm opinions, which make her ideally suited to the gossipy world of Westminster. “She is brilliant, hugely likeable and fun, and we got on very well,” said John Whittingdale, a veteran Conservative who gave her her first big break when he appointed her as a spad in 2015 when he was culture secretary.
Her status in Conservative circles grew. A lively 30th birthday party for the then Carrie Symonds, held at the home of Lady Simone Finn in Primrose Hill in north London, was attended by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid. Those present say her future husband gave a speech and Gove performed a Hamilton-inspired rap.
Tory MP John Baron says he is “taking soundings over the weekend” before deciding whether he is going to run.
The MP for Basildon and Billericay describes himself as a “relative newcomer” to the race but says he has been “encouraged to give it some thought”.
I haven’t got my eight signatures yet and that is what is apparently required, though the backbench committee next week will confirm that.
So I’m taking soundings and will make a decision next week. I want to appeal to as broad as spectrum of the party as possible.
But I also want to share my proposed policies with everyone and make sure there’s sufficient support there.
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Bookmakers have made rapid judgments on who they think the most likely candidates are in the Tory leadership race. As previously mentioned, in particular, odds have shortened drastically this week on Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary.
If you missed it yesterday, here’s former chancellor Rishi Sunak launching his bid to become the next Tory leader
Sunak becomes bookies' favourite to replace Johnson
Good morning.
He was neither the first to announce his resignation nor first to announce his decision to stand to replace Boris Johnson, but Rishi Sunak’s leadership bid will come as a surprise to nobody.
As far as the bookmakers are concerned, the former chancellor has taken an early lead, with an average of odds suggesting he is 2/1 to be the next Conservative leader, followed by Liz Truss (8/1).
Sunak launched his bid on Friday after telling colleagues he had 80 to 100 MPs behind him. Some began declaring their support publicly, including Mark Harper, the former chief whip, Oliver Dowden, the former party co-chair, and Mark Spencer, the leader of the House of Commons.
His announcement came in a slickly edited three-minute video message posted on Twitter under the slogan “Ready for Rishi”. “I’m standing to be the next leader of the Conservative party and your prime minister,” he said. “Let’s restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country.”
For a man who has been in charge of the economy for the past two years, the suggestion it needs rebuilding and that he is the man to do it may raise eyebrows.
His declaration capped an extraordinary week in Westminster in which Johnson’s authority dramatically collapsed, with more than 50 members of his government quitting before the prime minister finally announced his resignation on Thursday.
While there aren’t expected to be 50 candidates competing to be the new PM, a wide field is likely, with as many as 15 Conservative MPs set the put their name down for the job.
We’ll bring you all the latest updates throughout the day.
