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Tag: Conservative MP

  • Matt Hancock suspended as Tory MP for joining I’m a Celeb cast

    Former health secretary Matt Hancock has been suspended as a Conservative MP after joining the cast of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

    Mr Hancock will swap representing his constituents at Westminster for eating bugs in the jungle.

    But Tory party managers have taken a dim view of the West Suffolk MP’s decision to take part in a reality TV show while Parliament is sitting.

    The Tory chief whip said it was “serious enough” to warrant suspension.

    Simon Hart, who is in charge of Tory MP discipline, said he had taken the decision after speaking to Mr Hancock.

    Andy Drummond, deputy chairman of the West Suffolk Conservative Association, said he was looking forward to seeing Mr Hancock “eating a kangaroo’s penis”.

    The campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice called Mr Hancock’s decision “sickening”, and called for ITV to remove him from the programme.

    The group tweeted: “Matt Hancock isn’t a ‘celebrity’, he’s the former health secretary who oversaw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid-19 whilst breaking his own lockdown rules.”

    Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “The PM believes that at a challenging time for the country MPs should be working hard for their constituents, whether that is in the House or in their constituency.”

    The spokesman said it was “unlikely” Mr Sunak would be watching the programme.

    When MPs have the whip suspended, they are kicked out of the party within Parliament but remain an MP and continue to be paid.

    Conservative MP Tim Loughton said Mr Hancock had been an “absolute prat” and losing the Tory whip was “the least he deserves”.

    “I’m completely disappointed and disgusted that he’s put himself and his so-called celebrity career ahead of serving his constituents,” he told Times Radio.

    I'm A Celebrity 2022 line-upITV
    Mr Hancock will join 10 initial campmates in Australia

    Sources close to Mr Hancock said: “Matt doesn’t expect to serve in government again, so it’s an incredible opportunity for him to engage with the 12 million Brits who tune in every single night.

    “Matt has told the whips in Parliament and he will use his time in the jungle to promote his dyslexia campaign.”

    He will be a late addition to the ITV show, which returns to Australia this year and will star Euro 2022 winner Jill Scott, ex-rugby star Mike Tindall and singer Boy George, among others.

    The BBC understands Mr Hancock has been working on several reality TV projects in recent months.

    The former health secretary joins a long list of politicians to have braved the Bushtucker Trial, including former culture secretary Nadine Dorries.

    Ms Dorries, who was the first celebrity to be eliminated in the 2012 series, tweeted: “At least he doesn’t have to worry about George Osborne in No 10 waiting to remove his whip when he gets back!”

    She had the whip suspended for six months after failing to notify party bosses she was appearing.

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    Political figures on reality TV

     

    George Galloway and Pete BurnsShutterstock

    George Galloway in red leotard and Pete Burns in blue leotard doing robotic dance

    George Galloway – Famously donned a leotard for a robotic dance and impersonated a cat on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, while serving as a Respect MP

    Penny Mordaunt – Commons leader and former Tory leadership candidate appeared on ITV’s Splash! in 2014, a celebrity diving competition. She cleared it with Conservative whips and donated her fee to charity

    Ed Balls – Former Labour cabinet minister appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016

    Robert Kilroy-Silk – Former UKIP MEP was on I’m A Celebrity in 2008

    Ann Widdecombe – Former Tory minister took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2010

    Edwina Currie – Former Tory minister did both Strictly Come Dancing in 2011, and I’m A Celebrity in 2014

    Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik and the former leader of the Scottish Labour Party Kezia Dugdale have also made appearances in the jungle-set reality contest.

    Mr Hancock has been out of government since he resigned as health secretary after he broke lockdown rules by having an affair in his departmental office.

    He had been running to chair the powerful House of Commons Treasury committee, but dropped out of the race on Monday.

    The Liberal Democrats are calling for Mr Hancock to “forego his MP’s salary for the duration” of his time on I’m a Celebrity.

    Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the Commons standards committee, has gone further calling for Mr Hancock to face a by-election. He called Mr Hancock’s decision “deeply unpleasant”.

    He added that if Mr Hancock’s local Conservative association “have got any sense they might deselect him as well” – a move that would prevent him standing as a Tory candidate at the next election.

    SNP spokesman Pete Wishart also joined with the criticism, adding: “It speaks volumes that Matt Hancock would rather be stranded in a remote jungle eating kangaroo testicles than spend a moment longer on the Tory benches at Westminster.”

    Source:bbc

  • Braverman’s back… but will the migrant crisis allow her to stay?

    Suella Braverman’s second term as home secretary has already been fraught with controversy.

    She admitted to breaking the ministerial code six times during her first tenure and is currently dealing with the south coast migrant crisis.

    Chief political correspondent Jon Craig said on the Sky News Daily podcast, “Clearly, there is a concern in Whitehall about her behaviour.”

    “And we know that Priti Patel never cared much for the rules and the protocol and the mandarins in the Home Office who tried to tell her what to do.

    “And it seems that Suella Braverman has even less time for all the protocols and rules about security and how you do business.

    “As a senior cabinet minister, she’s prepared to have a fight.”

    Meanwhile, John Vine, the UK’s first independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said that “one single policy” will not make a difference.

    He added: “We need to think through the asylum and immigration system, and we need to decide how it’s going to operate.

    “And we need to stick to that.”

    On the Sky News Daily, Sally Lockwood is also joined by Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale, who explains his view of the current Home Office migration policy.

     

  • Rishi Sunak leads Penny Mordaunt in the final hours of the PM race

    After Boris Johnson announced his withdrawal from the campaign to become the United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has emerged as the frontrunner.

    Among Conservative MPs, the former chancellor presently has the most declared supporters.

    The focus now shifts to whether his remaining opponent, Penny Mordaunt, will satisfy the requisite 100 MPs when nominations end at 14:00 BST.

    Mr Johnson withdrew from the race to succeed Liz Truss on Sunday.

    The former prime minister – who was in No 10 until just seven weeks ago – claimed he had met the threshold required to stand but in a statement said “you cannot govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament”, adding that now was “simply not the right time”.

    Many of Mr Johnson’s supporters were caught by surprise at his withdrawal. Essex MP James Duddridge, who gave the first indication that Mr Johnson was intending to run in the Tory leadership race, simply tweeted: “Well that was unexpected. Off to bed!”

    With Mr Johnson out of the leadership race, several MPs have begun switching their nominations to the two remaining candidates.

    Some 180 out of 357 Tory MPs have gone public with who they are backing, with Mr Sunak garnering support from 155 and Ms Mordaunt securing 25 backers.

    Ms Mordaunt’s team said she was still in the running and within “touching distance” of getting enough backers, while Mr Sunak’s team said they were taking nothing for granted.

    Damian Green, a former cabinet minister in Theresa May’s government and who is backing Ms Mordaunt, said her numbers are “well above” the published figure.

    “We’re confident of getting to 100 before the deadline of two o’clock and putting to colleagues that the case that Penny is the person best positioned to unify the party,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

    If she does reach 100 backers, the race could then go to an online ballot of Conservative Party members, with the winner of that being announced by Friday.

    Penny Mordaunt in an interview outside the BBC on Sunday
    IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA Image caption, Penny Mordaunt in an interview outside the BBC on Sunday

    Mr Sunak is the firm favourite to replace Ms Truss as PM and could do so by as early as Monday afternoon if Ms Mordaunt fails to meet the benchmark.

    Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who scrapped many of Ms Truss’s major economic plans announced in September’s mini-budget, has endorsed Mr Sunak.

    In a piece in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, Mr Hunt said: “To restore stability and confidence, we need a leader who can be trusted to make difficult choices.

    “We have a leader who can do just that in Rishi Sunak.”

    He added that Mr Sunak had been “proved right” over his “unfunded tax cut” warnings during the summer’s Tory leadership campaign.

    Whoever wins the race will be the UK’s third prime minister in less than two months.

    But there are growing calls from opposition parties for an immediate general election – with Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner saying Mr Sunak had not given a public interview since the leadership process began.

    “The Tories are about to hand Rishi Sunak the keys to the country without him saying a single word about how he would govern,” she said. “No one voted for this.

    “Perhaps it’s not surprising he’s avoiding scrutiny: after all, he was so bad that just a few weeks ago he was trounced by Liz Truss.

    “It’s why we need an election now – people deserve a vote on the future of the country.”

    SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford also said Tory MPs should put pressure on their next leader to immediately call for a general election.

    “That the Tories can foist upon us a third prime minister in just three years without an election, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and economic crisis of their making, speaks to how unfair and undemocratic this Westminster system is,” he said.

    Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries has said it would now be impossible to avoid a general election, taking aim at the remaining two candidates.

    Ms Dorries, a long-time ally of Mr Johnson, tweeted that Mr Sunak and Ms Mordaunt, “despite requests from Boris, refused to unite, which would have made governing utterly impossible”.

    Ms Truss, who replaced Mr Johnson in No 10 following a lengthy leadership campaign in the summer, resigned as prime minister after 45 days in office marked by turmoil. She will become the shortest-serving prime minister in British history when she stands down.

  • Liz Truss agreed to mini-budget U-turns over weekend, Downing Street confirms

    Liz Truss agreed to Jeremy Hunt tearing up her mini-budget during a meeting over the weekend.

    The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The chancellor and prime minister discussed these measures and agreed on them over the weekend.”

    In a briefing with journalists, the spokesman was asked if Ms Truss would rule out resigning, to which he responded that the PM was working very closely with the chancellor.

    The spokesman repeated the admission that the mini-budget “went too far, too fast”.

    Ms Truss will be in the House of Commons for Jeremy Hunt’s statement there later today, and will also be meeting with Conservative MPs.

    “The prime minister wants to continue to engage with her cabinet colleagues as part of a series of engagements carried out both with cabinet and with Parliament more broadly,” the spokesman said.

    Asked whether the government’s commitment to increase defence spending remained, the spokesman said the prime minister and chancellor “remain committed” to increasing defence spending, but added, “the long-term ability to fund increased defence spending will depend on the economic stability and on a healthy growing economy.”

    Source: Sky News

     

  • Tributes stream in for Sir David Amess on first anniversary of his murder

    Today marks the first anniversary of Sir David Amess’s murder, which occurred during a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

    Liz Truss and Sir Keir Starmer led the tributes to Sir David, who served as an MP in Basildon and later Southend West for nearly 40 years.

     

    The PM shared a statement along with Sir David’s parliamentary portraiton Saturday morning.

    She said: “On the anniversary of Sir David Amess’ death, we cherish his memory and remember his enormous contribution to politics, to the people of Southend, and to the country.

    “My thoughts today are with his wife Julia, the Amess family, and all those who knew and loved him.”

    Labour leader Sir Keir added: “Remembering our friend and colleague David Amess, on the first anniversary of his senseless death.

    “David’s commitment to public service, carried out with inherent, consistent kindness, will forever be admired.

    “Thinking of his wife & children, hoping memories of him bring comfort.”

    Sir David is survived by his wife Lady Julia Amess and their three children.

    Southend-on-Sea Council said that a tree will be planted in memory of the veteran Conservative MP at Chalkwell Park from 11 am on Saturday.

    It will be planted using compost from flowers left across the area in the days and weeks following the MP’s death, the council said.

     

     

  • Chancellor’s career on the rim of the bin

    At a time when the UK’s international financial credibility is on the line, the chancellor concluded it was a better option to bail out early of a gathering of finance ministers, at the world’s financial institutions in Washington, than stay put.

    Why? Because 3,600 miles away, the prime minister was in discussions with Conservative MPs and others – their entire joint programme for government hovering above the shredder.

    I’m told Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were in touch yesterday and it was his decision to make a dash for it to come home early.

    He does so knowing that the centerpiece of his few short days as chancellor sits on the rim of the bin, as does his reputation and his career.

    Tory MPs at every level of the party are suggesting he could be out of his job soon too.

    But earlier, a Downing Street source told me that “the chancellor is doing an excellent job and they [the PM and chancellor] are in lockstep”.

    So does Truss want him to continue in the job in the coming months? “Yes”, is the answer.

    It is going to be a very interesting day in Westminster. It would not be a surprise if an almighty U-turn happens and happens today.

    Source:BBC.com, Chris Mason

     

  • Former minister Heather Wheeler says Tory MPs need to ‘calm down a bit’

    Heather Wheeler, Conservative MP for South Derbyshire and a former junior minister, was asked about the mood among Tory MPs.

    She told Sky News: “Well, it’s interesting.

    “I must be on different WhatsApp groups to everybody else because I haven’t had a single Tory tell me that things are all doom and gloom.

    “I think I remember after the fiscal statement, was it five newspapers that said this is the best statement the Conservative government has ever made?”

    She added: “And I know a week’s a long time in politics, but should we just calm down a bit?

    “Should we just see the growth plan? Should we just make sure this is going to happen and get behind the leader, who was undeniably elected in the summer?”

    Regarding polls, she said: “What is the real poll? The real polls are elections, and what happened on Thursday? Two massive wins for the Conservatives up in Jake Berry’s constituency (Rossendale and Darwen).

    “So people actually voted Conservative with all this noise going on, and that’s what I hold onto.

    “The important thing here is we’ve got a growth plan. It’s going to take time.

    “We’re going to have more meat on the bones on the 23rd of November.”

  • Tax cuts pledge: Liz Truss acknowledges disruption

    After the mini-budget, Prime Minister Liz Truss acknowledged there had been “disruption” in the UK economy.

    She declared in a letter to The Sun that she had “acted forcefully” and would maintain a “iron grip” on the country’s finances.

    The government unveiled £45bn of tax cuts funded by borrowing last week – but did not accompany it with the usual economic assessment of the plans.

    That worried investors causing the pound to slump and forcing the Bank of England to step in to reassure markets.

    Ms Truss has resisted calls to reverse the cuts or to bring forward the publication of the independent fiscal watchdog’s economic forecasts and analysis of her tax plans.

    The prime minister said she was “committed” to publishing the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast on 23 November, the same day the chancellor is due to set out further economic plans, after she met the OBR on Friday.

    But some Conservative MPs want to see this sooner to reassure the financial markets after turbulent trading.

    The Treasury argues it should wait until additional changes are announced.

    Ms Truss wrote in the Sun: “I am going to do things differently. It involves difficult decisions and does involve a disruption in the short term.”

    She reiterated her commitment to “get the economy growing”, with plans to stimulate growth expected to include measures in eight areas – business regulation, agriculture, housing and planning, immigration, mobile and broadband, financial services, childcare, and energy.

    And she insisted she would maintain an “iron grip on the national finances”.

    Her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, insisted that November’s statement would include a “credible plan” to get the public finances back on track, with a “commitment to spending discipline”.

    “The British taxpayer expects their government to work as efficiently and effectively as possible, and we will deliver on that expectation,” Mr Kwarteng said.

    But senior minister Simon Clarke told the Times newspaper the government needed to explain more about how it would control spending, as well as boost economic growth.

    “We have acquired spending habits that outstrip our ability to pay for it. That needs to change,” he said.

    He suggested the government was looking to make significant cuts and “trim the fat” when it comes to public spending.

    “I think it is important that we look at a state which is extremely large, and look at how we can make sure that it is in full alignment with a lower tax economy.”

    Ms Truss confirmed on Thursday that she was looking for cuts across the government as a way to pay for the mini-budget measures.

    Waveney MP Peter Aldous said the timing of last Friday’s plan had been “hopelessly wrong”, and the rest of the details should be brought forward to October.

    Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey argued that the government, by waiting until 23 November, was allowing the UK economy to “fly blind” for two months.

    “Families and businesses can’t afford to wait any longer for this government to fix their botched, unfair budget,” he said.

    OBR members in Downing Street
    IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA Image caption, Leading members of the Office of Budget Responsibility arriving at 10 Downing Street for a rare meeting with the prime minister

    What is the Office for Budget Responsibility?

    The Office for Budget Responsibility is the independent watchdog for the government’s finances.

    It usually produces economic forecasts twice a year, to accompany each autumn budget and spring statement.

    It scrutinises government plans, to increase taxes or borrowing for example, and predicts what the likely impact on the overall economy will be.

    These forecasts are so important because a strong one gives investors confidence to put money into the UK economy – whereas a weak one is likely to have the opposite effect.

    The government can request forecasts from the OBR at any time to get independent advice on big moves.

    But it did not take the OBR up on its offer ahead of last week’s mini-budget. This is thought to have undermined confidence in the markets.

    This led to the pound dropping to its lowest rate against the dollar in 37 years on Monday, before returning to its previous level.

    The government’s tax-cutting plan faced criticism from the International Monetary Fund, and the pound dropped to a 37-year low of $1.03 on Monday.

    On Friday, the sterling rose to $1.12 – close to the level the currency was at before the mini-budget was announced.

    Despite that, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut the outlook for its AA credit rating for British government debt from “stable” to “negative” on Friday, because of the prospect of higher borrowing needed to fund the pledges.

    In recent days, the Conservatives have posted some of their worst opinion poll ratings in more than 20 years.

    A poll published on Thursday by Survation put the party on 28%, more than 21 points behind Labour, while a separate survey by YouGov put the Tories on 21%, 33 points adrift.

    Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said ministers should “get back to Parliament, revoke the changes, and start again to try and rebuild confidence”.

    And Conservative MP Martin Vickers urged the prime minister not to scrap the 45p tax rate and the bankers’ bonus cap, describing the move as “a political own goal”.

    However, another Tory backbencher, Andrea Leadsom, said the mini-budget was “unashamedly pro-growth”, and that the markets were “wrong to be jittery” about the changes.

  • Bank of England: ‘Don’t panic, we know what we’re doing’

    This afternoon, the Treasury and the Bank of England made an effort to reassure. The message was crystal clear: Don’t worry; we have you covered.

    Privately among some Conservative MPs though, there’s a fear the government doesn’t.

    And so politically, a tussle for perhaps the biggest prize of the lot: the mantle of economic credibility.

    For years, this has been an Achilles’ heel for Labour; pummelled by Conservative opponents labeling them fiscally incontinent; unable to restrain the urge to tax, borrow and spend.

    But they are now attempting to turn that charge around on the Tories, and allow themselves to imagine this might be a moment – like Black Wednesday 30 years ago – where events spiral beyond the government’s control and so mug ministers of reputations, never to properly return.

    Others, though, counsel caution… this moment may pass; pressures may ease.

    Plenty within Labour still see a landscape changing; a willingness to be listened to again.

    What we are witnessing in the markets are the short-term consequences of Friday’s statement from the chancellor.

    But there will be long-term consequences too – that will shape the political debate between now and the next election.