Rishi Sunak is trying to convince members of his political party to support his important bill about Rwanda before an important vote in Parliament.
This morning, the Prime Minister talked to 15 Conservative MPs at Downing Street. He will have more meetings later today.
The government‘s new law for Rwanda is being talked about and voted on by the MPs tonight.
The plan is made to send people who come to the UK on small boats to a country in East Africa, where they can ask for protection.
Some Conservative party members don’t like the new plan. Some MPs on the right think it might be stopped by the courts. Others think it doesn’t follow international law.
Changes were required because the highest court in the UK stopped the plan in November. They said it could put asylum seekers in danger.
Tag: Conservative Party
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Sunak meets Tory MPs in effort to keep Rwanda from suffering major setback
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Emergence of Tory divisions precedes Rwanda’s immigration law
There are disagreements in the Conservative party about Rishi Sunak‘s big Rwanda law that will be published soon.
The head of the Home Office, James Cleverly, signed a new agreement with Rwanda on Tuesday, because the Supreme Court said that the old plans were not allowed.
His predecessor, Suella Braverman, said that the UK should ignore human rights laws in order to carry out the plan.
Some MPs in the party said this is a very important issue.
The Prime Minister will announce new laws very soon, Home Office minister Chris Philp stated on BBC Radio 4.
Mr Sunak said he will make changes to the law that the Supreme Court was worried about. The law was about sending people seeking safety to east Africa.
It is made to work with the new agreement where the UK will give money to Rwanda to help them process asylum requests for people who come to the UK.
The UK will now pay for British and Commonwealth judges to oversee a new appeals process in Rwanda, as well as cover the legal fees for anyone sent there.
Conservative breaks up.
Mr Philp said to the BBC that the bill will do anything necessary to make the Rwanda plan happen.
The BBC knows that moderate Conservative MPs are concerned that Mr. Sunak may be thinking about Mrs. Braverman’s plans to ignore human rights laws.
Mrs Braverman, who used to be in charge of laws, has said before that the bill should not follow the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as well as other international rules like the Refugee Convention.
The One Nation Caucus, which is made up of 106 Conservative MPs, asked the prime minister to not listen to these requests.
Ex-deputy prime minister Damian Green, who now leads the One Nation Caucus, said the government should reconsider before going against the ECHR and HRA.
Mr Green said that Conservative governments have been very important in making and keeping the ECHR and the Refugee and Torture conventions.
“We still value these agreements and they are important for protecting the UK’s democratic history. ”
Matt Warman, an important member of the group, said: “Many Conservatives will not accept going against the ECHR. ” Any Conservative government should focus on making institutions better and protecting human rights.
Mark Francois, the leader of the ERG, said the group won’t support any new laws that don’t “completely respect the power of Parliament, with clear wording”.
The ERG, a powerful group of MPs who support Brexit, said they will only support the bill if it is approved by a group of legal experts led by MP Bill Cash. -
Ministers under increased pressure about boat crossings
After six migrants perished when a boat capsized off the coast of France on Saturday, ministers are under increased pressure to address boat crossings in the English Channel.
Those who smuggle people are “running rings” around the government, according to Labour, while the UK has a “moral duty to act,” according to a Tory backbencher.
“Stopping the boats” is one of the government’s top five priorities.
Investigations into the event that occurred on Saturday, in which 59 people were saved, and two may still be missing, are ongoing.
The overloaded craft, one of several migrant boats that left on Saturday in the goal of reaching the UK, came into trouble and capsized 12 miles (20 km) off Sangatte.
On the same day, 54 more migrants were saved by French coast guards after another migrant boat capsized 6 miles (10 km) off the shore of Calais. They arrived at Dunkirk’s port.
A opposition cabinet minister named Bridget Phillipson said that organised crime groups were “running rings” around the government and blamed their behaviour on the “completely out of control” backlog in refugee applications.
The administration, according to her, was running a “increasingly shambolic and completely incompetent” home office.
“There is a complete failure to carry out the fundamentals: process cases, hastily reach choices so that you can act. If people aren’t legally authorised to be in this nation, you can ensure that those who are may move on and lead happy lives for the rest of their days, she told BBC Breakfast.
Action has also been requested from the Conservative Party. Sir Jake Berry, a backbench MP and former party leader, remarked that “only radical changes can truly turn the tide.”
He stated in a piece for the Sunday Express that “We have a moral duty, both to our own citizens and those asylum seekers, to act.”
He argued that the European Convention on Human Rights would continue to thwart “any and all attempts to stop the boats” and advocated for the UK to withdraw from it.
The Refugee Council issued a dire warning that “more people will die” until new secure routes to the UK are established, while the refugee charity Care4Calais called the incident a “appalling and preventable tragedy.”
The fatalities were described as a “tragic loss of life” by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who presided over a meeting with UK Border Force representatives on Saturday.
The government’s intentions to restrict small boats from crossing the Channel are centred on the new Illegal Migration Bill, which Ms. Braverman is the primary proponent of. The home secretary is legally required to hold and expel anyone entering the UK unlawfully.
The UK will pay £500 million to France over three years to build a new detention facility and extra patrol personnel, according to a new arrangement the UK is proposing with France.
The English Channel’s lengthy coastline makes it extremely challenging for the coastguard to stop all small boat crossings, French authorities have previously noted.
With 600 tankers and 200 ferries travelling through it each day, the English Channel is one of the busiest and most dangerous shipping waterways in the whole world.
Before a French patrol boat was sent to the boat in danger, according to French police, a commercial vessel discovered the migrant boat.
“While we mourn these victims… it is the responsibility of human traffickers – of criminals – who send young people, women, and adults to their deaths on these maritime routes that are dangerous and lethal,” stated French Minister of the Sea Hervé Berville.
Investigators are searching for any data that could point them in the direction of the smuggling organisation that planned the crossing.
65 or 66 migrants were on the boat, according to those who were rescued.
According to a volunteer rescuer, migrants were using their shoes to bail water out of the sinking boat.
Two people who may still be missing have had their search suspended awaiting the discovery of new information.
It is thought that many of the migrants on board are from Sudan and Afghanistan, respectively. It was also aware that some of them were kids.
More migrants have reportedly arrived in recent weeks, living in squalor along the shoreline, according to aid workers in Calais. Many of them, they claim, are adamant on travelling to the UK despite being warned about the risks involved.
The pressure on the ministers comes in response to complaints that 39 asylum seekers had to be removed off the Bibby Stockholm barge after Legionella bacteria were found in the water supply.
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Labour calls on Rishi Sunak to prevent Boris Johnson’s “conveyor belt of cronies” from resigning from peerages
The Times reports that, Mr Johnson has nominated two of his loyal advisers – Ross Kempsell, the Conservative Party‘s former political director, and Charlotte Owen, the former PM’s former assistant – to become the youngest life peers in history.
Labour has called on Rishi Sunak to block Boris Johnson’s “conveyer belt of cronies” resignation peerages.
Scotland Secretary Alister Jack, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, former minister Nigel Adams and the outgoing COP26 President Alok Sharma are among those expected to be nominated by the former prime minister to be elevated to the House of Lords.
The Times newspaper also reports that Mr Johnson has nominated two of his loyal advisers – Ross Kempsell, the Conservative Party’s former political director and Charlotte Owen, a former assistant to the former PM – to become the youngest life peers in history.
A source close to Mr Johnson said: “We never comment on speculation about honours.”
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the prime minister should “refuse to do Boris Johnson’s bidding” and reject his demands.
“This disgraced ex-prime minister’s plot to dodge democracy by trying to reward his MP lackeys with promised jobs for life in the House of Lords yet again puts the Tory Party’s interests before the public’s,” she said in a statement.
“These underhand attempts to game the system by installing a conveyor belt of cronies and skewing parliament in the Tories’ favour for decades to come should never see the light of day.
“Rishi Sunak should make it clear in no uncertain terms that he will refuse to do Boris Johnson’s bidding and reject his disreputable demands.”
Earlier today, a Conservative MP criticised those nominated by Mr Johnson for peerages.
“What a shameful list of bootlickers, bimbos and tropical island holiday facilitators who between them can be proud to have pushed trust in politics to an extreme low during their tenures and offered very little in return to the British people,” they told Sky News.
The politicians on the list are all understood to have agreed to delay heading to the Lords until the end of the current parliament to spare Mr Sunak the challenges of by-elections.
How the peerages for MPs would be delayed was unclear, but the suggestion was that the King would have to approve the arrangement, in a move appearing to be without precedent.
Shaun Bailey, the former London mayoral candidate who faced a backlash for attending a mid-lockdown Christmas party, was also said to be on the former prime minister’s list.
The prime minister’s resignation honours are distinctions granted by an outgoing prime minister.
A PM can request the reigning monarch to grant peerages, knighthoods, damehoods or other awards in the British honours system to any number of people.
In the case of peerages, the House of Lords Appointments Commission vets the list.
Often, but not always, Downing Street staff, political aides and MPs are rewarded through the system.
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Who is Rishi Sunak? The UK’s first British Asian prime minister
We look at how the Southampton-born banker made his way to the top job in Downing Street.
Just seven weeks ago, Rishi Sunak was licking his wounds after losing the Tory leadership race to Liz Truss.
Now, he has become the youngest prime minister of the modern era.
As he settles into his tenure in Number 10 as the third PM of 2022, let’s look back at how he made it to the top job.
First-class Oxford degree
Born in 1980 in Southampton, he is the eldest of three children to his parents of Punjabi descent.
He attended England’s oldest public school, Winchester College, where he became the first Indian-origin head boy and was editor of the school paper.
He has since said his experience at the boarding school was “intellectually transforming” and put him “on a different trajectory”.
Mr Sunak went on to study philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College at Oxford University, where he obtained a first-class degree.
After completing an MBA at Stanford University, where he met his future wife, Akshata Murthy, Mr Sunak worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs as an analyst.
He was said to have already had job offers from investment banks under his belt while still in his second year at Oxford.
He moved to work for hedge funds in 2006 when he joined TCI, known as a very aggressive fund, and left three years later to cofound a new hedge fund.
Mr Sunak then turned his attention to politics.
Replacing a Tory grandee
In 2014, Mr Sunak was selected as the Conservative Party candidate in the Yorkshire seat of Richmond – previously held by former Tory leader William Hague – before the following year’s general election.
Nicknamed the “maharajah of the Yorkshire Dales”, he recalled being introduced as “the new William Hague” to his constituents after winning the ballot, to which a Yorkshire farmer replied: “Ah yes Haguey!
“Good bloke. I like him. Bit pale, though. This one’s got a nice tan.”
Soon after his entry into the Commons – where, as a Hindu, he took his oath on the Bhagavad Gita – the first big political fight of his career came along in Brexit.
Mr Sunak supported leaving the EU, claiming the UK would be “freer, fairer and more prosperous” outside the bloc.
His side won, and he bided his time on the backbenches, supporting Theresa May’s negotiations and writing papers on the benefits of freeports, before being appointed to government in January 2018 as a junior minister at the housing ministry.
After Mrs May’s demise, he joined with colleagues Oliver Dowden and Robert Jenrick to write an article in The Telegraph, backing Boris Johnson as the only person who could “save” the Tory party.
His support paid off, as when Mr Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, Mr Sunak secured a promotion to become chief secretary to the Treasury, becoming the right-hand man to Mr Javid as chancellor.
It was the exit of that boss that led to his real rise to prominence when he was made chancellor in February 2020 – a month before COVID took hold.
From relative unknown to household name
Sunak won praise throughout the pandemic for rapidly introducing support schemes worth billions of pounds to keep jobs and businesses afloat during 18 months of lockdowns.
The likes of furlough and the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme led to “dishy Rishi” becoming a household name, and a popular one with the public.
At the height of this popularity, he was seen by many Tory MPs as the sure-fire favourite to succeed Mr Johnson when the time came.
Image:The then-chancellor’s Eat Out to Help Out plan made him a household name. But he seemed to fall from grace as quickly as he rose to fame.
Mr Sunak introduced a number of policies that went down badly with Tory MPs, especially the rise in national insurance to fund more money for the NHS and social care.
He was also fined for attending the prime minister’s birthday party during lockdown in 2020, compromising his ability to separate himself from the partygate scandal.
But it was revelations about his wife that really damaged his standing with the public.
Wife’s non-dom status damages leadership hopes
Ms Murty is a multimillionaire and the daughter of billionaire NR Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of the Indian technology giant Infosys.
In April, it was revealed she held non-dom status, meaning she did not have to pay UK tax on her sizeable international income, and it led to an uproar.
Image:Akshata Murthy’s tax affairs brought his position as chancellor into question. She later confirmed she would begin to pay tax on her international earnings as it had “become clear that many do not feel [the non-dom status] is compatible with my husband’s role as chancellor”.
The row led to opposition parties highlighting his family’s wealth, with Mr Sunak facing accusations that his personal circumstances made him an unsuitable candidate to take over and tackle the cost of living crisis.
Although he remained as chancellor, many wrote off his chances of becoming the next Tory leader.
But his resignation in July sparked a ministerial exodus and Mr Johnson’s resignation, paving the way for his first attempt at Downing Street.
In the ensuing leadership race, Mr Sunak came out on top in each of the five parliamentary rounds of the contest, making it to the final two along with Ms Truss.
But as the campaign hit its stride and widened to the party membership, Mr Sunak found himself transformed from favourite to underdog.
While he warned of “tough choices ahead” to tackle record levels of national debt incurred during the pandemic, Ms Truss promised tax cuts as a priority.
He accused his competitor of “fairy-tale” economics and peddling “something-for-nothing” plans that even Jeremy Corbyn would baulk at.
But Ms Truss doubled down, landing blows on Mr Sunak for putting taxes up to the highest level in 70 years.
Staying in the background
She went on to win the party leadership after securing 57% of valid votes cast, compared to 43% for Mr Sunak.
While Ms Truss embarked on a path of economic turmoil thanks to her tax-slashing mini-budget, the former chancellor kept a low profile, only appearing in the Commons for a few backbench debates and staying away from the cameras.
And after her resignation following a historically short tenure, all eyes were back on Mr Sunak as the candidate to bring back stability to the markets and, perhaps, the party.
He announced he was running to replace Ms Truss on Twitter three days later, having already reached the 100+ nominations needed to get a place on the ballot.
But that was all we saw of the favourite for PM as he again kept out of the spotlight, despite going for the highest-profile job in the land.
The United Kingdom is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis.
That’s why I am standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and your next Prime Minister.
I want to fix our economy, unite our Party and deliver for our country. pic.twitter.com/BppG9CytAK
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 23, 2022
Source: Skynews.com
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Scotland’s first minister congratulates Sunak and presses for independence
Sunak won the Conservative Party leadership election, and Scotland’s first minister has congratulated him, saying she will do her best “to build a constructive working relationship with him in the interests of those we serve,” but she has also renewed calls for Scottish independence.
“That he becomes the first British Asian to become PM is a genuinely significant moment,” Nicola Sturgeon tweeted.
“As for the politics, I’d suggest one immediate decision he should take and one he certainly should not. He should call an early General Election. And he should not – must not – unleash another round of austerity. Our public services will not withstand that,” she said.
“For Scotland, of course, he becomes another PM we did not and, without doubt, would not vote for even if given the chance. To escape the damage of Westminster governments with no mandate here, and take our future into our own hands, Scotland needs independence.”
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Rishi Sunak says becoming Prime Minister is “the greatest privilege of my life”
Rishi Sunak has given his first speech as Conservative Party leader, telling the party he is “humbled and honored” to win their support.
“I’d like to pay tribute to Liz Truss for her dedicated public service to the country,” he said of the outgoing leader. “She has led with dignity and grace through a time of great change.”
“It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love, and to be able to give back to the country I owe so much to,” Sunak said.
“The United Kingdom is a great country, but there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge,” he added. “We need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”
“I pledge that I will serve you with integrity and humility … I will work day in, day out to deliver for the British people,” he concluded at the end of a very brief speech.
Source: Sky News
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Archbishop of Canterbury on incoming PM: ‘Please join me in praying for Rishi Sunak’
After being elected leader of the Conservative Party, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby asked the British people to “please join me in praying for Rishi Sunak.”
He said it was a time of “great difficulty and uncertainty” for the UK.
“Please join me in praying for Rishi Sunak as he takes on the responsibilities of leadership.
“May he, and all leaders of all parties, work across divides to bring unity and offer stability for those who need it most.”
Mr Sunak took the post unopposed on Monday after Liz Truss resigned as prime minister on Thursday.
She had been in Number 10 for 44 days – the shortest premiership of any British prime minister.
At a time of great difficulty and uncertainty for this country, please join me in praying for @RishiSunak as he takes on the responsibilities of leadership.
May he, and all leaders of all parties, work across divides to bring unity and offer stability for those who need it most.— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) October 24, 2022
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Sunak arrives at CCHQ to cheers
Rishi Sunak has arrived at the Conservative Party Headquarters in Westminster in the last few moments.
Tory MPs had gathered on the steps ahead of his arrival, with former health secretary Matt Hancock joining the crowds.
Mr Sunak was met by applause and cheers, shaking the hands of a number of those awaiting the arrival of their new leader.
The incoming prime minister waved to those waiting – and the cameras – before heading inside CCHQ.
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Sunak likely to make a statement today – and what happens next
Our political editor Beth Rigby has been talking us through what is likely to happen in the next few days after Rishi Sunak became the next Tory leader.
She said: “What’s he up to now? He’s addressing MPs – we haven’t seen him yet.
“But I think we are going to get a statement from him on camera later today. What does a new Conservative Party leader typically do?
“I imagine what we will see later today is he will go to Conservative HQ – this is what every new Conservative leader does.
“Then I think we will see tomorrow the handover of power, that’s when Liz Truss formally exits Number 10 and has an audience with the King, and then the new prime minister has an audience with the King and makes that journey from Buckingham Palace to the podium outside in the street.
“And he will address the nation.”
Beth added that this is an astonishing turnaround for Mr Sunak.
“But what a moment this is,” she said. “Rishi Sunak, he was down and out in July, he was out of the cabinet, he was back on the backbenches. There were questions about whether he would even remain as an MP.
“He is the first British-Asian prime minister… this really is a ground-breaking moment for the country in so many ways.
“But it’s also controversial because he is the third Conservative prime minister since the 2019 general election.”
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Source: Sky news, Beth Rigby
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How will the Conservatives elect a new leader?
Nominations to succeed Truss as the next Conservative Party leader and PM will close at 14:00 BST on Monday 24 October.
To enter, candidates will require at least 100 nominations – in the last contest only 20 nominations were needed.
As there are currently 357 Tory MPs, a maximum of three candidates will be able to progress.
Here’s how it’ll work:
Source: BBC
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Keir Starmer is at the forefront of calls for an emergency general election
Following the resignation of the prime minister, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for an emergency general election.
Sir Keir stated that the country “cannot afford another experiment at the leadership of the Conservative Party.”
Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister after only 45 days in office, citing she “could not deliver on the mandate on which I was elected.”
A new prime minister is expected to be announced by 28 October.
It will be the second Conservative Party leadership election this year.
The Liberal Democrats, the SNP. Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have also been calling for an immediate general election.
Scotland’s first minister has said a UK general election is a “democratic imperative” following the resignation of the prime minister.
“This is an almighty mess, and it is people the length and breadth of the UK who are paying the price of this,” she told the BBC
“Fundamentally the UK now needs to have a democratic choice over its next prime minister.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “We do not need another Conservative prime minister lurching from crisis to crisis, we need a general election.
“It is time for Conservative MPs to do their patriotic duty, put the country first, and give the people a say.”
He later told BBC Breakfast that no candidate could provide stability because the party is “so divided”.
“The shambolic nature of the modern Conservative Party doesn’t give me any faith in them,” he said.
The next general election is not due to take place until at least 2024 after the Conservatives won a landslide majority in the last one in 2019.
Ms Truss was elected by the Tory membership in September, but she lost authority after a series of U-turns.
In a brief speech outside Downing Street, Ms Truss said the Conservative Party had elected her on a mandate to cut taxes and boost economic growth.
She will become the shortest-serving PM in British history when she stands down.
Leading pollster Professor Sir John Curtice said whoever leads the Conservative party next should “enjoy the next 18 months to two years, because that will probably be their tenure”.
“Parties and governments who preside over a fiscal crisis have nearly always struggled at the ballot box at the next election,” Sir John said.
An Opinium poll this week projected a 1997-style landslide for Labour, with the party winning 411 seats.
The same poll, conducted for the TUC interviewing more than 10,000 adults, predicted the Conservatives would be reduced from 356 MPs to 137.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Sir Keir said: “This is not just a soap opera at the top of the Tory party – it’s doing huge damage to the reputation of our country.
“We need a general election so the public can have their say on this utter chaos.
“There’s a manifesto that is going to be ready whenever an election is called,” Sir Keir told the BBC’s Newscast podcast.
“I’ve had a team working on that. I’ve had a team working on general election preparedness. We’ve moved our teams onto a general election footing.
“We’re very, very prepared should there be a general election.”
In his speech to the TUC conference on Thursday, Sir Keir said Labour had a long-term plan to “deliver cheaper bills and higher living standards for working people, growth and jobs in every part of our country”.
He outlined some of the policies he announced at Labour’s annual conference last month, including those in its “green prosperity plan”
The plan includes pledges to create a publicly-owned renewable energy firm, achieve carbon-free electricity by 2030, and insulate 19 million homes.
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A prominent Tory MP vindicated from ‘naughty step’
Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood has hailed Jeremy Hunt’s appointment as chancellor as a “wise inclusion.”
The influential Tory MP appears to have regained his Conservative whip, tweeting that he’s “off the… naughty step & back in Pty.”
Ellwood had the whip withdrawn – basically meaning he was kicked out of the parliamentary party while keeping his seat – after missing a vote of confidence in Boris Johnson’s government in July.
At the time, he said he’d been unable to return from a meeting overseas.
The Conservative Party has not yet commented.
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Sir Keir Starmer hits out at ‘grotesque chaos’ of chancellor sacking and accuses Truss of putting ‘party first and country second’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at what he called the “grotesque chaos” of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s sacking, as he accused Liz Truss of putting “party first and country second”.
It comes as the turmoil continued within the Conservative party this morning, as new chancellor Jeremy Hunt rowed back on Liz Truss’s promises on tax cuts and public spending.
Mr Hunt told Sky News there were “mistakes” in the mini-budget and warned of tough times ahead.
Hunt warns of ‘difficult decisions’; follow politics’ latest
“We won’t have the speed of tax cuts we were hoping for, and some taxes will go up”, he said.
He also said that all government departments would have to “find more efficiencies than they were planning to find”.
Mr Hunt was appointed chancellor on Friday, an hour after his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked after just 38 days on the job.
Source: Skynews
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‘It’s a matter of survival for her now’ – would ousting her chancellor be enough to save Truss?
Discussion is happening at all levels in the Conservative party about whether the prime minister can survive – even if she replaces her chancellor.
As one senior minister in her government put it to me this morning before reports that Kwarteng would be sacked: “I honestly don’t think either of them, Liz or Kwasi have a clue, I don’t think they know what they’re doing.”
“They’ve got one shot to satisfy the markets,” the minister said – with a full U-turn on the corporation tax freeze and perhaps more: “The worst possible thing, now the markets have priced in a U-turn on corporation tax would be mealy-mouthed partial U-turn.”
“But my instinct is she won’t survive. She’s introduced herself to the country in the worst way imaginable, and people’s views of her are quite settled now.
“Even if she stays, you can’t have a chancellor who has lost the confidence of the markets, that’s never happened before that I can remember”. The minister said the prime minister might need a complete reboot of the Treasury team to restore confidence, but having jettisoned key parts of her economic programme, “she is a husk.”
This minister and others point out that her controversial supply-side reforms are likely to be opposed in parliament – as are spending cuts on the scale that may be needed to pay for her measures.
Other MPs also say she will need a humiliating change of direction to survive. One long-serving MP said: “It’s unfair for Kwasi to go in the sense that it was all her idea, but politics isn’t fair. It’s a matter of survival for her now, there are discussions going on but it’s not organized yet.”
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Source: Skynews
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Tory conference: A number of unexpected things have already occured
Liz Truss and her ministers arrived as anticipated in a combative, flinty tone, ready to stick with their mini-maxi budget.
In her no-surrender speech on the 45p top tax rate, the prime minister paid homage to Thatcher by blaming international forces for domestic interest rate increases that are driving up mortgage and business costs for millions of people.
Conservative party chairman Jake Berry went further, suggesting markets can overreact.
The only contrition so far has been an acknowledgment that the communications around the growth plan weren’t up to scratch.
So far so expected.
But a number of unexpected things have already happened today.
First is the public scale of the opposition the PM is already experiencing.
Michael Gove, the talismanic Tory love-hate figure, crowned himself the leader of the internal opposition on TV this morning, suggesting he’d vote against the 45p top rate when it comes to parliament, probably in March.
Mel Stride, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, wants to bring forward the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts.
Others are planning to speak publicly.
Secondly is the huge disquiet from dozens of Tories not in Birmingham who are contemplating how to stop – in their view – Ms Truss wrecking the reputation for financial probity of the Conservative Party.
One Tory MP even suggested they would contemplate voting to force a general election soon, arguing it could be in the national interest, even if that meant expulsion from the party and being ostracised by everyone who they have worked with in the last decade.
Thirdly, confusingly, Liz Truss has knocked down her relationship with her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.
She appeared to blame him for the 45p tax row, saying it was his decision, as she admitted it wasn’t put to the cabinet.
This prompted even Truss loyalist Nadine Dorries to raise an eyebrow, saying “there is a balance, and throwing your chancellor under a bus on the first day of the conference really isn’t it. Fingers crossed things to improve and settle down from now.”
Last week, Sky News outlined how Ms Truss needed convincing by Mr Kwarteng to acknowledge the Bank of England’s concerns.
This creates a toxic impression the two are not getting along. This isn’t a straightforward start to Ms Truss’s first conference.
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Tax cuts are welcomed by most Tory MPs, but not all of them
Some members of the Conservative Party appear to have embraced Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting proposals.
Beth Rigby, the political editor for Sky, has spoken with some of the chancellor’s colleagues.
One said it was now “starting to look like a Conservative government”, while another said they were very supportive.
A third said there was no future in the “steady as she goes” approach pursued under the previous chancellor Rishi Sunak, and that now is the right time to go for growth.
However, it is notable that those who opposed the tax-cutting, high-spending plans outlined by Liz Truss in her bid to be Tory leader seem to be keeping their cards close to their chest.
Criticisms have still been made about the lack of an official OBR forecast.
Sunak supporter and Treasury committee chair Mel Stride said there was a “vast void at the centre of the announcements”.
Veteran Conservative Sir Roger Gale said: “Fortune favours the brave, but not the foolhardy.
“Without the support of an OBR Kwasi Kwarteng’s not-so-mini budget is certainly brave but also looks very high risk indeed. I trust that the promised detailed figures will underpin his calculations.”
The Treasury is understood to have based its analysis on the OBR forecast from March, with updated market prices.
Mr Kwarteng said a full OBR forecast would be completed by the end of the year.
