Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Steerpike

Tugendhat’s ‘disgusting and yellow’ Lib Dem jibe

The first of the big Tory leadership interviews kicked off today with Tom Tugendhat in the hotseat. The former security minister put forward his case to a packed out arena in Birmingham — calling for CCHQ reform, apologising for recent years of Tory ‘infighting and chaos’ and insisting he has what it takes to rebuild the ‘Conservative family’.  Receiving a warm welcome from the crowd, Tugendhat was quick to crack the jokes too.  On just how many countries had sanctioned him, he quipped: ‘I’m still working on North Korea…’. He blasted Nigel Farage for saying he wants to ‘destroy’ the Conservatives, reiterating he would not entertain the idea of a merger

James Heale

Liz Truss: I would have won more seats than Rishi

There are noticeably fewer people here at Tory conference in Birmingham this week. But one former MP can still reliably pack in the punters. Despite losing her seat in July, the ‘Liz Truss show’ shows no sign of any drop in enthusiasm, with some 300 conference attendees packing out a lecture theatre for a blast of sound thinking. A further hundred Tories were turned away at the door: proof, some say, that two years after her defenestration, Liz Truss is still yet to lose her appeal. The former Tory premier was here this afternoon to do her sole event of the conference: a Daily Telegraph in-conversation with columnist Tim Stanley.

Limor Simhony Philpott

Israel must press home its advantage against Hezbollah and invade Lebanon

Israel has started to prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon amid international calls for ceasefire. This is the next stage of Israel’s operation against Hezbollah – which began with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, and continued with the killing of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as nearly all of the terror organisation’s top commanders. The Israeli air force continues to bomb Hezbollah’s infrastructure and is preparing the ground for troops to enter southern Lebanon, which might happen later this week. Special units from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have already carried out limited operations across the border, in order to gather vital information that will aid forces during a ground

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Hunt tells the Tory party some uncomfortable truths

Jeremy Hunt is one of the few Tories willing to take the fight to Labour while the Conservative leadership contest drones on. The shadow chancellor gave an on-stage interview at party conference in Birmingham this morning where he continued to attack Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ ‘£22 billion black hole’ narrative. Hunt suggested that not even Labour MPs and members believed that claim, which was why they were having such a big row over the winter fuel payment. ‘We were trounced at the election,’ Hunt said Hunt also warned that Labour was in danger of making decisions based on its own ‘propaganda’, telling Daniel Finkelstein: ‘My worry is that Labour believes its

Ross Clark

Can anything stop Germany’s decline?

Brexit is, we’re told, a disaster that shaved a hefty slice off UK economic growth. But there does seem to be a very large proverbial elephant standing in the way of this thesis. Our EU neighbours don’t seem to have been doing any better than an admittedly sluggish – if now recovering – Britain. While the UK economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year followed by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter, the French economy managed only 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent. It is Germany that continues to surprise most on the downside. The economy shrank again in the second quarter,

Patrick O’Flynn

Could Badenoch blow it?

Fans of Frank Sinatra used to have a favourite saying when their hero was in his pomp: ‘It’s Frank’s world. We just live in it.’ After a day and a half of the Tory conference in Birmingham, there is a temptation to refashion the observation around Kemi Badenoch, so completely has she dominated proceedings. And not, it must immediately be said, always in an obviously advantageous way for her leadership campaign. Supporters of Badenoch were left deeply irritated Badenoch seemed unabashed at the welter of stories surrounding her when she told an event for leadership candidates held by the influential ConservativeHome website at which she spoke last: ‘I think we

Steerpike

Jenrick mocks Starmer’s ‘unserious’ government

To Birmingham, where the Conservative party conference is in full swing. As well as the formal leadership hustings taking place this week, the four rivals vying for the top job are busy behind the scenes trying to convince their colleagues – and membership – to back them. Robert Jenrick staged his latest rally bright and early on Monday morning, treating attendees to breakfast, mountains of merchandise (including printed copies of the Jenrick Post) and the dulcet tones of, er, Avicii. But that wasn’t all – the Tory frontrunner couldn’t quite resist taking a pop at Sir Keir Starmer’s crowd either… Launching into his speech, Jenrick blasted the rather gloomy attitude

Steerpike

JK Rowling defends Rosie Duffield against ‘numbskulls’

All is not well in the Labour party. Not only is Sir Keir still dealing with the freebie fiasco, Starmer also lost a longtime MP last week after she quit the party. Rosie Duffield left Labour with a bang, penning a scathing letter that blasted the ‘sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice’ existing among the lefty lot, telling the Prime Minister: ‘I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.’ Shots fired… And now renowned writer JK Rowling has waded into the matter. Duffield’s resignation letter received immense backlash from her former colleagues – many of whom, alongside Starmer,

Steerpike

Poll: young ex-Tories won’t return to party in 2029

There’s an oddly upbeat mood here at Tory party conference in Birmingham. You might have thought that with just 121 MPs left, the Conservatives would be fairly despondent about their future. But it seems that the bromide of the leadership election has helped assuage such feelings. After all, who can be miserable when there are endless invites to rallies and much merchandise to be purloined? Yet Mr S has a big bucket of cold water to douse on Tories rousing from their conference hangovers this morning. Savanta has done some polling for The Spectator and it looks like the future of the party is not looking too peachy. A majority

Gavin Mortimer

What will happen to Europe if it can’t control the migrant crisis?

The victory of the Freedom party in Austria’s general election came as Israel intensified its air strikes across Lebanon. Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, says that more than one million people have been displaced from their homes as a consequence of the military strikes. The ramifications of the turmoil in the Middle East will terrify Europe Included in that figure are a substantial number of the estimated two million Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon a decade ago to escape the war in their own country. Many have faced discrimination in Lebanon and it has been reported that during the Israeli air strikes Syrians have been refused entry into the country’s air

Nigel Jones

Why the hard-right triumphed in Austria

The general elections in Austria have delivered a sensational result, with the hard right, pro-Putin Freedom party (FPO) coming out on top for the first time in the Alpine republic’s post-second world war history. Projections after Sunday’s poll give the FPO 29 per cent – a three point lead over their nearest rivals, the conservative People’s party (OVP) under Chancellor Karl Nehammer on 26 per cent. The result does not necessarily mean that the FPO will form the new government, as it lacks an absolute majority, and all the other parties have vowed not to form a coalition with the FPO’s victorious controversial leader, Herbert Kickl, a 55-year-old hardline former interior minister

Andrew Tettenborn

Why tuition fees should go up

The fees English universities are allowed to charge home students in England are fixed by government fiat. At £9,250 per year, they are some of the most expensive in Europe. Shortly after the election Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson denied any plans to raise them. She appears to have changed her mind, saying the fee has been ‘eroded’ because it hasn’t gone up in a ‘very long time’. Officials are reportedly drawing up plans to raise the fee to to £10,500 over the next five years, thereby tracking inflation. They are right to do so. In the end, some future Education Secretary will have to swallow an unpalatable pill Put bluntly, the universities

Sunday

Steerpike

Labour points finger at Tories over donations

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party’s conference was mired in his freebie fiasco scandal after revelations about clothing donations and trips abroad surfaced. But while the Labour lot had a tricky time fending the story off at their conference, they appear determined not to let the Tory meet pass without a similar hitch. Now it transpires that the Labour party chair has written to the Electoral Commission to demand an investigation over donations accepted by one Robert Jenrick. How curious… The Chancellor’s sister Ellie Reeves has blasted the Tory leadership frontrunner over a £75,000 sum he accepted from a company called The Spott Fitness. Raising concerns over the ‘legality’ of the monetary

James Heale

Rishi Sunak urges unity in farewell as Tory leader

It was a curious farewell for Rishi Sunak this afternoon. The Tory leader has just finished his final speech to the party faithful before handing over the reins in five weeks time. Keen not to overshadow his four would-be successors, Sunak opted not to give the traditional Wednesday farewell speech to a seated audience of hundreds. Instead, he preferred to deliver fifteen minutes of remarks in a venue which resembled a school disco, with thumping tunes, glowing copies of the Tory logo and drinks vouchers for attendees to swap at the bar. After a crushing election defeat – the worst in Tory history – this was not a victorious farewell

Katy Balls

Did Kemi Badenoch really call maternity pay ‘excessive’?

15 min listen

The final four leadership candidates have arrived at Conservative Party Conference to make their final pitches. However, day one and Kemi Badenoch has found herself in an online row over comments made about maternity pay. Katy Balls, Kate Andrews and Fraser Nelson take a look at what was really said, and whether there is a clear frontrunner to lead the Tory party at conference. 

Steerpike

‘Absolute chancer’: new Scottish Tory leader blasts Farage

While one Tory leadership contest rumbles on, another has come to a close. Russell Findlay was made the new leader of the Scottish Conservative party on Friday – and he’s enjoying his victory lap at Tory conference this weekend. At a fringe event today, the former crime journalist was keen to hammer home that his premiership will be about change – doesn’t that sound familiar – and told his audience he wants to ‘get down to the hard work of earning back the trust of the voters we’ve lost’. And with the recent leadership race shining a light on party infighting, he’s certainly got his work cut out… But the

Isabel Hardman

What Kemi Badenoch should learn from her maternity pay row

The first row of Tory conference has, unsurprisingly, involved Kemi Badenoch. The leadership contender was on Times Radio this morning where she was making a point about business regulation and ended up suggesting that maternity pay in this country was ‘excessive’. Here is a transcript of her exchange with Kate McCann: KM: Do you think we’ve got the right levels of maternity pay at the moment? KB: So, maternity pay varies depending on who you work for, but it is a function, whereas statutory maternity pay, it is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working, we are taking from one group of people and giving to

Kate Andrews

Did Kemi Badenoch really call maternity pay ‘excessive’?

Did Kemi Badenoch just say that maternity pay in the UK is ‘excessive’? That’s the claim kicking off the first day of the Tory party conference: an affair that is supposed to act as a ‘beauty pageant’ for the four remaining leadership contenders. It’s not great timing for Badenoch – and it’s certainly not how she and her team will have wanted to kickstart her four days in Birmingham, trying to win over grassroot Conservatives. It’s also, however, not really what she said. “There was a time when there wasn't any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”@KemiBadenoch suggests statutory maternity pay is "excessive".@KateEMcCann | @AdamBoultonTABB pic.twitter.com/j21Vaw7nXN — Times Radio (@TimesRadio) September 29,

Matt Ridley

Is another pandemic really inevitable?

Future pandemics as bad as Covid are ‘a certainty’, says Sir Chris Whitty. He is right in one sense. So many people gained so much money, power or fame out of the pandemic that they will be all too willing to declare another one soon. The WHO is trying to vastly increase its budget and its powers on the back of Covid. But if he means that we face more outbreaks of new infectious diseases that go global, then no, Whitty is wrong. The chances of another new virus spreading through the human race at a terrifying rate, burning through every barrier we erect – lockdowns, school closures, social distancing, vaccines

Joe Bedell-Brill

Kemi Badenoch: ‘Of course not all cultures are equally valid’

At the Conservative party conference in Birmingham this morning, the Tory leadership candidates set out their stalls. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch said it was essential that there was a ‘shared culture and a shared identity’ in the UK, and that it was important to choose ‘who comes into the country’. Asked which cultures in particular were less valid, Badenoch said: ‘lots… cultures that believe in child marriage.. or that women don’t have equal rights’. Pressed to be more specific, Badenoch told Kuenssberg: ‘I know what you’re trying to do. You want me to say Muslims. But it isn’t all Muslims.’ Badenoch argued that we need to emphasise ‘the thing