Amber Rudd

From her resignation letter This has been a difficult decision. I joined your Cabinet in good faith; accepting that ‘no deal’ had to be on the table, because it was the means by which we would have the best chance of achieving a new deal to leave on October 31. However, I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the Government’s main objective. The Government is expending a lot of energy to prepare for ‘no deal’ but I have not seen the same level of intensity go into our talks with the European Union who have asked us to present alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop. The updates I have been grateful to receive from your office have not, regretfully, provided me with the reassurances I sought.

Conference, Standing here in Manchester it is impossible to forget the sight of this proud city, shrouded in grief, after a pop concert in May. It is impossible to forget the images of the terrified concert-goers … the images of the injured and the dead - some so very young. The toll of those who have been the victims of such violence this year is grim.  It includes those targeted outside Finsbury Park Mosque, and in London Bridge.  It includes the innocent people mown down on Westminster Bridge. It includes Police Constable Keith Palmer who paid with his life in the line of duty, trying to stop that attack. His death is a reminder of the daily danger in which our police force and intelligence agencies put themselves, to keep the rest of us safe.