MP Rosie Duffield has resigned the Labour whip, accusing the prime minister of “hypocrisy” and pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies.
In a resignation letter, Ms Duffield attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test winter fuel payments.
In her resignation letter, she wrote: “The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale.”
Ms Duffield, who will sit as an independent, also slated Sir Keir’s acceptance of more than £100,000 of freebies including clothes.
Earlier, Kemi Badenoch warned that Tory members will be “very angry” if MPs take part in a “stitch-up” to lend votes to other candidates to keep her out of the top two in the leadership contest.
Allies of Ms Badenoch claim she is the victim of a “dirty tricks” campaign, with Robert Jenrick in effect lending votes to James Cleverly, which the former has strongly denied.
Asked whether she believed Mr Jenrick was taking this approach, she told The Times: “I think that may be happening. But what else is happening is that there is tactical voting.”
Key Points
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Rosie Duffield quits Labour with damning attack on Starmer
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Kemi Badenoch warns Tory members will be ‘very angry’ if stitch-up occurs
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Boris Johnson considered ‘nuts’ plan to raid Dutch warehouse over vaccines row
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Badenoch: ‘I would be congratulating Netanyahu’
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Tory contender: ‘it’s not all Muslim immigrants’ who hate Israel
Tory contender admits his party ‘failed to deliver’
09:14 , Salma Ouaguira
Tom Tugendhat has attributed the Conservatives’ election defeat in July to a “failure to deliver”.
In his pitch, he called for a renewed focus on the party’s achievements rather than internal divisions.
He said: “Quite understandably, people have looked at us and asked us what our record is. The focus of the media has been where we’ve drawn attention, and we’ve drawn attention to the in-fighting and not our success.”
Mr Tugendhat added: “We need to restore trust and the way we restore trust is by ending the culture of sleaze that sadly we now see infecting the Labour Party, and to make sure that we’re bringing back the trust that British people can expect in their parties.
“Change is the way our party will act.”
Tugendhat: Iran is a pernicious and vicious threat
09:10 , Salma Ouaguira
Tom Tugendhat has now taken the Sky News stage to make his case for the Tory leadership.
Like his contenders, he is asked about his message to Israel.
Mr Tugendhat replied: “Well, I’d be saying to Iran that this is no time for escalation, this is no time for reinforcing your militias in the region.”
The veteran added that “we don’t just have to be tough in words, we have to be tough in action” in dealing with Tehran, highlighting his introduction of the National Security Act.
He added: “We need to be absolutely clear, Iran is a pernicious and vicious threat, not just to the region but also us in the United Kingdom.”
Cleverly: I’ve been the face and voice of four different prime ministers
09:03 , Salma Ouaguira
James Cleverly has hit back at criticism over his lower support among Tory MPs compared to rivals Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, highlighting his loyalty and experience.
He told Sky News: “I have been the face and voice of, as you say, four different prime ministers and I have been a team player, which means I have had to promote other people’s ideas.
“I was happy to do so, that’s what you do as part of a team. The point I’m saying is I have not spent that time promoting my own ideas. This leadership campaign is about doing that.
“And the point is you say I’m most popular with the general population, that really matters if you’re trying to win a general election.”
Cleverly admits voters wanted Tories out of office
09:00 , Salma Ouaguira
James Cleverly is now asked about the bruising defeat to Labour at the general election.
Reflecting on the result, he told Sky: “British voters told us not that they wanted a Labour government, they wanted us out of office, and we have got to listen to that.”
He added: “There’s no point getting angry with the voters. We got kicked out of office for a reason. What we’ve now got to do is get our act together, quickly, listen to what they told us properly, and then campaign once again on our core values to get back into office.
“I’ll tell you what the public told me they didn’t like, they didn’t like the constant infighting, they didn’t like the bickering.
“They didn’t like the fact that as soon as someone became prime minister, there were people within the party who set about removing them as prime minister. And we didn’t do that just once or twice. We did that over and over again.”
Cleverly: Israel should act within international law
08:55 , Salma Ouaguira
It is now the turn of shadow home secretary James Cleverly.
Sky News’ Trevor Phillips has asked the Tory contender what would he say to Israel following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.
Mr Cleverly responded: “I would see them what I said to them already when I was foreign secretary, when I met with President Herzog, when I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu, defence minister Gallant.
“I’ve said that you do have a right to defend yourself, absolutely. They are surrounded by people who would do them harm. But when they do so, they have to abide by international law.
“They have to be conscious of civilian casualties, they have to act professionally, and show restraint. So I will be consistent. I’m always consistent what I said to them before, is what I would say to the future.”
‘If you swing at me, I will swing back,’ Badenoch warns
08:51 , Salma Ouaguira
Kemi Badenoch has ben pressed about her recent rows with David Tennant and Nadine Dorries.
The Tory leadership candidate previously hit out at the Doctor Who actor in a campaign video saying the star is “the problem”.
The former business secretary was also engulfed in a row involving Ms Dorries, who claimed Ms Badenoch was aligned to a plot to control the Conservative Party.
Asked about the disagreements, she said: “I don’t know, I guess it must be being somebody who’s very forthright… There I was being nice, minding my own business and then they came after me.”
She added: “[David Tennant] told me to ‘shut up’. Why is it that people worry about someone who told back? They don’t like it when women talk back, they don’t like it when politicians talk back.
“I will talk back. I will not stand there and let people punch me. If you swing at me, I will swing back. But I don’t look for fights.”
Asked if she was “too Nigerian” for British politics, she added: “I doubt that, Nigerians tell me I’m too British. I am just Kemi, I am something that’s just different and unique. And that’s why I stand out in this contest, and that’s why I think members like me.”
Tory leadership contender: ‘it’s not all Muslim immigrants’ who hate Israel
08:45 , Salma Ouaguira
Kemi Badenoch has said she was struck by how many immigrants hated Israel.
Asked whether she was referring to all Muslim immigrants, the Tory MP told Sky News: “Because it’s not all Muslims, and this is what I don’t do. I’m very careful when I speak.
“I’ve met many Muslim people who love Israel. I’ve met them in the Middle East, when I went to Saudi, when I went to the UAE, you know, you look at the Abrahamic Middle East.
“It is not all Muslims, but there are some who buy into Islamist ideology, political Islam. They do not like us.”
Badenoch ‘starting from first principles’
08:43 , Salma Ouaguira
The Tory leadership contender has told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that she is different from other candidates because she “starts from first principles”.
Kemi Badenoch added: “I’m not standing throwing out lots of new policy and saying ‘this time we’ll do this’.
“What I believe we need to do now is to win the trust of the British people again, and that means starting with principles.
“What do we believe in? Personal responsibility. We haven’t talked about those things as much. Freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of association.
“We stopped talking about the principles. That’s what people buy into when they’re voting for a political party, not just what latest managerial policy might be announced.”
Tories were talking Right and governing Left – Badenoch
08:40 , Salma Ouaguira
Kemi Badenoch is now being asked about the Tories’ historic defeat at the general election.
On whether the Conservatives deserved to lose, Ms Badenoch told Sky News: “Well, I don’t think we deserved to win. People didn’t understand what we stood for.
“I often tell people that we were talking Right and governing Left. An example of that is increasingly we gave out lots of prison sentences, but we didn’t get around building more prison places for all sorts of reasons.
“And from the public’s perspective, it looked like we weren’t still delivering. We need to be able to show that, and that we also say what we mean and mean what we say, that’s what I want to bring to the contest.”
Badenoch: ‘I would be congratulating Netanyahu’
08:38 , Salma Ouaguira
Kemi Badenoch has claimed she would “congratulate Netanyahu” following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The Tory contender added: “I think what they did was extraordinary. Israel has more clarity in leading with its enemies and the enemies of the west.”
Asked whether Israel should get a free pass, she said: “It is not about a free pass, but Israel has the right of defend itself.”
Badenoch: Leaving ECHR ‘not a silver bullet’ for migration crisis
08:28 , Salma Ouaguira
Kemi Badenoch has downplayed the idea of quitting the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as a solution to the UK’s migration challenges, suggesting it would not be her first step in addressing the issue.
In a video posted on X, she said: “A lot of people talk about leaving the ECHR as if it is a silver bullet. It’s not. Leaving the ECHR alone will not solve our immigration issues. It’s not even the most radical thing we need to do.
“We need a wholesale strategy that starts with thinking about what kind of country we want to be, who are we letting in, why are they here? How long are they going to be here for? Are they committed to our country? Do they want to be British?”
Senior minister defends Labour after Rosie Duffield’s resignation
08:21 , Salma Ouaguira
Following Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield’s resignation from the Labour Party, senior minister and Sir Keir Starmer ally Pat McFadden has expressed regret over her departure.
He told Sky News: “I regret that Rosie’s made this decision. It’s probably not a secret that she’s been unhappy for some time.”
When pressed on Ms Duffield’s claim that she is “ashamed” of the party, McFadden said: “Well, I’m not ashamed of the party. You know, we’ve got a new Labour government. We’ve got a big agenda ahead of us.”
Tory leadership candidates make pitch ahead of party conference
08:20 , Salma Ouaguira
Conservative leadership hopefuls are making pitches to the membership ahead of the party’s conference getting under way.
The first conference since their election defeat in July begins in Birmingham on Sunday – and Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly will be vying for support in the contest.
Candidates have touched on subjects from tax to immigration and the party’s future in a series of interviews and op-eds.
Ahead of several days of events, opening the conference in Sunday afternoon, the interim chair of the Tories, Richard Fuller, will tell the membership that he is “profoundly sorry” for the election loss.
The leadership candidates hoping to succeed Rishi Sunak will all have an opportunity to address the conference – which will run until Wednesday – and their campaigns will be lobbying MPs before parliamentarians pick the final two on 10 October.
Members will choose between those two, with the result declared on 2 November.
Coming up: Tory leadership contenders make pitch on Sky News
08:15 , Salma Ouaguira
All four Tory leadership candidates will shortly appear on Sky News to make their pitch to members.
Live from the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, contenders Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick will make their case for the leadership.
Stay tuned for insights and analysis from each of the hopefuls.
Rosie Duffield’s resignation letter in full
08:10 , Salma Ouaguira
Rosie Duffield has quit as a Labour MP, criticising leader Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners and also his decision to retain the two-child benefit cap for parents.
In a three-page letter, published in the Sunday Times, she also slammed his treatment of fellow MP Diane Abbot, as well as his “managerial style and technocratic approach.”
She plans to sit as an independent MP. Below is her letter in full.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield’s resignation letter in full
Not all cultures are ‘equally valid’, says Badenoch
07:51 , Holly Evans
Not all cultures are “equally valid” when it comes to immigration, and failing to recognise that is “naive”, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The Tory leadership candidate said that most politicians have avoided in discussing immigration in terms of culture over economics, but explained it is “more than cuisine or clothes” but also “customs which may be at odds with British values”.
In an article for The Telegraph, she said: “We cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not.
“I am struck, for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here.”
Speaking of her own background, which saw her spend much of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK aged 16, she said that today’s immigrants are able to maintain constant contact with their relatives in other countries.
“Their feet may be in the UK, but their heads and hearts are still back in their country of origin. We need an integration strategy that takes this into account,” she said.
‘Would be better’ if Tory MPs selected leader, says Lord Hague
07:34 , Holly Evans
Former Conservative leader Lord Hague has said that it “would be better” if the party’s leadership was decided by MPs, rather than the membership.
Tory members are preparing to select a new leader after Rishi Sunak announced he was standing down following the party’s general election defeat in the summer.
Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat are all vying for the party leadership, and will get a chance to address the party’s membership at the conference in Birmingham which gets under way on Sunday.
Speaking to the BBC’s Westminster Hour, Lord Hague – who led the party after its defeat in 1997 – said that membership had “become so small”.
Asked about the membership making the final decision on who will be party leader, Lord Hague told the Radio 4 programme: “That’s my fault, I introduced these rules. But now we can see the world has changed, political parties are smaller.
“It would be better if the decision was in the hands of Members of Parliament because the party membership has become so small.”
However, he said that MPs “still play a very big role” so “they have to be very careful who they support in case they give the impression to the members that they’re happy with someone they’re not really happy with”.
Boris Johnson claims Covid originated in lab, in sudden U-turn in his views
07:19 , Holly Evans
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has said he believes the Covid pandemic was caused by a leak from a laboratory in China, and did not originate in unsanitary conditions in a Wuhan market.
He joins Donald Trump in dismissing evidence suggesting that the virus was transmitted “zoonotically” from infected animals.
The US former president insisted that coronavirus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Read the full article here:
Boris Johnson claims Covid originated in lab, in U-turn in his views
Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
07:00 , Holly Evans
Dazed, confused, but with more than a hint of defiance (foolish or otherwise), the Conservatives meet for their party conference in Birmingham with some important business to transact.
The members and MPs will see a great deal of the four remaining leadership candidates, and naturally there will be much discussion about what went wrong for the party in the general election (and before). Robert Jenrick is now the bookies’ favourite, having overtaken Kemi Badenoch, with James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat the outsiders – but that could all change.
The official theme is “Review and Rebuild”, which sounds about right. Given their fratricidal tendencies, however, and the spectral presence of Boris Johnson through the medium of his memoir Unleashed, it could easily descend into acrimony. The Tories may not be too relevant right now, but it will be entertaining…
Read the full article here:
Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
The Tories are adrift in the political wilderness – can they ever recover?
06:00 , Holly Evans
When the Conservatives begin their annual conference tomorrow (Sunday), it might be tempting for them to savour the woes engulfing Keir Starmer’s government so early in its life. Labour’s freebies will certainly provide plenty of ammunition – and jokes at Starmer’s expense.
True, it’s good news for the Tories if voters think the parties are “all the same” – one likely result of the recent controversy. It will be harder for Labour to play the sleaze card against the Tories at the next election.
All politicians struggle to resist schadenfreude. Yet the biggest mistake the Tories could make would be to assume Labour is doomed to be a one-term government. I recall such Tory complacency in 1997 after Labour’s previous landslide; the Tories lost the following two elections.
Read the full article here:
The Tories are adrift in the political wilderness – can they ever recover?
Security ramps up ahead of Tory conference in Birmingham
05:00 , Holly Evans
Security measures have been ramped up around Birmingham city centre as the Conservative Party Conference gets under way.
The annual conference is an opportunity for the four candidates in the Tory leadership race to convince members to pledge their support. Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat are all hoping to take over from Rishi Sunak, with MPs due to vote for the final two after they return to parliament.
Armed police and high-visibility patrols are visible around the International Convention Centre (ICC), with access to roads around the centre blocked until Friday, 4 October.
Access to Broad Street, Great Charles Street, Street, Sandpits, Parade, Clement Street, St Vincent Street, Sheepcote Street and Oozells Way will be restricted so those travelling in via bus or tram are being encouraged to allow more time for journeys.
Bus services affected include 9, 12, 12A, 13, 13A, 126, X8, X10, 23 and 24.
Boris Johnson Unleashed: No Narcissus ever stared more intently into the limpid waters of self-love
03:00 , Holly Evans
Lenin once reputedly said that there are decades where nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen. Soon after the millennium, the British Isles experienced a rush of history: a financial emergency, six general elections, five new prime ministers, a constitutional crisis, a pandemic – and then the death of the Queen.
Some have said that these were the nation’s worst years since the Napoleonic wars, and there is one politician who has blazed a meteoric trail across almost every page of this teeming history: Boris Johnson. But only now is he telling his story, for no less than a reported half a million pounds and counting.
At that price, never mind setting the record straight, he’ll have to deliver. But what is in the offing from such a maverick pen? As he might put it, a macédoine of regret, maybe mortification, and dismay? As the first parts of Unleashed are serialised, we finally get a hint of what might be to come.
Read the full article here:
Boris Johnson: No Narcissus ever stared more intently into the waters of self-love
Tories facing ‘dire’ finances as businesses and donors switch to Farage and Starmer
02:00 , Holly Evans
Donors and businesses are turning their backs on the Tories for Labour and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as the party enters its conference with question marks over its finances.
Insiders have told The Independent that a number of red flags have been raised in preparation for the first annual conference since the historically poor general election defeat in July.
In the weeks before the conference in Birmingham, set to get underway on Sunday, it was claimed that the party was still struggling to find a sponsor for its VIP blue room, previously sponsored by the retail company Regent Street Group.
Read the full article here:
Tories facing ‘dire’ finances as businesses and donors switch to Farage and Starmer
Starmer’s pragmatic approach to government is proving to be what’s best for the country
01:00 , Holly Evans
Almost three months into his administration, Sir Keir Starmer’s self-styled “British pragmatism” has made a refreshing – indeed invigorating – change from the ideological obsession and grinding search for new culture wars that disfigured politics under the Conservatives.
Such controversies as there have been – notably about the cuts to the winter fuel allowance and policy in the Middle East – have been fact-based and verging on the empirical.
The same is true about his efforts to build a personal rapport with Donald Trump, and the apparent willingness to rethink taxing the super-rich non-doms, given reports that the Treasury fears little if any new revenue may be raised by attacking these extremely mobile people.
Read the full article here:
Starmer’s pragmatism is proving to be the best way to govern
Revealed: Starmer’s ‘three pillar’ blueprint to rebuild EU ties with youth mobility a negotiating chip
Sunday 29 September 2024 00:00 , Holly Evans
Sir Keir Starmer is still open to agreeing a deal with the EU on free movement for young people – but does not want to give away his negotiating hand too early as he prepares to head to Brussels next week.
The Independent understands that the Labour government has a “three pillar” blueprint to reset the relationship with the EU in painstaking talks.
The main talks will be headed by European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is based in the Cabinet Office and has been handed some of the most complex and sensitive tasks in the Starmer government.
Read the full article here:
Youth mobility a negotiating chip as Starmer’s Brexit reset strategy is revealed
Is this the moment that Rachel Reeves put ‘what works’ before dogma?
Saturday 28 September 2024 23:00 , Holly Evans
This could be the moment that the Labour government started to find its feet. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is “ready to water down” her tax raid on non-doms because the Treasury fears that it may “fail to raise any money”, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The timing of this realisation is interesting, the day after the end of the Labour conference at which the news might have been greeted with howls of “betrayal” from the marginalised, but still vocal, usual suspects.
But what is important about this U-turn is that it means the cold light of realism has been allowed to penetrate the pie-in-the-sky slogans of Labour’s pre-election economics.
Read the full article here now:
Is this the moment that Rachel Reeves put ‘what works’ before dogma?
We trashed our brand, says ex-PM Theresa May
Saturday 28 September 2024 22:40 , Jane Dalton
Conservative former party leader and prime minister Theresa May has warned that the party “failed to see the threat from the Liberal Democrats” while focusing too much on Reform.
Writing in The Times, Baroness May said the candidates for the leadership could “play into Reform’s hands” by failing to understand why they lost the election.
She said the Conservatives lost power because the party had “trashed our brand”, losing its reputation for “integrity and competence”.
Blaming the Partygate scandal and Liz Truss’s mini-budget, Lady May added the Tories had spent “too long tacking to the right in order to appease potential Reform voters” and “forgot that we are not a right-wing party but a centre-right party”.
Tory party chair set to say sorry to members and voters
Saturday 28 September 2024 22:12 , Jane Dalton
The interim chairman of the Conservative Party will tell the membership that he is “profoundly sorry” for the election loss as he opens the party’s conference within hours.
Richard Fuller will tell delegates in Birmingham that the parliamentary party “needs to learn and has to change”, and is also expected to announce details of a review of the general election
The contest for the party leadership will feature prominently in the first conference since the election defeat in July.
Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat will all have an opportunity to address the conference – which will run until Wednesday – and their campaigns will be lobbying MPs before parliamentarians pick the final two on 10 October.
The final result will be declared on 2 November.
Mr Fuller is expected to say: “I am profoundly sorry to you, the members of the Conservative Party.
“To our activists. To our current and former councillors, police and crime commissioners and mayors who found their strong local records of service were dominated by negative national headlines.
“To Conservative voters and to the country at large for the consequence: a reckless, ideological socialist government with a huge majority based on a paltry share of the electorate.
“I am deeply sorry.”
Labour freebies: The gifts Starmer and other MPs have accepted as PM under fire
Saturday 28 September 2024 22:00 , Holly Evans
Labour has come under renewed pressure in its ongoing ‘freebies’ row after it was revealed that Sir Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 in accommodation costs to help his son study for his GCSEs.
The donation was declared to Parliament by the prime minister somewhat cryptically as “accommodation.”
The nature of the massive donation from Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli had remained a mystery until Sir Keir was asked by the BBC about its purpose.
Read the full article here:
Labour freebies: The gifts Starmer and other MPs have accepted as PM under fire
Top Tories cash in on Duffield move to slate Starmer
Saturday 28 September 2024 21:50 , Jane Dalton
Conservative leadership candidates have taken aim at the prime minister over Rosie Duffield’s resignation.
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat said the move showed Sir Keir’s government was “about self-service”, while frontrunner Robert Jenrick said the government was “already in disarray, crumbling under the weight of their rank hypocrisy”.
Rosie Duffield is right.
In less than 3 months, Labour’s greed and sleaze has been exposed. @Keir_Starmer promised a government of service, but he’s only serving himself.
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) September 28, 2024
Watch: Who will be the next leader of the Conservatives?
Saturday 28 September 2024 21:00 , Holly Evans
What to expect from Tory conference
Saturday 28 September 2024 20:00 , Archie Mitchell
The 2024 Conservative Party Conference will be a drastically different affair from last year’s gathering in Manchester, when Rishi Sunak’s government was in its dying days.
Back then, ministers announced a slew of eye-catching policies that would reshape the future of the country in a desperate last few roles of the dice – Alex Chalk promising to offshore prisoners, Jeremy Hunt planning to slash the number of civil servants and Rishi Sunak scrapping HS2.
This year, Mr Sunak is a lame duck Tory leader and all eyes will be far from the diminished former prime minister. Instead it will be a four-day battle for the future leadership of the party, with the four remaining contenders thrashing it out to try to win over Tory members.
James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat will be put to the test in a series of hustings and speeches, as well as taking part in intense lobbying and networking behind the scenes in Birmingham with MPs and the party rank and file.
On offer elsewhere will be former Tory MPs, ousted by the public in July’s general election, setting out where they think the party went wrong and what it needs to do next.
High profile names expected to appear are ex-PM Liz Truss, former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg and incoming Spectator Editor Michael Gove.
The Independent will be bringing the latest updates and analysis from the conference.
Why Duffield has long clashed with Labour leadership
Saturday 28 September 2024 19:49 , Jane Dalton
Rosie Duffield is a long-time critic of some of the Labour Party’s policies and its leadership.
She has attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to retain the two-child benefit cap, branding it “heinous”.
And as a staunch defender of women’s rights and women’s spaces, Ms Duffield has repeatedly criticised Labour’s leadership over what she sees as its lack of support for women in trans issues.
Last year, she accused male party colleagues of trying to drown her out during a Commons debate when she spoke against gender reforms proposed in Edinburgh.
She said she felt “cold-shouldered by the Labour Party” and compared her membership to being in an abusive relationship.
And she said it was “dystopian” that Sir Keir had been reluctant to say whether a woman could have a penis.
She opted not to attend the Labour Party conference in 2021 after receiving threats and being branded transphobic, which she denies.
And when she said only women have a cervix, Sir Keir disagreed.
The Canterbury MP urged Sir Keir to maintain support for biological females to feel protected in prisons and domestic violence refuges, but said she was not confident the policy would be upheld.
She condemned the decision to apparently let a Labour aide keep his job after being found to have groped an intern 20 years his junior.
‘Dystopian’ that Starmer cannot say if women have penises, says Labour MP
‘Lack of political instincts have come crashing down’: Rosie Duffield resignation letter in full
Saturday 28 September 2024 19:08 , Jane Dalton
Rosie Duffield’s resignation letter in full
University tuition fees ‘could hit £10,500 a year’ under new government plans
Saturday 28 September 2024 19:00 , Holly Evans
University tuition fees will rise with inflation, hitting £10,500 in the next five years, it has been reported.
The government is drawing up plans which will see university tuition fees, which have been frozen since 2017, rise by 13.5 per cent over the next five years according to The Times.
The fees will rise with inflation, however, ministers will reportedly introduce maintenance loans of £3,500, which were abolished under the Conservative government.
Read the full article here:
University tuition fees ‘could hit £10,500 a year’ under new government plans
Rosie Duffield quits Labour with damning attack on Starmer
Saturday 28 September 2024 18:16 , Jane Dalton
Rosie Duffield has quit as a Labour MP, attacking leader Sir Keir Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary policies” such as means-testing the winter fuel payment, and the freebie row engulfing the party:
Rosie Duffield quits Labour with damning attack on Keir Starmer
James Cleverly says no taxpayer should pay over half their earnings
Saturday 28 September 2024 18:00 , Holly Evans
James Cleverly has said that no taxpayer should have to hand over more than half their earnings to the state, and warned against Labour’s tax-raising plans which could see people leave the UK.
The shadow home secretary is one of the four final contenders for the Tory leadership, is set to lay out his vision for the party during their annual conference in Birmingham this week. In an article with The Telegraph, he said the party had to restore its reputation for tax-cutting and deregulation.
“Instead of putting people off we should be attracting them, with a low, fair, and simple tax rate. We should send the signal that Britain is open for work, not that you work for Britain.
“Ensuring that no one pays more than half of any pound that they earn to the government should be a common Conservative aspiration.”
Tory Party conference: John Rentoul answers your questions
Saturday 28 September 2024 17:00 , Holly Evans
With a leadership contest looming and the Conservatives facing tough decisions on the party’s strategy, join John Rentoul, The Independent’s chief political commentator, for a live Q&A.
If you have a question on the Conservative Party conference, submit it now here, or join live at 4pm on Monday 30 September for the “Ask Me Anything” event.
For more information, read this article:
Tory Party conference: John Rentoul answers your questions
Is this the moment that Rachel Reeves put ‘what works’ before dogma?
Saturday 28 September 2024 16:00 , Holly Evans
This could be the moment that the Labour government started to find its feet. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is “ready to water down” her tax raid on non-doms because the Treasury fears that it may “fail to raise any money”, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The timing of this realisation is interesting, the day after the end of the Labour conference at which the news might have been greeted with howls of “betrayal” from the marginalised, but still vocal, usual suspects.
But what is important about this U-turn is that it means the cold light of realism has been allowed to penetrate the pie-in-the-sky slogans of Labour’s pre-election economics.
Read the full article here now:
Is this the moment that Rachel Reeves put ‘what works’ before dogma?
Revealed: Starmer’s ‘three pillar’ blueprint to rebuild EU ties with youth mobility a negotiating chip
Saturday 28 September 2024 15:35 , Holly Evans
Sir Keir Starmer is still open to agreeing a deal with the EU on free movement for young people – but does not want to give away his negotiating hand too early as he prepares to head to Brussels next week.
The Independent understands that the Labour government has a “three pillar” blueprint to reset the relationship with the EU in painstaking talks.
The main talks will be headed by European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is based in the Cabinet Office and has been handed some of the most complex and sensitive tasks in the Starmer government.
Read the full article here:
Youth mobility a negotiating chip as Starmer’s Brexit reset strategy is revealed
Security ramps up ahead of Tory conference in Birmingham
Saturday 28 September 2024 14:59 , Holly Evans
Security measures have been ramped up around Birmingham city centre as the Conservative Party Conference gets under way.
The annual conference is an opportunity for the four candidates in the Tory leadership race to convince members to pledge their support. Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat are all hoping to take over from Rishi Sunak, with MPs due to vote for the final two after they return to parliament.
Armed police and high-visibility patrols are visible around the International Convention Centre (ICC), with access to roads around the centre blocked until Friday, 4 October.
Access to Broad Street, Great Charles Street, Street, Sandpits, Parade, Clement Street, St Vincent Street, Sheepcote Street and Oozells Way will be restricted so those travelling in via bus or tram are being encouraged to allow more time for journeys.
Bus services affected include 9, 12, 12A, 13, 13A, 126, X8, X10, 23 and 24.
Resetting UK-EU relationship will ‘not be easy’, Starmer says
Saturday 28 September 2024 14:30 , Holly Evans
Securing a closer trading relationship with the European Union will not be easy but it is possible, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister will head to Brussels next week for talks with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen as he pushes for a “reset” in the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Sir Keir also believes more can be done on defence and security and tackling the migrant crisis.
“I want to ensure that we’ve got a closer trading relationship if we can,” the Prime Minister said.
“I think it’s possible. I’m not going to pretend it’s easy, but I think it’s possible.”
Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
Saturday 28 September 2024 14:10 , Holly Evans
Dazed, confused, but with more than a hint of defiance (foolish or otherwise), the Conservatives meet for their party conference in Birmingham with some important business to transact.
The members and MPs will see a great deal of the four remaining leadership candidates, and naturally there will be much discussion about what went wrong for the party in the general election (and before). Robert Jenrick is now the bookies’ favourite, having overtaken Kemi Badenoch, with James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat the outsiders – but that could all change.
The official theme is “Review and Rebuild”, which sounds about right. Given their fratricidal tendencies, however, and the spectral presence of Boris Johnson through the medium of his memoir Unleashed, it could easily descend into acrimony. The Tories may not be too relevant right now, but it will be entertaining…
Read the full article here:
Is the Tory conference worth paying attention to this year?
Boris Johnson thought he ‘might have carked it’ in intensive care
Saturday 28 September 2024 13:50 , Holly Evans
Former prime minister Boris Johnson believed he “might have carked it” when he was in intensive care with Covid without the “skills and experience” of his nurses, according to an extract of his memoir.
Mr Johnson spent several days in intensive care with Covid in April 2020. In the extract of his Unleashed book published in the Daily Mail, he described not wanting to fall asleep on his first night in intensive care “partly in case I never woke up”.
He also recalled feeling “rotten” with “guilt” and “political embarrassment” in the days before he was admitted to hospital.
The nurses caring for Mr Johnson on his first night in intensive care were “Jenny from New Zealand and Luis from Portugal,” he recalled.
Following his release from hospital, the then prime minister spent some time at Chequers with his now-wife Carrie, and he recalled joining in with the clap for the NHS on a Thursday evening.
Robert Jenrick says he wants to ‘put Nigel Farage out of business’
Saturday 28 September 2024 13:30 , Holly Evans
Immigration has so far featured heavily in the leadership campaign, with frontrunner Mr Jenrick making it a centrepiece of his campaign and arguing the party’s defeat was because it broke its promises on immigration.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, he said he wanted to “put Nigel Farage out of business” and described Reform as “a symptom not a cause”.
He said: “It exists in its current state because my party failed. We made promises on issues that millions of people…small ‘c’ conservatives like me, care passionately about, like controlled and reduced immigration, like securing our borders, and we didn’t deliver on those promises.”
UK government urge Britons to leave Lebanon
Saturday 28 September 2024 13:12 , Holly Evans
Britons have been urged to leave Lebanon amid warnings the country faces a humanitarian “catastrophe” following the latest round of Israeli air strikes.
On Friday, the Foreign Office warned that British nationals should “leave now” as series of massive explosions levelled multiple apartment buildings in Beirut.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said it was “working to increase capacity” and secure seats for British nationals on flights out of the country.
In his own address to the UN on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: “I call on Israel and Hezbollah. Stop the violence. Step back from the brink.
“We need to see an immediate ceasefire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement and we are working with all partners to that end.”
British nationals in Lebanon should leave now. You should take the next available flight.
We are working to increase capacity and secure seats for British nationals to leave.
British nationals in Lebanon should register your presence to receive the latest information:… pic.twitter.com/6wJ2Khv3gM
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) September 27, 2024
Badenoch says she doesn’t mind if candidates ‘have a pop’ at her
Saturday 28 September 2024 12:51 , Holly Evans
Kemi Badenoch has hit back at criticism that she took a holiday with her family during the start of her campaign, saying that her husband and children are the “most important thing”.
She apologised to members for being unable to make the event in Yarm, north Yorkshire, as a result of long-standing family commitments in August.
“I heard from members who were there saying they didn’t like that,” Badenoch says. “So I don’t mind if other candidates have a pop at me because they’re showing more about themselves than they are about me. I’m a family person. My family is the most important thing.
“If my husband called me now and said, ‘I don’t want to do this any more, you need to pull out of this leadership contest’, I’d say OK. Because without him I can’t do this. Without my children and my husband my life doesn’t really have any meaning.”
Tories facing ‘dire’ finances as businesses and donors switch to Farage and Starmer
Saturday 28 September 2024 12:30 , Holly Evans
Donors and businesses are turning their backs on the Tories for Labour and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as the party enters its conference with question marks over its finances.
Insiders have told The Independent that a number of red flags have been raised in preparation for the first annual conference since the historically poor general election defeat in July.
In the weeks before the conference in Birmingham, set to get underway on Sunday, it was claimed that the party was still struggling to find a sponsor for its VIP blue room, previously sponsored by the retail company Regent Street Group.
Read the full article here:
Tories facing ‘dire’ finances as businesses and donors switch to Farage and Starmer
Tories spent too long ‘appeasing Reform voters’, warns Theresa May
Saturday 28 September 2024 12:13 , Holly Evans
The Conservative Party has “failed to see the threat from the Liberal Democrats” while focusing too much on Reform, Theresa May has warned.
Writing in The Times ahead of the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, Baroness May said the remaining candidates for the Tory leadership could “play into Reform’s hands” by failing to understand why they lost the general election.
The former prime minister said the Conservatives lost power in July not due to policy, but because the party had “trashed our brand”, losing its reputation for “integrity and competence”.
Blaming the Partygate scandal and Liz Truss’s mini-budget, Lady May added the Tories had spent “too long tacking to the right in order to appease potential Reform voters” and “forgot that we are not a right-wing party but a centre-right party”.
Lady May compared the Conservatives’ strategy to last month’s 1,500m Olympic final in Paris, in which Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen was too focused on defeating Britain’s Josh Kerr that he allowed American Cole Hocker to come through on the inside and take gold.
She said: “Just as Ingebrigtsen was focused on Kerr and failed to see that his action against him would open up other threats, so the Conservative Party has been focused on Reform and failed to see the threat from the Liberal Democrats – losing 60 seats to them at the election.”
Badenoch condemns ‘unforgivable’ attempts to undermine Sunak
Saturday 28 September 2024 11:45 , Holly Evans
Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Rishi Sunak’s critics who attepted to undermine him during the final months of his premiership, describing it as “appalling”
“Starting the New Year with people talking about a ‘grid of shit’ to undermine Rishi, ‘We’re going to cause all these problems so he has to resign’, in the year we were most likely to have an election … that is unforgivable,” she told The Times.
She revealed that she had been approached by those plotting to remove him but rebuffed them, before taking aim at Robert Jenrick, who was one of Sunak’s most ardent critics.
“The difference between Robert and me is that my resignation was my lowest moment and his resignation was his highest moment,” she says. “In the hustings he tells people that it was his resignation that showed why he should be leader, whereas my resignation was, for me, a sign that our party was fragmenting.
Both Badenoch and Jenrick are due to lay out their vision for the future of the Conservatives over the following days at the party’s annual conference.
After returning to parliament, MPs will whittle down the four candidates to a final two, with members voting for their new leader soon afterwards.
Kemi Badenoch warns Tory members will be ‘very angry’ if stitch-up occurs
Saturday 28 September 2024 11:28 , Holly Evans
Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has warned that members will be “very angry” if MPs orchestrate a “stitch-up” to keep her out of the final two.
Allies of the North West Essex MP have claimed her campaign is the victim of “dirty tricks”, which has seen her competitor Robert Jenrick accused of lending votes to James Cleverly.
Speaking to The Times about the support she has received from voters, Badenoch said: “But really what I think that they’re saying is less that they want a chance to vote for me, but that there is no stitch-up. They want a real competition. And if the MPs try and stitch it up, I think the members will be very angry.”
She recalled: “It happened in 2019, where the Boris [Johnson] camp played around with votes to make sure that they got the person they wanted to be up against. And it can happen. I don’t know whether there’s enough of us for it to happen.”
Asked if she believed Jenrick was attempting that approach, she said “that may be happening”, but added that a number of MPs were tactically voting for friends or to repay favours.
Russell Findlay picks Rachael Hamilton as Scottish Tories deputy leader
Saturday 28 September 2024 11:00 , Holly Evans
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said his new deputy leader will “play a key role” in changing the party.
Mr Findlay, who comfortably won the contest to succeed Douglas Ross as the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, appointed MSP Rachael Hamilton to the post.
She takes over from Meghan Gallacher, who had stood against Mr Findlay for the party leadership and resigned as deputy partway through the campaign.
Ms Hamilton, the MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, said she was “privileged” to become deputy and “excited” to be part of the party’s new leadership team.
It is Mr Findlay’s first appointment since becoming party leader on Friday, and he said he was “delighted” Ms Hamilton would be deputy leader.
Boris Johnson says he ‘struggled’ to keep straight face during trans debate
Saturday 28 September 2024 10:29 , Holly Evans
In his new memoir, Boris Johnson has recalled his amusement during Penny Mordaunt’s speech that gender recognition for trans people was the “most important issue of our times”.
In an excerpt published in the Daily Mail, he said: “I didn’t catch all the details, but it seemed fairly harrowing stuff, and at one point I heard Penny claim: ‘This is the most important issue of our times.’
“I didn’t always agree with Phil Hammond, but I happened at that moment to catch his eye and to see that he – like me – was struggling to contain his amusement.
“I mean: I could see that this was an issue of huge importance to some people (though surely not that many?) and I could see that it needed to be handled with tact and sensitivity.
“But ‘the most important issue of our times’? Really?”
In his book Unleashed, he wrote that Theresa May had announced “in breathy vicar’s-daughter tones” that Ms Mordaunt had “something very important to talk about”, which led him to question whether Lady May was really Right-wing.
Starmer’s pragmatic approach to government is proving to be what’s best for the country
Saturday 28 September 2024 09:56 , Holly Evans
Almost three months into his administration, Sir Keir Starmer’s self-styled “British pragmatism” has made a refreshing – indeed invigorating – change from the ideological obsession and grinding search for new culture wars that disfigured politics under the Conservatives.
Such controversies as there have been – notably about the cuts to the winter fuel allowance and policy in the Middle East – have been fact-based and verging on the empirical. The same is true about his efforts to build a personal rapport with Donald Trump, and the apparent willingness to rethink taxing the super-rich non-doms, given reports that the Treasury fears little if any new revenue may be raised by attacking these extremely mobile people.
There is nothing to be gained from taxation that yields no return, and there is even less to be said for failing to get on terms with a man who has a roughly even chance of being the president of the United States of America in about six weeks. The prime minister, in both cases, is placing country firmly before party, even if it means dining on some of his own words as well as Mr Trump’s no doubt excellent banquet.
Read the full article here:
Starmer’s pragmatism is proving to be the best way to govern
Starmer responds after Musk tells people to avoid UK following summit snub
Saturday 28 September 2024 09:26 , Holly Evans
Sir Keir Starmer has responded to Elon Musk after the tech tycoon said people should not go to the UK.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss lashed out at the UK after it was reported he had not been invited to a major investment summit because of his social media posts during the summer riots.
Mr Musk said: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”
Sir Keir, who held a gathering for US business chiefs set to attend the summit while he was in New York, told reporters that Mr Musk’s views were in “stark contrast” to those of the executives he had met.
“There’s a really strong window of opportunity now with the UK, given the changes we’ve brought about, our number one mission on economic growth, and to talk them through the wealth fund, the industrial strategy, what we’re doing in terms of planning, grids, etc,” Sir Keir said.
“So I’m listening good and hard to what they have to say, because they will be attending the summit, and many of them are already investing in the UK.
“On Tesla. Obviously, I encourage investment from anywhere, and so I don’t want to be misunderstood on this. So good investment into the UK is what I’m very, very keen to promote.”
It is understood SpaceX has been invited to send a representative to the summit in October.
The Tories are adrift in the political wilderness – can they ever recover?
Saturday 28 September 2024 09:01 , Holly Evans
When the Conservatives begin their annual conference tomorrow (Sunday), it might be tempting for them to savour the woes engulfing Keir Starmer’s government so early in its life. Labour’s freebies will certainly provide plenty of ammunition – and jokes at Starmer’s expense.
True, it’s good news for the Tories if voters think the parties are “all the same” – one likely result of the recent controversy. It will be harder for Labour to play the sleaze card against the Tories at the next election.
All politicians struggle to resist schadenfreude. Yet the biggest mistake the Tories could make would be to assume Labour is doomed to be a one-term government. I recall such Tory complacency in 1997 after Labour’s previous landslide; the Tories lost the following two elections.
Read the full analysis here:
The Tories are adrift in the political wilderness – can they ever recover?
Boris Johnson considered ‘nuts’ plan to raid Dutch warehouse over vaccines row
Saturday 28 September 2024 08:42 , Holly Evans
Former prime minister Boris Johnson considered launching an “aquatic raid” on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccine doses amid a row with Europe, according to an extract from his memoir.
Mr Johnson convened a meeting of senior military officials in March 2021 to discuss the plans, which he admitted were “nuts”, according to an extract from his Unleashed book published in the Daily Mail.
At the time, the AstraZeneca vaccine was at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, with the EU lagging behind the pace of the rollout in the UK.
The extract says the deputy chief of the defence staff (military strategy and operations), Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was “certainly feasible”, using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals.
But the senior officer said it would not be possible to do this undetected, with lockdowns meaning the authorities might observe the raid, meaning the UK would “have to explain why we are effectively invading a long-standing Nato ally”.
The former PM admitted: “Of course, I knew he was right, and I secretly agreed with what they all thought but did not want to say aloud: that the whole thing was nuts.”