Today

26 Oct 2022
Will the Tory truce hold?

During the summer leadership race between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, Sunak’s team were braced for a bloodbath if he won. It would have required a major polling error and gone down as one of the biggest political upsets in recent years. ‘If we win, we win by 1 per cent,’ was how one close ally of Sunak put it at the time. If this had played out, it would have come as a nasty surprise to many in the Tory party. With wounds still raw from Boris Johnson’s departure, the deposed former PM’s loyalists would have quickly gone on the offensive – accusing Sunak of being a traitor for resigning in Johnson’s dying days. Supporters of Truss, meanwhile, would have claimed the tiny win meant that he didn’t have a mandate for his fiscal plan and pushed instead for immediate tax cuts.

Will the Tory truce hold?

Yesterday

25 Oct 2022

Monday

24 Oct 2022
Inside Rishi Sunak’s first address to Tory MPs

It’s a rather strange leadership contest when the winner reaches the end without having said a single word in public. That’s what has happened in the case of the new Tory leader – and soon-to-be prime minister – Rishi Sunak. After Boris Johnson decided not to enter the race and Penny Mordaunt failed to reach the 100 MP nominations required, Sunak has been crowned the victor.Shortly after the result was announced, he addressed Tory MPs behind closed doors on the committee corridor of parliament. Sunak arrived with his team – which includes 2019 intake MPs Laura Trott, Claire Coutinho and Craig Williams – to loud cheers and the banging of desks. His message to MPs in the room was that the party needs to unify as they only have one shot at this, telling MPs it was ‘unite or die’.

Inside Rishi Sunak’s first address to Tory MPs

Sunday

23 Oct 2022
Why Boris Johnson pulled out

Boris Johnson has this evening pulled out of the Conservative leadership contest, leaving the field clear for Rishi Sunak. Only this morning his MP supporters had been insisting that the former prime minster had secured the 100 MP nominations required and would definitely run, but Johnson says the opposition to him is such that he will not enter the race - but there were severe doubts about this, with some MPs saying they were being approached by a desperate Boris team that did not have the numbers but had claimed otherwise. Sunak had more than twice as many declared nominations. In a statement released this evening, Johnson he'd hit 'the very high hurdle of 102 nominations' and so there was a good chance he could be 'back in Downing Street on Friday' given his popularity with the membership.

Why Boris Johnson pulled out

Saturday

22 Oct 2022
Is the Boris campaign losing momentum?

Is the Boris campaign losing momentum? The former prime minister’s supporters had briefed journalists that Johnson has 100 MPs backing him so can enter the race should he wish to. But the number of MPs who have publicly backed Johnson is much lower at 59, vs Rishi Sunak's 131 (and a lonely 24 for Penny Mordaunt). That means either there are a lot of Boris backers who are very shy - or that the claim is inaccurate and he's facing an uphill struggle to hit the threshold.(Lee Anderson/Facebook)Johnson supporters have been keen to suggest that the bulk of Sunak's support comes from the left of the party – ergo meaning Sunak can’t be a unifier. But there are signs that this is changing. Lord Frost, his former ally, has endorsed Sunak as Steve Baker and David Davis, both arch Brexiteers.

Is the Boris campaign losing momentum?

Friday

21 Oct 2022

Thursday

20 Oct 2022
‘The ultimate death match’: Will it be Boris vs Rishi?

It will take 100 MP nominations to qualify for the next Tory leadership race and the clock is ticking – with Boris Johnson out in front with 51 supporters so far. Rishi Sunak has 44 and Penny Mordaunt 20. It will go to the membership for a swift decision unless the finalists come to a gentleman’s agreement. So how will it unfold? I set out four scenarios of how this might unfold in The Spectator earlier this month. There are two that MPs have most recently got in touch about: Rishi by Christmas or the Boris restoration. A week is a long time in politics – and next week could be one of the most dramatic yet. Let’s start with the first. Sunak, who was runner-up in the last leadership contest, has been notably quiet as the Truss premiership unravelled.

‘The ultimate death match’: Will it be Boris vs Rishi?

Wednesday

19 Oct 2022
The Liz Truss survival plan

At the first stage of the Conservative leadership race, when Liz Truss was trying to win MPs’ support, her message was that she was the one who could ‘unite the right’. Now, her plan to survive in No. 10 relies on dividing the Tory left. Regicide is a messy business. ‘It’s very hard to push her out,’ says a former cabinet minister. ‘We would need to change the rules. It could be seen as an establishment stitch-up. I think she needs to do the right thing and resign.’ Everyone in the Tory party agrees that there needs to be a unity candidate when Truss goes, but there is absolutely no unity on who that should be. ‘Until we know who to replace her with, we shouldn’t move,’ says a former government member. The Tories know the country cannot be subjected to another drawn-out leadership contest, so a new leader would be chosen either by an MPs’ vote – cutting out the broader party membership from the process – or by a coronation.

The Liz Truss survival plan

Tuesday

18 Oct 2022

Monday

17 Oct 2022
Will there be a revolt on the Tory right?

What is the point of Liz Truss's government? Expect more MPs to ask that question today after Jeremy Hunt's statement tearing up the not-so-mini Budget. The new chancellor has just announced in an address that he will be scrapping every tax cut in Truss and her then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's fiscal event bar the reversal of the national insurance hike and the cut to stamp duty. Both would have been particularly tricky to row back from given stamp duty has already happened and the NI hike has already been legislated for – with MPs voting last week. The energy support package has also been watered down. In his message to the public – and the markets – Hunt pressed the need for economic stability. He suggested the income tax cut was off the table indefinitely – until the public finances allowed.

Will there be a revolt on the Tory right?

Sunday

16 Oct 2022
How long can Liz Truss hold on?

How much trouble is Liz Truss in? Just six weeks into her premiership, the Prime Minister's economic plans are in tatters after she axed her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, reversed on her campaign pledge to scrap the scheduled corporation tax hike and brought in Jeremy Hunt as his successor. Now Hunt is calling the shots on the economy and he plans to reverse much of what the Truss government have announced so far, with tax rises and public spending cuts to come. Truss's own supporters are privately asking what the point of her government is now. Unsurprisingly, this has all led to talk among Tory MPs that the end is nigh. One Tory MP, Crispin Blunt, has come out publicly to call for Truss to go. The mood in the party soured last week after Truss's difficult 1922 committee appearance and her painful press conference on Friday where she refused to offer an apology or engage with questions on why Kwarteng had been sacked.

How long can Liz Truss hold on?