Peers want to force Chagos Islands referendum to stop handover deal Politics A group of Lords wants to force a referendum over the handover of the Chagos Islands, in a move that could delay the treaty from taking effect until after Donald Trump takes office. Lord Bellingham is leading a group of peers who plan to introduce an amendment to the treaty when it reaches the House [...]
Badenoch claims Reeves’s Budget was designed to ‘milk private sector’ Politics The Labour government’s “ideological” Budget was “designed to milk the private sector”, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed. Quizzing Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today, the Conservative leader accused the Labour leader of “having nothing to offer but platitudes”. She said: “Their ideological Budget was designed to milk the private sector and [...]
Column: The challenges facing Kemi Badenoch… Politics Politicians, the public often decry, lack real-world experience. Whether it be running a business, working in healthcare, serving in the armed forces, anything that demonstrates their ‘feet on the ground’ credentials is a plus. It covers parents too. Just look at Keir Starmer’s oft-touted “toolmaker father”; Rishi Sunak, the “son of a pharmacist; and even [...]
Kemi Badenoch appoints top team with Andrew Griffith to shadow business November 5, 2024 Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has appointed her full top team, with former City minister Andrew Griffith taking on the role of shadow business and trade secretary. The Conservative leader appointed her former rival candidates Mel Stride and Dame Priti Patel as her shadow Chancellor and shadow foreign secretary last night, as well as making Laura [...]
Tories must take the Sabrina Carpenter approach to get back on top October 8, 2024 Sabrina Carpenter worked for a decade to become an overnight success. Likewise, if the Tories want to turn their fortunes around, the hard work on policy starts now, says Emma Revell It wasn’t quite a Taylor Swift moment. Keir Starmer wasn’t scrounging for hospitality tickets, for one thing. But it certainly felt like I was [...]
All you missed in the Tory leadership speeches: Badenoch dubbed ‘arrogant’, Cleverly wants party to be ‘normal’ October 2, 2024 Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly has urged his party to “be more normal” and take inspiration from US president Ronald Reagan. Making his leadership campaign speech at the annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Cleverly opened his address from behind a lectern with an apology to the public. The former home and foreign secretary said: [...]
Tory leadership: Jenrick warns of ‘big task’ to restore economic credibility October 1, 2024 Robert Jenrick has warned it will be a “big task” for the next Conservative party leader to restore the party’s “economic credibility” following Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget. The leadership candidate, speaking at a Q&A for party members at the annual conference in Birmingham, told the audience he was “not happy” about the current levels of [...]
Tory leadership: Kemi Badenoch’s lead drops as Robert Jenrick closes in October 1, 2024 Kemi Badenoch’s poll lead amongst Tory members has dropped from 18 points to just four ahead of rival Robert Jenrick, a new survey has found. The YouGov poll with Sky News found that if Badenoch and Jenrick went head-to-head in the final round, members would choose her by 52 per cent versus his 48 per [...]
Why Conservatives are still asking: What would Margaret Thatcher do? September 27, 2024 Why are people at Conservative Party Conference 2024 still talking about Margaret Thatcher? Because she gave Tories something to believe in, says Alys Denby It’s Conservative Party conference and one subject that’s guaranteed to come up at any gathering of Tories is Margaret Thatcher. The palms of upholstered older party members moisten as they share [...]
Tory leadership race: Robert Jenrick tops ‘PopCon’ poll as favourite to lead party September 18, 2024 Robert Jenrick has topped a Popular Conservatives poll as the favourite to lead the party in the Tory leadership race. The former immigration minister got 38.3 per cent backing from those surveyed, beating rival and former business and trade Kemi Badenoch on 34.9 per cent. It is the fourth so-called ‘PopCon’ poll Jenrick has won, [...]