All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Does Nadhim Zahawi have the worst judgement in Tory politics? As recently as last year, the man could do no wrong: the boosterish vaccines minister who impressed at education, winning fans with his back story and media savvy. Yet since then, the millionaire pollster’s winning touch seems to have deserted him. Indeed, Zahawi has been
In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once again contest the Conservative Party leadership, both among the public and among friends and colleagues in Parliament. I have been attracted because I led our party into a massive election victory less than three years
Boris Johnson’s decision to pull out of the Tory leadership contest averts a nightmare scenario where he had got the support of less than a third of the parliamentary party and was then returned to Downing Street by the member’s vote (though, I think the result of that ballot was becoming less and less certain).
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
With nominations to be the Tory leader closing tomorrow afternoon, there are still just over 100 MPs to publicly say who they want to take over from Liz Truss. Here’s the list of those left to declare: Adam Afriyie, Windsor (2005) Adam Holloway, Gravesham (2005) Alberto Costa, South Leicestershire (2015) Alec Shelbrooke, Elmet and Rothwell
Might Tory MPs refuse to recognisee Boris Johnson as leader if party members choose him? George Osborne raises the prospect on the Andrew Neil Show today saying: I think there’s a real chance the Tory parliamentary party says ‘we don’t accept the result of the members’ ballot. We don’t accept that 200 of us are
This morning the BBC hosted a current Tory leadership contender and the leader of the opposition on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Yet the most insightful comments came from one of the panel members: Lord Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England between 2003 and 2013. Asked by Kuenssberg about the narrative that’s doing
Whoever wins the Conservative leadership next week, one can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for them. Even if it’s Boris Johnson. Liz Truss fulfilled her inadvertent promise to ‘hit the ground from day one’, and her successor might do the same. One of first points of impact could be the Medium-Term Fiscal Statement
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Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson discuss the latest party leader endorsements by MPs and the likelihood that the next Prime Minister will be in 10 Downing Street by tomorrow.
Boris Johnson is yet to formally declare that he plans to enter the Tory leadership contest. The former prime minister’s meeting with Rishi Sunak last night led to no white smoke or agreement on a joint ticket. His supporters have since been touring the studios this morning insisting he will run and that he has
There are weeks when Jair Bolsonaro dominates the headlines in Brazil and there are weeks when that honour goes to Neymar. Both men have been in the news this week, which is understandable given the run-off election for president is on 30 October, and the World Cup kicks off in less than a month. One
To have ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings… and touched the face of God’ is amongst the most ancient dreams of humanity. Never better expressed than in the sonnet of pilot-poet John Gillespie Magee. Yet inevitably, the green blob has discovered a new target for cancelation: the air show.
Penny Mordaunt – ‘I’m not being drawn into the detail’ Penny Mordaunt found herself in an awkward position this morning as she faced off against Laura Kuenssberg. With a lot of ground to make up before nominations close for the Conservative party leadership on Monday, Mordaunt’s interview could well serve as a crucial moment in
Rishi Sunak has now formally declared that he is running to be Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party. In a statement released online, he says he is running to ‘fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country’. With well over 100 backers, Sunak — who I should say I have
So much has happened over the last few months, that perhaps Nadhim Zahawi should be forgiven for a slight lapse in memory. The Tory MP, and former chancellor, has this morning come out to back Boris Johnson to become leader of the Conservative party and prime minister again. Zahawi wrote on Twitter: That’s strange. Has
Action stations! It’s go go go this weekend as the old campaign vehicles crank into life once more. Are you (still) ready for Rishi? A Boris backer? Or a Mordaunt man? As the three candidates scramble around to tot up their tallies of parliamentary supporters, a rather different madcap muddle is happening in associations across
Last Sunday I marched through Paris with tens of thousands of disgruntled Frenchmen and women. I was there to observe, not holler and sing like those around me, a mix of Socialists, Communists and Greens. They had much that they wanted to get off their chest: the cost of living, ‘climate inaction’, the war in
The original fans of Boris Johnson feel a special kind of disappointment about his disastrous premiership. He’s the best campaigner of his generation, he governed London well, his superpower is to find and devolve to brilliant people who can implement a vision of liberal conservatism that he articulated over a 20-year career. Judge him, we’d
What a year it’s been for Steve Baker. Fresh from leading rebellions over Brexit and Covid, the Wycombe MP joined the revolt against Boris Johnson, briefly mulled a bid to replace him before getting on board the Truss train, becoming a Northern Ireland minister and issuing an apology for the UK’s behaviour in Brexit. Now,
There is generally a basic problem to be overcome whenever somebody suggests two competing political egos come together to campaign on a ‘joint ticket’ – one of them has to be the boss. There is only one vacancy being fought over by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak and it cannot be subject to a job
As the Conservative party holds its third leadership contest in four years, Britain is not experiencing déjà vu; we’re just stuck on square one. The three frontrunners consist of the previous contest’s runners-up, Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson, the man they previously deposed. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over
My views on gender identity are well known. I believe that biology, rather than a person’s feelings, determines whether they count as a man or woman. My arguments support what many instinctively believe to be true. However, in academic circles, the idea that biology informs gender is far more contentious. So contentious that respected academics
A steward tries to lift Hu Jintao from his seat, but Hu doesn’t want to move. The former Communist party leader is sitting to the left of current boss Xi Jinping, and he reaches out to take Xi’s notes, but Xi moves Hu’s hand away and takes back the papers. The world’s cameras follow every
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
It was all going so well for Rishi. With a hundred MPs in the bag, Sunak looks to be the only candidate who will cruise through to the final round on Monday unlike his struggling rivals. But has Tobias Ellwood managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory once again? The chairman of the
Does Boris have the numbers? That’s the question all Westminster is asking today. There’s been much excitement about an anonymous briefing that seems to have gone out to half the parliamentary press gallery. BBC Pol Ed Chris Mason quotes a source close to Boris Johnson as claiming that he has ‘now has more than 100
Is this the start of a new Xi Jinping purge? Earlier today, the former Chinese president Hu Jintao was manhandled and led out of the closing ceremony of the Communist party congress – watched on by delegates and the media. The 79-year-old is Xi Jinping’s immediate predecessor and was seated to his immediate left. A
Had Boris Johnson simply wished to use the current vacancy for prime minister to remind us all of his superstar status then it would be mission accomplished already. The mere confirmation that the great blond bombshell was mulling an instant comeback transformed a prospect I likened a fortnight ago to the preposterous Bobby Ewing shower scene
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James Heale, James Forsyth and Katy Balls discuss whether the Tories are an impossible coalition to preside over.
Benito Mussolini, the revolutionary socialist inventor of fascism who came to power 100 years ago this week, was one of the most talked about figures of his day. Most of that talk was positive. Pope Pius XI called him ‘a gift from Providence’ to save Italy; the US ambassador to Rome, Washburn Child, ‘the greatest figure
Penny Mordaunt’s entry into the Tory leadership race was widely predicted and she has now become the first to throw her hat into the bin fire. I’m totally impartial in this contest. I think any Tory MP would be just as hopeless as the next. But there’s a point worth underscoring: if Mordaunt were to
Rishi Sunak has passed the 100 publicly-declared supporters which, it if is converted to nominations when Sunak officially declares, will meet the threshold required to make Monday’s MPs vote. Boris Johnson (like Sunak, not yet officially declared a candidate), is somewhat behind at around 70. Penny Mordaunt, who officially declared on Friday, is further back,
A few short months ago, Liz Truss dismissed Rishi Sunak’s business-as-usual managerialism on the economy. The former chancellor responded by constantly reiterating that her homage to Thatcherism, led by cuts to personal and corporation taxes, would unleash chaos rather than growth. She peddled belief while he dealt in realism. The grassroots preferred the former. Seven