Category Archives: conservative party

‘Grabbing At Straws!’ Trevor Phillips Calls Out Minister For Spin On Local Elections Disaster

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Trevor Phillips called out transport secretary Mark Harper for his bizarrely optimistic take on the Tories’ terrible performance in the local elections.

The Conservatives lost almost 500 councillors, along with 10 police and crime commissioners.

The governing party also has just one metro mayor now after voters in England and Wales went to the ballot box on Thursday.

But, overlooking these devastating losses, Harper seemed to focus on just one piece of analysis in his interview – Sky News’ forecast that the next general election will result in a hung parliament.

He told the broadcaster: “That means Keir Starmer is not on course to win a majority, and that is before an election campaign where Labour’s lack of policy will come under scrutiny.

“So what that shows me is very clear: the polls are not correct, there is everything to fight for, and the Conservative Party under the prime minister’s leadership is absolutely up for that fight.”

That same projection from Sky still shows the Tories losing 130 seats.

Sky News host Phillips said: “This is grabbing at straws a bit – you actually took a whacking.”

“I was very clear – these are disappointing results,” Harper replied. “The point is, what they demonstrate from that scenario is that Labour’s not on course for that majority, Keir Starmer hasn’t sealed the deal with the public.

“So that means there is a fight to be had, the prime minister is up for that fight, I’m up for that fight and I know the Conservatives are up for it.”

“I’m wondering if you’ve really got to grips with the scale of this,” Phillips said. “On Thursday, you won fewer council seats than Labour. And more importantly, you won fewer council seats than the Liberal Democrats.”

Labour now have 1,140 councillors in England, the Liberal Democrats 521 and the Conservatives 513.

The presenter said: “I know these are local elections so you can’t translate completely, but is it morally right that what is now the third most popular party is now squatting in Downing Street?”

“I don’t accept that analysis at all,” the cabinet minister replied.

“The Liberal Democrats beat you,” Phillips reminded him.

“No they didn’t,” Harper insisted. “If you look at the national equivalent vote share, that’s not correct.”

He said local elections are “always difficult” for the party in government, and that the results of the next general election “are not pre-determined”.

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Kwasi Kwarteng Lashes Out At Liz Truss Over His ‘Trumpian’ Sacking

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Liz Truss’s spurned former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has taken aim at the ex-PM for sacking him in a “kind of Trumpian” manner.

Truss appointed Kwarteng as her chancellor as soon as she was elected – but she gave him the boot just 43 days later, blaming him for the chaos of their mini-budget of £45m of unfunded tax cuts.

Not that this decision saved the ex-PM’s skin. Six days after that, Truss was forced to resign herself and had to to hand the reins over to her Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak.

Still, more than a year later, Kwarteng has said his rapid departure from government was “one of the things that I feel bad about” because Truss reacted so quickly to the pressure to remove him.

Speaking to the One Decision podcast, Kwarteng compared his sacking to the way ex-US president Donald Trump famously fired his own members of staff while in the White House.

He explained that he was returning from a meeting in Washington with the International Monetary Fund when he scrolled through social media – and saw messages about his own future in politics.

He said: “I was sacked, essentially on Twitter. So, kind of Trumpian.”

Kwarteng continued: “I was due back on the Saturday morning, and I came back on the Friday morning and I was driven to Downing Street and I was essentially sacked.

“But on the way to Downing Street, I could see on Twitter, I think it was Steve Swinford of the Times had said… ‘The chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, sacked’ [or] ‘was sacked’ or ‘has been sacked’ – I don’t know what tense it was but the message was clear.”

The ex-chancellor said his meeting with the then prime minister after that was “definitive”.

While Truss did not actually tweet that she was going to fire Kwarteng before she announced it to him (like Trump), the ex-chancellor did still find out via social media.

The two were close allies, having both entered parliament as new Tory MPs in 2010 and rising through the ranks of government together.

It seems they were destined to leave government together, too – as Kwarteng told the podcast, “it was obvious to me that once I’d been sacked it was over for her”.

The ex-chancellor has mostly avoided the spotlight since then, and has announced he will be stepping down as an MP at the next general election.

Truss, meanwhile, has been focused on appealing to a more right-wing audience, reforming her image and promoting her new book Ten Years To Save The West.

She has also endorsed Trump to be the next US president.

Both have refused to take responsibility for the chaos of their mini-budget, suggesting it was more the speed at which they introduced the reforms rather than the reforms themselves.

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How Tory Mayors Are Pretending Not To Be Tories In A Desperate Bid To Avoid Defeat

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Tory mayors have distanced themselves from their party and Rishi Sunak in a desperate attempt to get re-elected.

Ben Houchen and Andy Street face major fights to hang onto their jobs when voters go to the polls in Tees Valley and the West Midlands.

With the Conservatives trailing well behind Labour in the national opinion polls, both men have gone out of their way to avoid admitting they are actually Tories.

Street’s website has no Tory branding and is mainly coloured green rather than the traditional Conservative blue.

Meanwhile, his 300-word biography contains no mention at all of the party he represents.

Andy Street's website has no Tory bradfing.
Andy Street’s website has no Tory bradfing.

Andy Street

Houchen’s website does describe him as “the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley”, but during his election campaign he has at times gone out of his way to play down his party affiliation.

In a video posted on Facebook, he said: “I’m less interested in national politics, I am the mayor of Tees Valley. My priority is always the people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.”

And campaign leaflets put through doors in his area also fail to mention the party he represents.

A Ben Houchen campaign leaflet.
A Ben Houchen campaign leaflet.

Ben Houchen

In a further snub for Sunak, both Street and Houchen were happy to receive the endorsement of Boris Johnson rather than the PM yesterday.

Johnson sent a letter to voters in the West Midlands urging them to vote for Street, while he also recorded a video for Houchen.

A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “Rishi Sunak chickened out of calling a general election and now his mayoral candidates are too scared to even acknowledge him.

“It seems they’ve concluded the only way they can win is to distance themselves from the failed Tory Party and pretend they’ve never heard of their beleaguered prime minister.”

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Fresh Headache For Sunak As Polls Predict A Labour Mayor Will Be Elected On His Doorstep

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New polling suggests there could soon be a Labour mayor elected to the combined authority which Rishi Sunak’s own constituency sits in.

According to research from left-leaning Labour Together think tank, those who have already decided how they will be voting in Thursday’s York and North Yorkshire mayoral election are backing Keir Starmer’s party.

Labour’s David Skaith is on 41 points in the polls compared to the Tories’ Keane Duncan, who lags behind on 27 points.

The poll, conducted between April 26 and 30, also found 23% of the local electorate did not intend to vote, while 22% remain undecided.

This is the first time a mayor will be elected for the combined authority, which encompasses Sunak’s Richmond constituency.

It is one of the many eagerly anticipated local elections taking place this week.

Although a relatively small proportion of the population will be casting votes for their local authorities, it is a good way to measure the public’s attitudes towards Westminster parties ahead of the general election.

And it’s already looking pretty bleak for the Tories.

Of the eight constituencies in York and North Yorkshire, Labour only holds two right now including former Tory safe seat Selby, which was secured in a by-election last year.

The area is still seen as a Conservative stronghold, but it seems this could all start to shift with this week’s local elections.

Director of research at Labour Together, Christabel Cooper, said: “After a 21% swing toward the party in Selby and Ainsty last summer, our polling shows that Labour is competitive everywhere, including in Rishi Sunak’s backyard in North Yorkshire.

“A win here would indicate a terrible night for Prime Minister.”

Labour are on course to secure a further three seats in the area from the Tories, according to projections.

Sunak has held the seat comfortably since being elected in 2015, winning a majority of 19,550 in 2019.

But, a mega-poll conducted by Survation MRP for Best for Britain concluded in March that the PM’s lead in his seat will drop to be less than 2.5% over Labour – and that’s including the expected margin of error seen in most polls.

The same research suggested the Tories will win fewer than 100 seats in the next general election, if the Conservative share of the vote is translated into MPs.

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Journalist Asks David Cameron Outright If Rwanda Bill Is A Consequence Of Brexit

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David Cameron was asked outright by a journalist if the government’s controversial Rwanda bill is a result of the UK’s departure from the EU.

Speaking shortly after parliament finally passed the legislation to deport asylum seekers to Africa on Monday night, the foreign secretary defended the policy – but dodged the questions about his main legacy, Brexit.

ITV News’ deputy political editor Anushka Asthana asked: “Hand on heart, if this had come up when you were PM, would you have gone for this policy?”

Cameron, who was in No.10 from 2010 to 2016, said: “Well, we had a totally different situation, because we had a situation where we could return people directly to France.

“Now I would love that to be the case again – that’s the most sensible thing.

“People land on a beach in Kent, you take them straight back to France, you therefore break the model of the people smugglers.”

“Shouldn’t you be trying to get that?” Asthana asked.

“Well, that’s not available,” the foreign secretary replied.

The journalist asked: “Because of Brexit?”

Cameron ended up resigning as prime minister in 2016 because his campaign to stay in the EU lost.

He did not answer Asthana directly and just said: “Well, because of the situation we’re in.”

The foreign secretary did not explain what he meant by that.

Rishi Sunak has also threatened to take the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights if its judges try to stop the Rwanda policy altogether.

Cameron told Asthana that the UK has to deal with illegal immigration, but added: “I don’t think it’s necessary to leave the ECHR, I don’t think that needs to happen to make this policy work.”

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‘Do You Think It’s Funny?’: Kay Burley Clashes With Grant Shapps Over Tory Sleaze

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The Sky News presenter grilled the defence secretary after Mark Menzies became the latest Conservative MP to lose the party whip.

He is accused of using Tory campaign funds to pay off “bad people” he claimed had locked him in a flat, as well as for medical bills.

Menzies, the MP for Flyde in Lancashire, denies the allegations but has agreed to “relinquish” the Tory whip while the party investigates the claims, which were first reported by The Times.

As Burley grilled Shapps on the claims, he said: “I thought I was coming on to talk about the situation in Iran and the Middle East.”

Burley replied: “We’ll come to that, Mr Shapps. In the next door constituency of Blackpool South, the whip was removed from Scott Benton over a lobbying scandal.

“Peter Bone, a former Conservative MP, [lost the whip] for sexual bullying, Neil Parish for viewing porn or was it tractors in the chamber of the House of Commons. Chris Pincher allegedly molesting men at the Carlton Club.

“Eight independent MPs, former Tories. What is that saying about your party and the state of British politics this morning.”

Shapps said: “I understand what you’re driving at here. I thought I was coming on to talk about two wars in the world and you’re pressing me about some issues that I’m not particularly close to.”

As the defence secretary appeared to smirk, Burley asked him: “Do you think it’s funny, Mr Shapps?”

He replied: “I don’t think it’s funny, no one said it was funny, Kay.”

Burley said: “You seemed to be smirking about it. I’m asking you about the state of British politics this morning.”

The minister responded: “I’m not, you’re just pursuing a line of questioning about something which I didn’t come on to talk about because there two world wars, wars in the world, going on.”

Burley then interrupted him to point out: “They’re not world wars at the moment, Mr Shapps, and I’ll come onto those.

“I want to ask you about your party’s previous Tory MPs. At least eight of them are now independent MPs and I’ve listed why they are not any longer representing their constituencies as members of the Conservative Party.

“I’m asking you what people in those constituencies should be thinking about the Conservative Party ahead of the next general election.”

A clearly-annoyed Shapps replied: “I think you’re trying to draw a thread between all of them. There are MPs from other parties who have experienced similar problems or misdemeanours and it’s right that there are processes in place, but I can’t really add much to this.”

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‘Absolutely Nuts’: Boris Johnson Launches Furious Attack On Rishi Sunak

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Boris Johnson has launched a furious attack on Rishi Sunak’s “absolutely nuts” policies as prime minister.

The former PM took aim at Sunak’s plan to ban the sale of tobacco to future generations and also suggested the government is not spending enough on defence.

Johnson’s comments, at a conference in Canada, are the latest salvo in his ongoing feud with the man he believes plotted to bring him down as prime minister.

Sunak announced at last autumn’s Tory Party conference in Birmingham that anyone currently aged 14 or under would never be able to buy tobacco products in their life.

The measure has sparked a backlash within his own party, with dozens of Conservative MPs expected to vote against the plan when it comes to parliament next week.

Johnson said some of Sunak’s policies that are “being done in the name of conservatism” are “absolutely, absolutely nuts”.

He said: “I see my beloved party… we’re banning cigars. And what is the point? The party of Winston Churchill wants a ban. I mean, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.”

On defence spending, Johnson said: “Now is the moment for an even more robust posture.

“We all need to recognise the world is more uncertain, more dangerous, we all need frankly to be spending more on defence — that goes for the UK as well as everybody else.”

Johnson’s remarks come just two weeks after Sunak bemoaned the “hospital pass” he had been handed by his predecessors when he became PM in 2022.

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‘Honeytrap’ MP William Wragg Gives Up The Tory Whip

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The Tory MP at the centre of the Westminster honeytrap spear-phishing scandal has voluntarily given up the Tory whip.

William Wragg’s decision came a day after he resigned as a vice-chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, as well as chairman of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee.

The 36-year-old last week admitted giving the phone numbers of other MPs to a person he met on the dating app Grindr.

Wragg said he had been “weak” after becoming concerned that the man had “compromising” material on him.

A statement from the Tory whips office tonight said: “Following Will Wragg’s decision to step back from his roles on the public accounts and 1922 committees, he has also notified the chief whip that he is voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative whip.”

Senior Tories initially stood by Wragg after the scandal broke, with chancellor Jeremy Hunt praising him for making a “courageous and fulsome apology”.

But several Tory MPs have since broken ranks to tell of their anger at Wragg’s behaviour.

Andrea Jenkyns branded Wragg an “idiot” for “compromising security”, while Conor Burns said he was “reckless, selfish and thoughtless”.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, said: “The fact it was left to William Wragg to resign is another indictment of Rishi Sunak’s weakness.

“His MPs were left yet again being sent out to defend a position that has collapsed.

“Rishi Sunak puts party management first every time – and he can’t even do that properly. It is no way to run a country.

“Britain deserves so much better than this endless Tory chaos.”

Wragg, who is standing down at the next election, told The Times last week: “I got chatting to a guy on an app and we exchanged pictures. We were meant to meet up for drinks, but then didn’t. Then he started asking for numbers of people. I was worried because he had stuff on me. He gave me a WhatsApp number, which doesn’t work now.

“I’ve hurt people by being weak. I was scared. I’m mortified. I’m so sorry that my weakness has caused other people hurt.”

Those targeted by the phishing attack were sent unsolicited messages on WhatsApp from senders identifying themselves as “Charlie” or “Abi”.

Police and parliamentary authorities have also launched investigations into the scandal.

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Liz Truss Has Raised Eyebrows By Turning Up At Nigel Farage’s 60th Birthday Party

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The former prime minister was spotted in the background of a picture taken at the bash, which was held in a posh London restaurant.

Right-wing Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns posted the snap on X (formerly Twitter last night).

In it, she is standing alongside Farage and his Leave.EU ally Aaron Banks.

Truss, who was prime minister for 49 days before being forced to quit after her mini-Budget sparked economic chaos, can clearly be seen in the background turning towards the camera.

Speaking in February, Truss said she would like to see Farage join the Conservative Party to “help turn our country around”.

Nevertheless, it is surprising to see a former Tory PM attend a celebration being thrown for a man who has stood against the party on numerous occasions and is set to throw his weight behind Reform UK at the upcoming general election.

Her presence at the event did not go on-noticed on social media – with some users unable to resist the temptation to refer to the fact that Truss was outlasted by a lettuce during her brief stint in No.10.

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Tories On Course To Win Fewer Than 100 Seats At The Election, According To New Mega-Poll

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The Tories are on course to win fewer than 100 seats at the next election, according to a new mega-poll.

The Survation survey for the Best for Britain campaign group says Labour is set to win a landslide 142-seat majority on a catastrophic night for Rishi Sunak.

The poll of 15,000 people puts Labour on 45% overall, with the Conservatives on 26%, the Lib Dems on 10% and Reform UK on 8.5%.

But a seat-by-seat analysis of the findings leaves Labour with 468 MPs, the Tories on 98, the SNP on 41 and the Lib Dems on 22.

Cabinet big-hitters Penny Mordaunt, James Cleverly and Grant Shapps are among the high-profile Conservatives who would lose their seats if the poll is correct.

Even Sunak himself, along with Claire Coutinho, Michelle Donelan, Oliver Dowden and Michael Gove, are at risk as the Tories face total meltdown.

The party would also be left with no MPs in Scotland or Wales, according to the poll.

Although the poll predicts Reform UK will not win any seats, the right-wing party is set to take support from the Tories in seats across the country.

Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said: “With the polling showing swathes of voters turning their backs on the Tories, it’s clear that this will be a change election.”

The findings will pile yet more pressure on the prime minister amid mounting speculation that he could be ousted by Tory MPs even before the election takes place.

Polling experts have predicted the party will lose 500 seats at the local elections on May 2, a result which could trigger a wave of no confidence letters being sent in to Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers.

It has been suggested that Sunak could call an election for June or July in an attempt to see off any challenges to his leadership.

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