Category Archives: conservative party

Budget Analysis: Voters Could End Up Paying The Price For Rachel Reeves’ Big Gamble

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Rachel Reeves is not, by nature, much of a gambler.

She has managed to become the UK’s first ever female chancellor through a combination of political ability, sound economic judgement and caution.

But in the Budget, she decided to bet everything on the government being able to grow the economy – and the “working people” Labour have sought to protect could end up paying the price.

Reeves stunned the Commons by announcing that she was hiking taxes by £40 billion – an astronomical sum even bigger than what had been predicted and which will take the tax burden to the highest level on record.

Capital gains tax, inheritance tax and – most significantly – employers’ National Insurance are all going up as the chancellor seeks to clear up the financial mess she says the last Tory government left behind.

Tens of billions of pounds will also be borrowed as the government turns on the spending taps.

Much of the cash will be spent on improving the NHS and schools, moves which are likely to be popular with most voters.

But look at the small print and it’s clear to see why economic experts – and plenty of Labour MPs – are nervous.

Economic growth – the government’s number one mission, don’t forget – over the next five years is set to be lower than previously forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Inflation and interest rates are also set to rise, according to the OBR, further damaging household incomes.

Treasury sources acknowledge this is a sub-optimal situation, but are pleading for patience from voters.

One said: “Do we want those growth forecasts to be higher? Yes. But we’re not going to be able to turn around 14 years in one Budget. This is our first Budget in our first term.

“What the chancellor has set out is an honest Budget in response to the scale of the challenge we face.

“We’ve had to take difficult decisions on tax in order to bring back stability to the economy.

“We’re not immune to the consequences of our decisions, but the consequences of not acting would have been to lose control of economic stability.”

But there was an ominous warning from the highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies, whose director Paul Johnson said: “Somebody will pay for the higher taxes – largely working people.”

With the Labour government’s popularity already cratering barely three months after the election, a major financial hit to those who helped put them in office is the last thing Reeves and Keir Starmer need.

The chancellor desperately needs her big Budget gamble to pay off.

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Robert Jenrick Slams Kemi Badenoch For Criticising Him, Only To Return The Favour

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Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick just claimed his rival Kemi Badenoch made a “mistake” when she criticised him – only to then hit out at her, too.

Jenrick and Badenoch are the only two candidates left in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader.

Tory members have to cast their votes by the end of this month and the official winner will be announced on November 2.

On Sunday, Badenoch took a swipe at Jenrick by telling The Telegraph: “Integrity matters … with me you’d have a leader where there’s no scandal. I was never sacked for anything, I didn’t have to resign in disgrace or, you know, because there was a whiff of impropriety.”

This is presumably a reference to Jenrick’s involvement in a 2020 planning dispute when he was housing secretary under Boris Johnson, a role which he was later sacked from in a reshuffle.

Speaking to Times Radio on Monday morning, Jenrick criticised Badenoch for speaking “ill” of her rival.

“I think it was a mistake by Kemi,” he said, alleging he thinks Tory members are “sick of the drama”.

He continued: “They want to end all these excuses. They want to stop the squabbling and the backbiting. They want the party to unite and to be a team. That is what I want to do.”

He added: “So I am not going to speak ill of fellow Conservatives. I think if we do that, that will be the end of the Conservative Party.”

But Jenrick then decided to dish out an insult of his own, adding: “If my rival, you know, starts to deal with personal insults, that is because she doesn’t really have any policies to talk about.

“And I want to be talking about policies. That is what this debate should be about.”

The former minister then said: “Let’s not go down the rabbit hole of drama and infighting. We’ve had way too much, that’s not my way, that’s not how I would conduct myself if I’m leader of the party.”

He claimed ultimately they are “grown ups,” and recalled how the Conservative Party is “the world’s oldest political party”.

He said: “Hitherto, it’s most successful. It is not a Twitter account.”

The Tories suffered a noteworthy defeat in July’s general election, losing the highest number of seats of any UK party in history (251), meaning they now have just 121 representatives in parliament.

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20 Controversies Which Tell You All You Need To Know About The Two Tories Left In The Leadership Race

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The very drawn-out Conservative Party leadership contest is almost over – but who will be the victor?

The party members have until October 31 to cast their votes, and, having stayed on as a rather reticent caretaker leader for almost four months, Rishi Sunak will finally be able to hand over the reins of the party on November 2.

Former home secretary James Cleverly, perceived as a moderate within the party, was unexpectedly ousted in the last round of the MPs’ ballots earlier this month.

The final two candidates are now right-wing, former ministers, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, both of whom are known for regularly causing a stir.

So, as a new era looms for the beleaguered Conservative Party, here’s a look at the most eye-catching moments from the last leadership hopefuls standing during a rather chaotic contest…

Kemi Badenoch

1. Her row with David Tennant

Badenoch launched her leadership bid by reminding Tory members how actor David Tennant had called for her to “shut up” over her belief on the trans community earlier this year.

In a video promoting her plan to lead the Conservatives, Badenoch said: “No, I will not shut up.

“When you have that kind of cultural establishment trying to keep Conservatives down, you need someone like me, who is not afraid of Doctor Who or whoever, and who is going to take the fight to them and not let them try and keep us down.

“That’s not going to happen with me.”

2. Claiming maternity pay is “excessive”

The Tory leadership hopeful sparked a row at the Conservative Party conference when she told Times Radio: “Maternity pay varies depending on who you work for, but it is a function, where it’s statutory maternity pay. It is a function of tax.

“Tax comes from people who are working. We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This in my view is excessive.”

She later had to issue a “clarification” saying she was actually talking about “the burden of regulation on businesses”.

3. Alleging people are “too scared” to start businesses

Badenoch doubled down on her concerns over business during the conference.

At a fringe event, recalling how a constituent explained she had to close her business because she could not afford wages or maternity pay, Badenoch claimed: “We are overburdening businesses.

“We are overburdening them with regulation, with tax. People aren’t starting businesses any more because they’re too scared.”

4. Suggesting young Tories get marked down at university because of politics

While at the conference, Badenoch said “socialism” has returned to the UK now Labour are in power.

She said young Conservatives are now “afraid to share their politics with other students, because they will be attacked, that they are marked down by lecturers because of their beliefs”.

5. Claiming a tenth of civil servants should be “in prison”

Again, while speaking to the party faithful, Badenoch said 10% of civil servants are “absolutely magnificent”.

But she added: “There’s about 5 to 10% of them who are very, very bad – you know, should be in prison bad – leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers, agitating – I have some of it in my department – usually union led.”

The audience laughed after she spoke, suggesting it may have been a joke.

6. Suggesting not all “cultures are equally valid”

Badenoch wrote an article for the Sunday Telegraph saying “we cannot be naive and assume […] all cultures are equally valid” as “they are not”.

She added: “I am struck, for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel.”

7. Huge fan of Elon Musk

Badenoch revealed she is a supporter of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

She said: “I think Elon Musk has been a fantastic thing for freedom of speech. I will hold my hand up and say, I’m a huge fan of Elon Musk.”

Her comments came weeks after the X CEO suggested “civil war was inevitable” in the UK during the far-right riots and repeated the right-wing conspiracy theory of two-tier policing.

8. A controversial take on class

Speaking on Christopher Hope’s Political Podcast, Badenoch claimed: “I grew up in a middle class family, but I became working class when I was 16, working in McDonald’s.”

9. “I don’t make gaffes”

Shortly after that remark about class, Badenoch told the podcast: “I never have gaffes, or apologising for something that I said, [saying] ‘oh that’s not what I meant,’ I never have to clarify, because I think very carefully about what I say.”

10. Endorsing a pamphlet “stigmatising” autism

Badenoch wrote the foreword for the ‘Conservatism in Crisis’ report which said an autism diagnosis “offers economic advantages and protections”.

She claimed “mental health has become something that society, schools and employers have to work around”.

Conservative leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, from left, Robert Jenrick
Conservative leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, from left, Robert Jenrick

via Associated Press

Robert Jenrick

1. A strong interest in Thatcher

The Tory leadership hopeful told the Conservative Party conference he gave his daughter “Thatcher” as a middle name in a reference to the late prime minister.

He also celebrated what would have been the Iron Lady’s 99th birthday with a countdown and a Union Jack cake.

2. Calls to get NHS chief sacked

Jenrick told The Sunday Times that he wonders if the head of the NHS in England, Amanda Pritchard, is “the best person Britain has to run the NHS”.

He said: “It’s nothing personal against her. I know she’s very professional. But I do think it’s time for someone new, who gets that NHS productivity has to improve.”

3. His remarks on the SAS

As part of his claim about the ways the ECHR restricts the UK, Jenrick used footage of an SAS soldier, who has since died, in northern Afghanistan in around 2002 in one of his campaign videos.

Jenrick sparked backlash when he claimed: “Our special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists because our lawyers tell us that if they are caught, the European court will set them free.”

4. Wearing a ‘Hamas are terrorists’ hoodie

Jenrick was pictured wearing a “Hamas are terrorists” hoodie at a Conservative Friends of Israel meeting.

5. UK has to leave the ECHR or the Tories ‘die’

The former immigration minister suggested the UK had to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), or die, because of the way it restricts how immigration is tackled.

He said: “This is more than just ‘leave or amend’: frankly, our party doesn’t have a future unless we take a stand and fix this problem. It’s leave or die for our party – I’m for leave.”

6. Installing the Star of David at UK ports

Jenrick told a fringe event at the Tory conference: “A small thing that I fought for when I was the immigration minister was to ensure that every Israeli citizen could enter our country through the e-gate, through the easy access.

“So that at every airport and point of entry to our great country there is the Star of David there as a symbol that we support Israel, we stand with Israel.”

7. Support for Trump

“If I were an American citizen, I would be voting for Donald Trump,” he said in August.

However he watered these comments down a bit later, saying he does not agree with everything the Republican candidate says and “respects” Kamala Harris.

8. Promoting “English identity”

In an article for the Daily Mail, Jenrick wrote: “The combination of unprecedented migration alongside the dismantling of our national culture, non-integrating multiculturalism and the denigration of our identity has presented huge problems.”

He added: “It has had a clear impact on our culture, customs and cohesion. Taken together, the attitudes and policies of our metropolitan establishment have weakened English identity. They have put the very idea of England at risk.”

However, he was unable to explain exactly what he meant when pressed over his wording on Sky News.

9. Claiming anyone shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ in the street should be arrested

Speaking to Sky News about the August riots, Jenrick said: “I have been very critical of the police in the past, particularly around the attitude of some police forces to the protests since October 7 [Hamas’ attack on Israel.]

“I thought it was quite wrong somebody could shout Allahu Akbar on the streets of London and not be immediately arrested, or project genocidal chants onto Big Ben, and that person not be immediately arrested.”

He later defended himself, saying he was talking about “aggressive chanting” of the phrase.

10. Forgetting what he did while Home Office minister

Jenrick claimed the current PM Keir Starmer “signed us up to eight more years of uncontrolled levels of illegal migrants” after the government invited companies to manage the Western Jet Foil and Manston facilities.

Actually, the leadership hopeful signed off on those contracts himself when he was the immigration minister.

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Kemi Badenoch And James Cleverly In ‘Fight To The Death’ To Reach Tory Leadership Run-Off

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Tory rivals Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly are now in a “fight to the death” to get through to the final run-off in the Conservative leadership race, senior MPs believe.

Bookies’ favourite Robert Jenrick is thought to have already secured the support of enough MPs to make it to the last two.

Tom Tugendhat is widely expected to be the next candidate to drop out of the race when the next ballot of MPs takes place a week from now.

That would leave leadership hopefuls Badenoch and Cleverly battling it out for the right to go head-to-head with Jenrick in the final phase of the campaign, in which party members will decide who replaces Rishi Sunak as leader.

Cleverly is seen as the candidate with the wind in his sails at the end of the Tories’ annual conference in Birmingham.

His set-piece speech, in which he urged the party to “be more normal” and pledged to put a smile back on its face, went down well in the hall.

The former home secretary has also succeeded in avoiding any controversy – unlike Badenoch.

A source on his campaign said: “The momentum is well and truly with James. He has always loved conference and the last few days have seen him thrive.”

Badenoch, on the other hand, has been embroiled in rows over her views on immigration, maternity pay, the national minimum wage and even whether thousands of civil servants deserve to be behind bars.

Conservative leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, from left, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat stand on the podium during the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Conservative leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, from left, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat stand on the podium during the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

via Associated Press

One veteran MP said: “Kemi just reaffirmed people’s worst fears that if she was leader there would be a gaffe a day. All the rest of us would then have to spend all our time having to explain what she meant.

“Her campaign has appeared chaotic and she hasn’t done as much flesh-pressing as the others. Some colleagues were saying they had seen the other candidates three or four times but only seen her once, which plays into concerns about her work ethic.”

And while her final speech to the conference gained pass marks, one former minister said it wasn’t the “humdinger” she needed to overtake Jenrick.

“It went down very well in the hall, and the content was good, even if the delivery wasn’t great,” the MP said.

However, a Badenoch campaign source told HuffPost UK they were “very happy” with how the week has gone.

“She was the only candidate anyone was talking about all week, proving that she is the only candidate with the star quality to cut through in opposition,” the source said.

“The membership loved her. Polls of members released during the conference put her ahead. The speech is winning plaudits. And two big hitters in David Davis and Helen Grant came out and endorsed her shortly after she’d finished speaking.”

While Cleverly’s campaign has undoubtedly been buoyed by the last few days, party insiders believe he still needs to persuade MPs who had been planning to vote for Badenoch to switch to him if he is to have any chance of winning.

One undecided MP said: “James showed that he’s an experienced pro and would able to hit the ground running if he wins. He also answered some of the doubts about whether he really wants it.

“But has been at the heart of everything for last five years, so can he credibly claim that he will deliver change as leader? That’s his challenge now, because he’s in a fight to the death with Kemi for the second slot on the ballot.”

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Kemi Badenoch Says 1 In 10 Civil Servants Are So ‘Bad’ They ‘Should Be In Prison’

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Kemi Badenoch has – potentially jokingly – told fellow Conservatives that up to 10% of civil servants are so “bad” they ought to be in prison.

The Tory leadership candidate made the comments during an event with The Spectator at the annual Conservative conference.

According to The Guardian, she said: “I don’t want people to get me wrong – I think that civil servants are like everybody else. They come in to do a job, and I’d say about 10% of them are absolutely magnificent.

“And the trick to being a good minister is to find the good ones quickly, keep them close and try and get the bad ones out of your department.

“There’s about 5 to 10% of them who are very, very bad – you know, should be in prison bad – leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers, agitating – I have some of it in my department – usually union led.

“But most of them actually want to do a good job. And the good ones are very frustrated by the bad ones.”

The audience reportedly laughed after she spoke, suggesting she may have spoken in jest.

Ten percent of civil servants works out to around 51,066 people, according to the Institute for Government’s statistics.

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Kemi Badenoch says between 5-10% of civil servants “are very, very bad. You know, should be in prison bad.”

She lists leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers and agitating.

😬😬😬

— Jack Elsom (@JackElsom) October 1, 2024

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Kemi Badenoch says between 5-10% of civil servants “are very, very bad. You know, should be in prison bad.”

She lists leaking official secrets, undermining their ministers and agitating.

😬😬😬

— Jack Elsom (@JackElsom) October 1, 2024

Badenoch also used the event to claim that the NHS is often viewed as a “religion rather than a service” and claimed there are too many people “living off government”.

According to the Guardian, she said: “It’s people who rely on government. It’s not just civil service or people who work as equality, diversity and inclusion instructors. It’s also people who need the government in order to make money.”

Badenoch claimed too many students are going to university as well.

Her remarks come off the back of a few rather turbulent days for the former minister.

On Monday, she sparked a benefits row by hinting maternity pay for working mothers was “excessive”.

But, she was later forced to issue a clarification, saying: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far… of course I believe in maternity pay.”

And on Tuesday, she suggested minimum wage is “over-burdening” businesses with regulation, and tax, claiming: “People aren’t starting businesses any more because they’re too scared.”

She is competing against Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

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