54 Tory MPs have now declared their support for one of the six leadership candidates. Assuming each of the six votes for themselves, that means half of the parliamentary party is now attached to a name. The leaderboard at halfway:
- Robert Jenrick: 16
- Kemi Badenoch: 12
- Tom Tugendhat: 9
- Mel Stride: 7
- Priti Patel & James Cleverly: 5
From those numbers you wouldn’t have thought half of the party had declared. Thank Rishi for that one…
Meanwhile, Team Jenrick says they think he’s “nailed on” to reach the final two, with the backing of 41 MPs. Badenoch and Cleverly are formally launching today, before first round voting on Wednesday. More names inbound…
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson had the morning round on the Today Programme to discuss Labour’s scrapping Ofsted’s one-word rating system. After dismissing concerns over recruitment on the grounds that more people will want to work for Labour’s nicer Ofsted, she was pushed on costs. Phillipson initially claimed that levying VAT on private schools would be sufficient because “it raises quite a lot of money… £.3-1.5 billion net.” That line didn’t last long…
When Phillipson was pushed again she backed off and said she was “confident that we will have the resources that we need… both through the tax changes and as part of the budget“. Labour is aggressively pitch-rolling for tax hikes come October’s budget…
Labour is right to avoid putting much stock in their private school tax – new research by the Adam Smith Institute projects that parents whose children are forced out of fee-paying education will actually cost the Treasury up to £2 billion by spending more on leisure instead. Rayner and Reeves won’t be happy until private schools are gone altogether…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
