Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly is launching his Tory leadership campaign today, where he’s expected to highlight the need for capitalism and a smaller state to boost economic growth and give younger people a stake in society. Like most of the other candidates, he’ll also promise to “unite” the party…
🎥 Watch live as I deliver the first major speech of my campaign to be leader of the Conservative Party https://t.co/hPkBZME9rQ
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) September 2, 2024
Kemi Badenoch is launching her leadership bid Renewal2030 with a speech in a “modern” stage in Westminster. Meanwhile, her ‘teaser’ video of the party needing someone who “isn’t afraid of Doctor Who” has racked up more likes and views on X in the last 12 hours than any other the other candidates’ videos. As Guido reported last week, Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho took to the stage to give a fresh endorsement of Kemi…
Join me at 11am as I launch my @Renewal2030 campaign to become the next leader of our great Conservative Party. https://t.co/hDwprbj5mJ
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) September 2, 2024
In her bid to appeal to the party, Kemi spoke of the importance of personal responsibility, citizenship, equality, family and truth. Covering a lot…
UPDATE: A rival camp source says:
“Kemi’s spot-on. We need to keep attacking Dr Who, not cap migration, and just relax. No wonder her campaign has written off the next general election.”
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…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
