The Tory conference this year has a distinctly upbeat vibe. The blue-on-blue scraps are serving up plenty of entertainment as the leadership hopefuls vie for the affections of the Tory grassroots. Wherever a candidate appears, there’s a flock of flustered aides, a swarm of cameras, and some strategically-placed super-fans ready to cheer them on through the conference maze. Cue lots of earnest faces and practiced nodding as members buttonhole them to give their views—or shower a bit of love. One would think they were Hollywood A-listers…
Like in Hollywood, Birmingham hasn’t been without its fair share of drama. First, the leadership contenders found themselves in neighbouring hotel rooms, which predictably wreaked havoc. Then there was the kerfuffle when Jenrick was handed the Leader’s suite after Sunak bolted from the conference on Sunday, sparking fury from Kemi. The latest Guido hears is that Richard Fuller has now been booted from his room, and Kemi’s been upgraded to the Chairman’s suite. Proper playground politics…
There are perils to live reporting from inside a raucus Conference party. GB News’ Deputy Political Editor and Guido alumnus Tom Harwood was briefly consulted for his analysis from the dance floor. That’s one way to get out of an interview…
As Jenrick gains support with Tory members to get in reach of Kemi Badenoch he’s being launched on by rival candidates for some of his choicier words on the ECHR. In a video released yesterday morning Jenrick said “our special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists because our lawyers tell us that if they’re caught the European Court will set them free.” Quite the allegation to be fair…
The leadership hopeful was questioned by Mishal Husain for four grating minutes on the Today Programme about that statement. Jenrick argued he was just repeating Ben Wallace, who complained lsat year that the ECHR prevents the SAS from conducting raids on foreign soil, but doesn’t prevent a lethal drone strike:
“When we have a threat to the UK, this lunacy of being unable to render people across borders or arrest people in countries whose police forces are unacceptable, means that we are more often than not forced into taking lethal action than actually raiding and detaining.”
Not quite the same as terrorists getting set free by lawyers. Husain pushed him on the specifics several times: “You did say our special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists, so you think or know that’s happening now?” His rivals have jumped on the statement. Jenrick gets a conference blowup – there’s still time for Cleverly and Tugendhat…
The Spectator held a tax panel at Tory Conference this afternoon at which the Laffer Curve naturally came up. Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott made a hash of her government’s record by claiming that the “higher rate” of CGT was cut at the last budget which raised more revenue. In fact it was only the CGT rate on property which Hunt cut (from 28 to 24) and the revenue effect won’t be known until 2026…
Institute for Fiscal Studies chief Paul Johnson chimed in on whether there were any taxes for which a cut would boost Treasury coffers:
“Tobacco duty: but that’s not necessarily something I would suggest.”
That’s a sound admission from the tax-favourable IFS. As Guido has pointed out the Treasury is losing billions every year thanks to an ever-swelling black market. £4 billion in tax revenue from tobacco – the entire policing budget – was foregone last year alone. As usual evidence isn’t factored in to politicians’ decision-making…
It’s Tugendhat and Badenoch up first in a double bill of candidate-member Q&As. Cleverly and Jenrick tomorrow…
It’s a leadership conference now that Sunak has scuttled off. Kemi was firefighting yesterday over maternity pay. Still all to play for…
Chris Hope will do 30 minutes of questioning followed by questions from members. Tugendhat up first…
UPDATE: Kemi up now.
Read summaries below:
As expected, Liz Truss made waves at her appearance at the Tory conference. Speaking to The Telegraph’s Tim Stanley, Truss declared that the UK has effectively become a “socialist” country— with the help of her former party, stating: “We can’t say it’s the Labour government, the problems we face now are because of the Tories,” going on to say this makes her “very sad”. The problems being record-high taxes, the party’s failure to break away from the “Blairite-Brownite consensus,” and a drift towards “wokeness” to win votes…
Truss went on to insist that if she had been in charge – not Rishi Sunak – the Tories would have fared much better at the ballot box in July. Though she said the best chance the Tories had of winning would have been to keep Boris. Good job Rishi had already ditched conference to hear that…
Meanwhile, none of the Tory leaders candidates seem to impress her, arguing none of them acknowledge how bad things are for the UK and the party, refusing to back any of them. After blaming Reform for the reason she lost her seat, she didn’t rule out a return to the Commons, concluding she will fight her cause and she “will win”. Always a next time…
