PM “faces pressure” to deliver tax cuts…
“Boris Johnson faced pressure yesterday from his cabinet to cut taxes this year to save his premiership as senior Tories accused his government of being unconservative and socialist. The prime minister made a broad pledge to deliver tax cuts once the economic outlook improved, in an effort to shore up his authority after Monday’s damaging confidence vote. Leading Tory MPs accused him of failing to move quickly enough and said they wanted to see Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, deliver personal tax cuts in his autumn budget.” – The Times
- A string of high-profile MPs have backed a fresh demand from the Adam Smith Institute to reduce the tax burden – The Guardian
- Our only path to victory is through growth and Brexit – Penny Mordaunt, Daily Telegraph
- Too often many have believed we may as well have a Labour Government – Leader, Daily Express
- The Government should commit to a rigorous programme of public sector reform thereby freeing up resources for tax cuts – Leader, The Times
- Thwart the remainer rebels by slashing taxes – Leader, The Sun
>Today:
- ToryDiary: The Prime Minister, the Tory press – and a dog that may be barking but isn’t biting
- Daniel Hannan: Johnson has a chance to recover. Here’s how he can do so.
…Sunak says they are on the way
“Even in research and development, business investment as a percentage of GDP is less than half the OECD average and explains almost all of our productivity gap with the US. So in the autumn, we’ll be setting out a range of tax cuts and reforms to help and incentivise businesses to invest more, train more and innovate more. And I’m confident we’ll see the fruits of this plan in no time.” – Daily Telegraph
- Kwarteng expects “a radical tax-cutting agenda” before the next election – BBC
Calls to bring in Hunt as Chancellor for a “dream team”
“Boris Johnson is being urged by allies to offer Jeremy Hunt the job of chancellor to stabilise his leadership and heal rifts within the Tory party. There is an acceptance among some loyalists that the Prime Minister is better at winning elections than governing the country, and vice-versa for Mr Hunt. The emergence of what has been dubbed the “dream team” ticket comes as Mr Johnson was left reeling from Monday night’s confidence ballot that saw 41 per cent of Tory MPs vote against him.” – Daily Telegraph
- Johnson is “very rattled” says Lord Marland – Daily Express
- PM urged to sack ministers who refused to give him public backing in the confidence vote – The Times
- We’re waiting for Johnson to fall, say Hunt allies – The Times
- Hunt’s chances of succeeding Johnson ‘dead on arrival,’ say ministers – The Sun
- PM “wants ministers to raise their game or face the sack” – Financial Times
>Yesterday: Columnist James Frayne: For the party to survive, the next leader must win the Midlands and the North. Can anyone?
Conservative rebels “plan vote strike”
“Rebel Conservative MPs are drawing up plans for “vote strikes” to paralyse law-making and capitalise on the dramatic Boris Johnson no-confidence vote. Some of the 148 MPs who voted to oust the prime minister on Monday said they would try to stymie his government’s legislative agenda, as happened at the end of the Theresa May era, by abstaining on key laws. They plan to start with a showdown over a bill to override sections of the Northern Ireland protocol, to be published within days.” – The Guardian
- Johnson warned of new clash with MPs over Northern Ireland Protocol – Financial Times
- Opponents of legislation on the Protocol expected to include Jesse Norman – The Times
- Labour is split on whether to target unpopular PM or wider Tory brand – The Guardian
- There’s only one reason so many pro-EU Tories revolted – Stephen Robinson, Daily Mail
- Douglas Ross says PM should ‘think about’ resigning – The Scotsman
- DUP’s return should only be after NI Protocol is resolved, insist three-quarters of unionist voters – Belfast Telegraph
Davis: Changing the rules to allow more frequent leadership votes would be destabilising
“Now we have a year of grace before we can revisit that decision. I do not support changing the interval between confidence votes, as was threatened with Theresa May at an equivalent point in the process with her. Doing so threatens to destabilise every future Conservative leader, which would be a disastrous outcome to this episode.” – David Davis, The Times
- The PM is stronger than you think – Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
- The Government is left weakened and divided in the face of daunting tasks – Leader, Financial Times
- Wallace won’t rule out bid to be PM if Johnson is toppled – The Sun
- End the plotting – Leader, Daily Mail
- Zelensky “very happy” with Johnson’s win – The Times
Conservative MPs challenge BBC over its coverage
“The BBC is running a witch-hunt against Boris Johnson, Tory MPs claimed yesterday. In an angry exchange on live TV, Lee Anderson insisted the corporation was going ‘on and on and on’ about Partygate and this was ‘quite sad’. Another Conservative MP, Adam Holloway, accused BBC’s Newsnight of using an image of the Prime Minister that made him look like the movie monster Hannibal Lecter.” – Daily Mail
- Across the BBC, Sky, ITN and Channel 4, the nakedly partisan Partygate coverage is relentless – Mick Hume, Daily Mail
Report calls for NHS to cut “woke” equality and inclusion posts
“The NHS has been told to cut “diversity and inclusion” jobs as a landmark report set out plans for the biggest shake-up of management in a generation. The Health Secretary called for “urgent” action to improve the quality of leadership in the health service, as part of a war on “waste and wokery” amid record NHS spending…General Sir Gordon Messenger, a general who led the Royal Marines’ invasion of Iraq, had been asked to lead the eight-month inquiry into the health and social care leadership…Sir Gordon said far more needed to be done to improve equality in the NHS and stop barriers to progress. But he said this meant equipping all leaders with the right skills, doing away with the plethora of equality, diversity and inclusion roles which have sprung up in recent years.” – Daily Telegraph
- Review finds ‘institutional inadequacy’ and evidence of poor behaviour and attitudes among staff – Financial Times
- In the age of Netflix the NHS is more like Blockbuster, says Javid – The Times
Train strikes threatened for three days this month
“Militant rail unions have been slammed for ‘putting a gun to the head of an industry’ as staff plan to walk out in summer, threatening to hinder the nation’s travel amid by-elections, GCSEs and summer music festivals. The hard-left Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said 50,000 of its workers at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on June 21, 23 and 25, and warned that more strikes would follow if a row over pay and job cuts was not resolved.” – Daily Mail
Ministers accused of “gambling” with taxpayer’s money over levelling up funding
“Boris Johnson’s government appears to be “gambling” with hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money through the chaotic administration of its flagship levelling up fund, MPs have warned. Ministers “retrofitted” the criteria for winning bids to the £4.8bn fund for reducing regional economic inequalities and then failed to evaluate the effects of grants that were awarded, according to a report published on Wednesday by the House of Commons public accounts committee.” – Financial Times
Legal blow to holding a Scottish independence referendum
“Nicola Sturgeon’s plans to hold a second independence referendum have been dealt a blow after her government’s lawyers indicated a ‘transfer of powers’ would be needed to push the bill through Holyrood. Legal advice said the Scottish Government was able to “lawfully” work on proposals for independence including preparing a referendum bill. The advice has put Nicola Sturgeon’s plans on hold as Scottish Government lawyers also said ministers could call for the “transfer of power” from Westminster under a Section 30 order to hold a second separation vote.” – Daily Express
- The SNP’s puritan state has left Scotland in the doldrums – Alan Cochrane, Daily Telegraph
>Today: Columnist Emily Carver: Meanwhile, in Scotland, the SNP bungles schools, ferries, drugs, rail – and now minimum alcohol pricing
Neil: Home ownership is a key challenge for the Tories
“The old verities of British politics are being upended by new voting patterns (the middle class more Labour, the working class more Tory) but there is still one metric that holds true: if you own your own home, you’re more likely than not to vote Tory. But home ownership has been in freefall for most of this century, even under Tory governments and young people in particular — the new Generation Rent — are struggling to get on the housing ladder as never before in modern times. It is a trend that contains within it the potential demise of the Tory party.” – Andrew Neil, Daily Mail
News in brief
- This year’s Tax Freedom Day is no cause for celebration – Madsen Pirie, CapX
- Johnson should quit now to save his career – William Atkinson, The Spectator
- Which Tory does the Left fear most? – Aaron Bastini, Unherd
- Bring on the VAT cuts – John Redwood
- It is not too late for the PM to deliver – Daniel Johnson, The Article