“Penny Mordaunt backed Liz Truss to become the next Conservative leader as a new poll suggested that the race to succeed Boris Johnson was tightening. In an article for The Times today, Mordaunt, who narrowly lost out to Truss in the final round of voting among MPs, says the foreign secretary has “grasped the mood of the country” and is the candidate most likely to win the next general election. Mordaunt’s support is a significant boost for Truss’s campaign as ballot papers are sent out this week. She is the fourth of the defeated leader- ship challengers to back Truss after recent endorsements from Nadhim Zahawi, Tom Tugendhat and Suella Braverman.” – The Times
>Today: ToryDiary: As Prime Minister, Truss would immediately face hard choices. How would she manage a restive Parliamentary Party – most of which didn’t vote for her?
>Yesterday:
“I understand why, for many, this is a tough decision. I like both candidates. They’re both good people. They both act in good faith and love their country. They are good Conservatives. This contest, however, goes beyond the questions of policy. Being prime minister involves unimaginable sacrifices and pressures. The period ahead will have one requirement above all else. The ability to deliver. We need someone who can stay the course, who is resilient, and can get things done. The public want to see the sweat on our brows. They want energy. They want attention to detail. Above all, they want results. They know this needs teamwork.” – The Times
Editorial:
>Today: Liz Truss MP in Comment: “I am campaigning as a Conservative, and will govern as a Conservative from day one”
“Liz Truss has promised to wage a “war” on Whitehall waste if she becomes prime minister, including paying civil servants outside London less than colleagues in the capital. The Foreign Secretary proposes replacing national pay boards for civil servants with regional ones, meaning that salary levels can more accurately be pegged to local averages. Her new Civil Service reform drive also includes slashing the number of diversity jobs, lowering average holiday allowances and curbing taxpayer money going to trade union work.” – Daily Telegraph
More:
“Rishi Sunak’s team hit out at Tory leadership rival Liz Truss today, branding her a “Remainer” for letting more European fruit pickers into the UK. With just five weeks of the contest left to go, the underdog ex-Chancellor has ramped up attacks on frontrunner Ms Truss. The Foreign Secretary is spending today touring Devon, where she hopes to woo over Tory farmers with promises to create the “agriculture industry of the future”… The visa allows fruit pickers and farm hands live in Britain and work in agriculture for a maximum of 6 months. In a dramatic escalation of campaign attack lines, Mr Sunak’s team hit their rival where it hurts, slagging off her farming plans as showing “true Remainer colours”.” – The Sun
More:
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“Liz Truss has claimed that it is best to ignore Nicola Sturgeon, whom she derided as an “attention seeker”. The Conservative leadership candidate criticised Scotland’s first minister before ruling out a second independence referendum. Truss, at a hustings event in Exeter, referenced growing up in Paisley before saying: “I feel like I’m a child of the Union, I really believe we’re a family and we’re better together and I think the best thing to do with Nicola Sturgeon is ignore her.” … She replied “no, no, no” when asked about another independence referendum in Scotland should she become prime minister.” – The Times
More:
“Conservative Party members have been urged not to spoil their leadership election ballots or write Boris Johnson’s name on them, as a leading figure in the campaign to reinstate him as Prime Minister effectively admitted defeat on Monday. More than 10,000 members are thought to have backed the “Boris ballot” campaign to change the leadership rules to insert Mr Johnson as a candidate in the final round. But David Campbell-Bannerman, a former Tory MEP who was coordinating the drive with Lord Cruddas, a Conservative peer, said they had been “unable to deliver a Boris ballot in the short time we have” and was concerned that members would spoil their ballot papers instead.” – Daily Telegraph
More:
>Today: David Willetts’ column: The leadership contest. Don’t forget the authority and legitimacy of the 2019 election manifesto.
“Britain’s House of Commons foreign affairs committee is planning a visit to Taiwan later this year – probably in November or early December – despite rising tensions in the region, the Guardian has learned. Sources say the trip – which was originally scheduled for early this year but was postponed due to one member of the delegation testing positive for Covid – was intended to show Britain’s support for the democratically run island, which China considers its own. It comes as London’s relationship with Beijing continues to deteriorate. Last week, the Conservative leadership candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, articulated their tough positions on China.” – The Guardian
“Lisa Nandy, shadow levelling up secretary, has challenged the authority of Sir Keir Starmer, meeting striking communication workers in defiance of an order from the Labour leader for his top team not to join picket lines. Last week Starmer sacked Sam Tarry, a junior spokesman on transport, after he joined rail workers on a picket line and gave a series of unauthorised media interviews that deviated from the party line. Starmer says he wants Labour to be “a party of government” but some Labour frontbenchers have ignored his edict not to join picket lines and have stood alongside strikers demanding higher pay regardless.” – FT
Comment:
“David Trimble faced bitter opposition from across the political spectrum during his life but his funeral has united British, Irish and Northern Irish leaders in paying tribute to his accomplishments and sacrifice. The service in Lisburn on Monday brought together the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, and other political representatives from London, Dublin and Belfast to bid farewell to Northern Ireland’s inaugural first minister. It was a rare gathering and show of solidarity – and a truce in current political tensions – to honour Lord Trimble, an architect of the 1998 Good Friday agreement and a former Ulster Unionist party (UUP) leader, who died last week at the age of 77.” – The Guardian
“President Biden paid tribute to the victims of 9/11 last night as he confirmed that the US had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, ending a decades-long hunt for one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists and the successor to Osama bin Laden. Zawahiri, 71, was killed by a CIA drone strike at the weekend on a house in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, US officials said. He was bin Laden’s deputy through a wave of al-Qaeda attacks on US targets that culminated in 9/11, and was a key architect of those 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. He had spent more than two decades on the run.” – The Times