“Voting for the next prime minister has been delayed after GCHQ warned that cyber hackers could change people’s ballots, The Telegraph can reveal. The Conservative Party has been forced to abandon plans to allow members to change their vote for the next leader later in the contest because of the concerns.The sudden alteration means postal ballots have still yet to be issued to the around 160,000 Tory members who will pick Boris Johnson’s successor. The ballots had been due to be sent out from Monday, but members have now been warned they could arrive as late as Aug 11…The Telegraph understands fears were raised that nefarious actors could change the votes of scores of party members, causing chaos to the democratic process.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Liz Truss has extended her lead over Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership race to 34 points, with 60 per cent of party members now saying they will vote for the foreign secretary to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister. A YouGov poll for The Times and Times Radio found that almost nine in ten Tory members had made up their minds. Twenty-six per cent said they would support Sunak. The rest were undecided or said they would not vote. Ballot papers started going out this week. The poll, carried out over the past five days, suggests a significant widening of Truss’s lead. The last YouGov survey, carried out after Penny Mordaunt’s elimination from the race on July 20, had support for Truss on 49 per cent compared with 31 per cent for Sunak, with 15 per cent undecided.” – The Times
“Rishi Sunak accused Liz Truss of a “serious” lack of judgment after the foreign secretary was forced to backtrack on plans to cut the pay of more than five million teachers, nurses and other public sector workers. Truss outlined proposals on Monday to introduce regional pay awards and stop civil servants’ salaries being set at a national level, which her campaign said would save taxpayers £8.8 billion a year. But critics, including a Whitehall think tank and public sector unions, pointed out the savings were possible only if all public sector workers were included, potentially cutting the pay of 5.7 million public sector workers in the poorest parts of the country by £1,500 a year. Minutes after the Sunak campaign released a statement criticising the proposal, Truss’s team announced she was abandoning it…” – The Times
>Today:
“Watching television or the BBC iPlayer without a £159-a-year licence can currently lead to a court appearance and a £1,000 fine – or even jail if the fine goes unpaid. But ministers have argued that prosecutions take up too much court time and the penalties are disproportionate. In an interview with The Mail+, the Tory leadership favourite raised concerns about the number of women being punished. Around three-quarters (74 per cent) of the 114,000 people convicted for licence fee dodging in 2019 were female. The Foreign Secretary said she will ‘look at all the options’ to overhaul the licence fee system if she becomes prime minister, including decriminalisation.” – The Daily Mail
“Rishi Sunak has pledged to stem the spread of Islamist ideology in jails by keeping terrorists apart from other inmates. Amid concerns prisons have become centres of radicalism, the former chancellor said he would reform how Britain dealt with jihadists if he was elected prime minister. Sunak said he would make it a criminal offence to spread Islamist ideology in a cell and would ensure the Prevent programme gave priority to Islamist extremism rather than threats such as far-right terrorism. He also promised legislation that would make it easier to isolate terrorists from other inmates. Earlier this year a report into how prisons deal with the threat of terrorism claimed extremists had seized control of some wings and set up sharia courts behind bars.” – The Times
>Today:
“Rishi Sunak has made an impassioned appeal to Tory members promising to “double down on the benefits of Brexit” as a poll of party members revealed they still believe he’s the leadership candidate they trust most to deliver on the benefits of leaving the EU. Mr Sunak spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk, following the revelation that a private survey by polling company Techne UK revealed he was nine points ahead of his rival Liz Trust on Brexit trust… In a strong retort to his critics, Mr Sunak told Express.co.uk: “In 2016, I took a big risk. I went with my heart and voted for Brexit. I did that because I believed that we could do things differently as a sovereign nation – taking back control of our borders and our waters as well as removing unnecessary regulation to free up our economy.” – Daily Express
“Rishi Sunak today insisted he would not ignore Nicola Sturgeon – after Liz Truss said she would – and accused his leadership rival of having no plan to defeat the First Minister and the independence movement who said the Foreign Secretary was ‘holding Scotland in contempt’. Ms Truss also branded Nicola Sturgeon an ‘attention seeker’ – sparking fury with the SNP who said they and the Scottish people were ‘insulted’ and ‘absolutely horrified’. The former chancellor has now dismissed Foreign Secretary’s controversial comments made in Exeter last night and said it is ‘not good enough to simply ignore the SNP when we need a plan to beat them’. Mr Sunak believes that ‘confronting the nationalists and beating them at the ballot box’ is the only way to defeat Ms Sturgeon and the SNP.” – The Daily Mail
“Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have promised to put on a party in No10 for the Lionesses after the team were snubbed by Boris Johnson this week. Hailing the team as an “inspiration”, Ms Truss pledged that if made PM the players would be invited to a Downing Street bash. A spokesperson for the wannabe PM said: “The Lionesses have been an inspiration to our nation. “Liz will host a reception in No10 if she is Prime Minister in September and her government would ensure the Lionesses are recognised for their historic victory in a suitable way.” Mr Sunak’s team confirmed the ex-Chancellor would host a Downing Street do as well.The Lionesses brought pride and joy to the nation on Sunday night when they smashed Germany 2-1 in the Euros final.” – The Sun
“Bain & Co, the Boston-based global management consultant, has been hit with a three-year ban from tendering for British government contracts because of its “grave professional misconduct” in a major corruption scandal in South Africa. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Cabinet Office minister, told Bain that the affair had rendered the company’s integrity “questionable” and that he was not convinced that it had taken its role in the scandal “sufficiently seriously”. Britain is the first western country to impose such penalties on Bain for its role in the “state capture” scandal in South Africa and there is already pressure on the US to follow suit.” – The Financial Times
“China’s UK ambassador has urged British politicians not to “dance to the tune of the United States” and vowed “severe consequences” should MPs set foot in Taiwan. Speaking at a press conference in London, the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, who has been on parliament’s sanctions list since last summer, also reminded the British government of the joint communique the two countries signed in 1972, when they began to exchange ambassadors. Zheng’s comment came as the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, began her controversial visit to Taiwan, over which Beijing claims sovereignty. Pelosi said her visit was to show solidarity to the vibrant Asian democracy, but in response, Beijing issued a number of warnings and threats.” – The Guardian
>Yesterday:
“Keir Starmer is being urged to clarify his approach to Labour frontbenchers attending trade union picket lines, as leftwing campaigners press the party’s MPs to support striking workers. Starmer’s allies say he will decide whether to lift the picket line ban when he returns from his holiday on 15 August, after an embarrassing standoff with Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, who was pictured chatting with striking CWU workers in her Wigan constituency on Monday. Three shadow cabinet members told the Guardian that after the clash with Nandy, Starmer should let the issue drop. “She’s talking to her constituents, who are on a picket line, to find out how they feel,” said one. “There’s a world of difference between that and standing on a picket line with a placard.”” – The Guardian
“Jeremy Corbyn was branded a ‘disgrace’ last night after attacking Britain for ‘pouring arms into Ukraine’ instead of seeking peaceful negotiations with Vladimir Putin. The former Labour leader said providing military aid would only ‘prolong and exaggerate’ the conflict. He made the remarks during an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Lebanon-based TV channel accused of having sympathies with terrorist organisation Hezbollah and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Mr Corbyn currently sits as an independent MP after having the Labour whip removed in 2020, and last night party sources suggested his comments would only make his readmission less likely.” – The Daily Mail