All you missed in the Tory leadership speeches: Badenoch dubbed ‘arrogant’, Cleverly wants party to be ‘normal’ October 2, 2024 Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly has urged his party to “be more normal” and take inspiration from US president Ronald Reagan. Making his leadership campaign speech at the annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Cleverly opened his address from behind a lectern with an apology to the public. The former home and foreign secretary said: [...]
Tory leadership: Pledges of ‘wealth creation’ and red tape cuts in speeches October 1, 2024 Promises to champion “wealth creation” and slash red tape will be offered to party members as the four candidates vying for the Tory leadership give their keynote conference speeches. Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat will take to the main stage at the Conservative Party’s annual event in Birmingham on Wednesday morning [...]
Tory leadership: Jenrick warns of ‘big task’ to restore economic credibility October 1, 2024 Robert Jenrick has warned it will be a “big task” for the next Conservative party leader to restore the party’s “economic credibility” following Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget. The leadership candidate, speaking at a Q&A for party members at the annual conference in Birmingham, told the audience he was “not happy” about the current levels of [...]
Tory leadership: Kemi Badenoch’s lead drops as Robert Jenrick closes in October 1, 2024 Kemi Badenoch’s poll lead amongst Tory members has dropped from 18 points to just four ahead of rival Robert Jenrick, a new survey has found. The YouGov poll with Sky News found that if Badenoch and Jenrick went head-to-head in the final round, members would choose her by 52 per cent versus his 48 per [...]
Badenoch and Tugendhat flash low tax credentials September 30, 2024 Kemi Badenoch has said she would “love to see lower corporation tax” and stressed the need to “increase the appetite for risk taking” in a bid to go for growth. The former business secretary’s comments came during a leadership Q&A session for party members at the annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. She told the [...]
Tory conference: What to expect from Birmingham and why does it matter? September 30, 2024 Battling through delayed and cancelled trains from London’s Euston, this weekend saw Tory and Westminster watchers embark on the journey to the Midlands. Rattling around the maze-like International Convention Centre (ICC), the party faithful are gathering for an event that promises to be a combination of a wake, for the past 14 years in government; [...]
Tory leadership race: Robert Jenrick tops ‘PopCon’ poll as favourite to lead party September 18, 2024 Robert Jenrick has topped a Popular Conservatives poll as the favourite to lead the party in the Tory leadership race. The former immigration minister got 38.3 per cent backing from those surveyed, beating rival and former business and trade Kemi Badenoch on 34.9 per cent. It is the fourth so-called ‘PopCon’ poll Jenrick has won, [...]
Donated clothes helped Starmer’s ‘look their best’, Lammy claims September 15, 2024 Donated clothes given to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria were to help them “look their best” to represent the UK, David Lammy has argued. Speaking to the BBC, the foreign secretary said in countries like the US, leaders “have a huge budget paid for by the taxpayer so that they look [...]
Tory leadership race: Mel Stride knocked out as MPs whittle candidates to four September 10, 2024 Mel Stride has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race as Conservative MPs voted to whittle the remaining candidates down to four. The former work and pensions secretary received just 16 votes, the lowest number of votes, meaning he was eliminated from the process, while Robert Jenrick led the pack on 33 votes. Kemi [...]
Tory leadership race gets underway as Badenoch and Cleverly launch small state campaigns September 2, 2024 The Conservative leadership race was set alight today as frontrunner Kemi Badenoch and rival James Cleverly launched their campaigns, both calling for a “state that does less”. Former business and trade secretary Badenoch argued: “Government should do fewer things but better – and what it does, it should do with brilliance.” While former foreign and [...]