Squabbling Tories tear themselves apart over tax as race to succeed Boris becomes bitter: Javid shreds billionaire Sunak’s record as chancellor, Truss vows to abolish National Insurance hike and Shapps and Zahawi say they will boost defence spending
- Former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have both pledged to slash corporation tax
- Liz Truss vows to abolish the National Insurance hike, while Nadhim Zahawi says ‘everything is on the table’
- Ms Braverman has pledged to ‘control spending’ and ‘cut tax and energy VAT’ in her bid for the premiership
- Ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget last year put Britain on course for its biggest tax burden since the 1950s
Squabbling Tories are tearing themselves apart over tax as the race to succeed Boris becomes bitter, with Javid shredding billionaire Sunak’s record as chancellor, Truss vowing to abolish the National Insurance hike and Shapps and Zahawi saying that they will boost defence spending.
Announcing their bid for leadership, former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid both pledged to slash corporation tax, cutting the 25 per cent rate to 15 per cent.
However their timescales for the change are different, with Mr Hunt slashing the tax to 15p in his first autumn Budget, while Mr Javid would set a ‘glide path’.
The two politicians are the latest to join the growing number of Tories vying for the top position, with the list now including Liz Truss, Nadhim Zahawi, Grant Shapps, Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, ex-minister Kemi Badenoch and senior Tory Tom Tugendhat — with the majority pitting themselves as ‘anti-Boris’ candidates.
Mr Zahawi, Rishi Sunak’s successor, had said earlier this week that ‘everything is on the table’ when questioned over the tax rise.
He has also pledged to increase defence spending, an issue mirrored by Mr Shapps.
Ms Braverman has pledged to ‘control spending’ and ‘cut tax and energy VAT’ as part of her bid, while Ms Badenoch questioned: ‘Would it be simpler just to let people keep their money in the first place rather than giving them rebates on council tax?’
Mr Javid has also pledged to scrap the national insurance rise that was brought in when he was health secretary to help pay for the NHS and social care, bring forward the planned 1p income tax cut to next year, and introduce a further ‘significant’ temporary reduction on fuel duty.
In his leadership bid, he said: ‘I’ve always believed in free markets, light regulation and low tax for growth’.
Cutting tax would slam the brakes on Mr Sunak’s tax stance, with his budget last year putting Britain on course for its biggest tax burden since the 1950s.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt described himself as he ‘only major candidate who has not served in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet’ as part of his leadership bid.
Key moments of the leadership race for prime minister
- Former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have announced separate bids for Tory leadership
- They join Liz Truss, Nadhim Zahawi, Grant Shapps, Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat in the ring
- Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke has revealed that he backs Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
- Former education secretary Mr Zahawi was the third serving Government minister to kick off their campaign
- Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was a favourite in the polls, but said that after ‘careful consideration’ and discussion with colleagues and family, he would not stand to be party leader and the next prime minister
- Another potential front-runner is trade minister Penny Mordaunt, whose intentions are not yet clear
Squabbling Tories are tearing themselves apart over tax and billionaire Rishi Sunak’s record as chancellor as the race to succeed Boris becomes bitter
Sajid Javid has pledged to slash corporation tax, cutting the 25 per cent rate to 15 per cent
Mr Zahawi, Rishi Sunak’s successor, had said earlier this week that ‘everything is on the table’ when questioned over the tax rise
Liz Truss is vowing to abolish the National Insurance hike, and will launch a new spending review, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said
Sajid Javid has pledged to scrap the national insurance rise that was brought in when he was health secretary to help pay for the NHS and social care
Liz Truss (left) will pitch herself as the female Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership race – a candidate who can win seats both in the South and the Red Wall, while Mr Zahawi pledges to lower taxes for individuals, families and business, boost defence spending, and continue with education reforms that he started in his previous role
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has launched his Tory party leadership bid and says he he will ‘tactical government by an often distracted centre’ and Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak promised to confront the difficult economic backdrop with ‘honesty, seriousness and determination’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as Conservative Party leader after ministers and MPs made clear his position was untenable
Jeremy Hunt the ‘only major candidate who has not served in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet’
Mr Hunt has differentiated himself from other contenders
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt launched his Tory leadership campaign with a pitch based on his decision to stay on the backbench while Boris Johnson was at the helm of the Government.
Mr Hunt, who was the runner-up to Mr Johnson for the top job in the 2019 ballot, differentiated himself from a crowded field of contenders by saying he had not ‘been defending the indefensible’.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, he said: ‘We have to be honest that over the last year, we lost the trust of many swathes of people who voted Conservative in 2019.
‘I am the only major candidate who has not served in Boris Johnson’s Government. I called out what was going wrong long before any of the other major contenders and I have not been defending the indefensible.
‘So by choosing me, the Conservative Party is sending a signal to those voters that we have listened to your concerns and we have changed.
‘That is the most important thing we need to do now. It is to restore trust.’
Mr Hunt, who was also foreign secretary under David Cameron and Theresa May, addressed potential controversy around his decision to back Remain in 2016 and claimed he would be tempted to vote Leave if he could decide again.
He said given Brexit was not completed in 2019, he understood how his position had undermined his bid at the time, but felt confident he could embrace ‘Brexit freedoms’ now, and also promised to back the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt went a step further than those who have made their support of the Government’s controversial Rwanda policy clear in their bids, by stating he intends to expand the scheme.
He told the paper he would support finding additional countries to deport migrants to.
He also pledged to slash corporation tax, as did another former health secretary, Sajid Javid, who also declared his bid while speaking to the paper.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke has also revealed that he backs Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to become leader, and saying she would reverse the national insurance rise.
In a tweet, he said: ‘I am supporting Liz Truss for the leadership of Conservatives. She will galvanise growth, cut taxes and launch a new Spending Review. She’s tough on our enemies abroad, will seize the opportunities of Brexit and has a strong record of delivery.’
Truss will launch a bid to become the next Conservative leader by pledging that she will advocate ‘classic Conservative principles’, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The newspaper said she will reverse the Government’s national insurance rise, cut corporation tax and introduce measures to ease the cost-of-living crisis when she announces her campaign, possibly on Monday.
Newly-appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has put himself forward, joining his predecessor Rishi Sunak, and becoming the second Cabinet minister to declare their ambition in the space of an hour.
The former education secretary is the third serving Government minister to kick off their campaign for the leadership, after Mr Shapps and Attorney General Suella Braverman announced their intentions to run.
Earlier, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that after ‘careful consideration’ and discussion with colleagues and family, he would not stand to be party leader and the next prime minister.
In addition to Mr Zahawi, Mr Shapps, Mr Sunak, and Ms Braverman, ex-minister Kemi Badenoch and senior Tory Tom Tugendhat have launched their own bids, with further announcements anticipated over the coming days.
Another potential front-runner is trade minister Penny Mordaunt.
Launching his campaign, Mr Zahawi pledged to lower taxes for individuals, families and business, boost defence spending, and continue with education reforms that he started in his previous role.
Born in Iraq to a Kurdish family, the new Chancellor came to the UK as a nine-year-old when his parents fled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
He has often said that his own personal backstory has deeply influenced his view of Britain and he recently spoke of the debt he owed poet Philip Larkin as he improved his English as a teenager.
Mr Zahawi has had something of a tumultuous week – first being promoted to Chancellor following Mr Sunak’s resignation on Tuesday, then defending Boris Johnson during a gruelling broadcast round on Wednesday, before publicly calling for him to stand down on Thursday morning.
The Chancellor is backed by Michelle Donelan, who resigned from the role of education secretary on Thursday – less than 36 hours after accepting it – and former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis.
Launching his leadership bid, he paid tribute to the education he had received in Britain, where he said he grew up with an understanding that ‘nothing was impossible’.
‘The Conservative Party has made me who I am today,’ he said.
‘Society is a reflection of its leaders, and under Margaret Thatcher, the Britain I knew was full of boundless optimism and opportunity.
Tory runners and riders: What Boris Johnson’s would-be successors have vowed to do if they become PM
KEMI BADENOCH, 42 – supported leaving EU
Elected to parliament for the first time in 2017, Badenoch has held junior ministerial jobs, including most recently minister for equalities, but has never served in cabinet.
A former Conservative member of the London Assembly, she has also served as vice-chair of the Conservative Party. She supported Brexit in 2016.
SUELLA BRAVERMAN, 42 – supported leaving EU
As attorney general, Braverman was heavily criticised by lawyers after the government sought to break international law over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.
She campaigned to leave the EU and served as a junior minister in the Brexit department under Theresa May, but resigned in protest at the then prime minister’s proposed Brexit deal, saying it did not go far enough in breaking ties with the bloc.
JEREMY HUNT, 55 – supported remaining in EU
Mr Hunt, who became the South West Surrey MP in 2005, has taken roles as the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, moving to the health and social care remit in 2012, before the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs position in 2018.
His leadership bid includes the promise to slash corporation tax, slashing the tax to 15p in his first autumn Budget.
SAJID JAVID, 52 – supported remaining in EU
Elected in 2010 as the Bromsgrove MP, Mr Javid has had five secretary of state roles, as well as being the chancellor from 2019 to 2020.
He has pledged to cut corporation tax and scrap the national insurance rise that was brought in when he was health secretary to help pay for the NHS and social care.
He also hopes to introduce a further ‘significant’ temporary reduction on fuel duty.
GRANT SHAPPS, 53 – supported remaining in EU
First elected to parliament in 2005, Shapps has served as Secretary of State for Transport since Johnson took office in 2019. He previously held junior ministerial roles and was co-chair of the Conservative Party. He supported Remain.
Launching his candidacy in the Sunday Times newspaper, he said his goal was to address the cost-of-living crisis and he would plan to hold an emergency budget in his first 100 days of office to cut taxes for the most vulnerable and give state support to firms with high levels of energy consumption.
RISHI SUNAK, 42 – supported leaving EU
Sunak promised to confront the difficult economic backdrop with ‘honesty, seriousness and determination’, rather than piling the burden on future generations.
As finance minister in early 2020 he was praised for a Covid economic rescue package but he later faced criticism for not giving enough cost-of-living support to households.
Revelations this year about his wealthy wife’s non-domiciled tax status, and a fine he received for breaking COVID lockdown rules, have damaged his standing.
His tax-and-spend budget last year put Britain on course for its biggest tax burden since the 1950s, undermining his claims to favour lower taxes.
LIZ TRUSS, 46 – supported remaining in EU but has since changed her mind
She spent the first two years of Johnson’s premiership as international trade secretary and was last year appointed as Britain’s lead negotiator with the European Union.
Truss is now in charge of dealing with the EU over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, where she has taken an increasingly tough line in negotiations.
TOM TUGENDHAT, 49 – supported remaining in EU
The chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, and a former soldier who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a regular critic of Johnson and would offer his party a clean break with previous governments.
He has never served in cabinet.
NADHIM ZAHAWI, 55 – supported leaving EU
He impressed as vaccines minister when UK had one of the world’s fastest rollouts of Covid shots.
Zahawi is a former refugee from Iraq who came to Britain as a child and co-founded polling company YouGov before entering parliament in 2010. His last job was as education secretary.
‘That has been lost and a change is needed. The country is confronting some of the greatest challenges for a lifetime.
‘My aim is a simple one: to provide the opportunities that were afforded to my generation, to all Britons, whoever you are and wherever you come from. To steady the ship and to stabilise the economy.’
The Chancellor made a brief reference to Brexit, saying Britain’s departure from the EU made it a ‘free nation’.
‘Let’s not just talk about the opportunities that follow, let’s take them,’ he said.
‘If a young boy, who came here aged 11 without a word of English, can serve at the highest levels of Her Majesty’s Government and run to be the next prime minister, anything is possible.’
The newly-appointed Chancellor argued Britons must be trusted ‘to do what is best for themselves’, as he warned the country had lost a sense of ‘boundless optimism and opportunity’.
Mr Zahawi said he would be putting three key pledges to his colleagues and Tory Party members.
He promised to cut taxes for individuals, families and business, arguing the current burden is ‘too high’.
Citing his experience fleeing Iraq, he said he is aware that security, safety and freedom are ‘things that we can never take for granted’, and argued defence spending ‘needs to rise’.
In addition, he said he would push ahead with the reforms he started in his previous role, to ‘deliver a great education for every child’.
‘I will also continue to focus on letting children be children, protecting them from damaging and inappropriate nonsense being forced on them by radical activists,’ he added.
The Chancellor said he envisaged a nation ‘where your only ceiling is yourself – not the state, or society’.
‘We, as Conservatives, must trust Britons to do what is best for themselves,’ he said.
‘Overseeing the highest tax burden since 1949 is not the Conservative way. We cannot tax our way into prosperity.
‘I will guarantee that the next generation will be afforded the best education possible.
‘Combined, this will begin the journey towards hope. A more prosperous nation, one which can provide the best opportunities to its next generation.’
It was reported on Saturday that Mr Johnson intends to stand down as Prime Minister on Monday in order to run again for Tory leader.
But this suggestion was knocked down by a spokesperson for Mr Johnson as completely untrue.
Tory MP Mark Francois has said he believes at least 12 people will put their names forward.
He told GB News: ‘It looks like this is going to be the Grand National but without the fences, so we are probably heading for at least a dozen candidates at the moment.’
Launching his campaign in The Sunday Times, Mr Shapps said he wants to rebuild the economy so it is the biggest in Europe by 2050, and address the cost-of-living crisis.
The newspaper said it is anticipated that he will launch his campaign website, as well as list his supporters, in the coming hours.
Ms Badenoch announced her bid in The Times, with a plan for a smaller state and a Government ‘focused on the essentials’.
She is backed by Lee Rowley, the MP for North East Derbyshire, and Tom Hunt, the MP for Ipswich.
Former minister Steve Baker has thrown his support behind Ms Braverman’s bid, despite previously saying he was seriously considering putting himself forward for the top job.
Those publicly backing Mr Sunak include Commons Leader Mark Spencer, former Tory Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden, former chief whip Mark Harper, ex-ministers Liam Fox and Andrew Murrison, and MPs Sir Bob Neill, Paul Maynard and Louie French.
Other potential contenders have also received endorsements from Tory ranks, despite not yet launching a bid of their own.
MPs Chloe Smith, Julian Knight and Jackie-Doyle Price have backed Ms Truss, while Gosport MP Dame Caroline Dinenage has declared her support for Ms Mordaunt, and former ministers Chris Philp and Rachel Maclean have said Mr Javid would be their choice for Prime Minister.
The leadership bids to date have coincided with some controversy over the appointment of new ministers to Mr Johnson’s caretaker Government.
Labour shadow minister Steve Reed lashed out at the Conservative Party after Sarah Dines, who reportedly asked an alleged victim of Chris Pincher if he was gay, was made parliamentary under-secretary of state jointly at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.
Kemi Badenoch pushes for a ‘lean government’
Kemi Badenoch is calling for a simpler approach
Kemi Badenoch said that she believes the Government is ‘doing many things badly and doing things in the wrong way’.
Speaking to The Telegraph, she questioned Rishi Sunak’s council tax rebate, questioning why tax was not cut instead.
She has said that there are better ways of ‘going about things’, calling for a ‘lighter, simpler, nimbler government’ — a ‘lean government’.
‘I’m an engineer by training, and that’s how I look at things,’ she told the paper.
‘You analyse the root cause of a problem, and you try and fix it from there before you go elsewhere.’
She added: ‘I think… we are too scared to tell people how tough things are, and the truth.’
Meanwhile, education minister Andrea Jenkyns has admitted she ‘should have shown more composure’ after making a rude sign to a ‘baying mob’ outside Downing Street, prior to her new appointment.
Commons Leader Mark Spencer had said it was up to Ms Jenkyns to ‘justify’ her actions after the gesture was caught on camera.
Ms Dines said she was ‘honoured’ by her appointment, while Ms Jenkyns said she was looking forward to working with the team at the Department for Education.
Mr Sunak announced his bid for leader on Twitter on Friday afternoon, saying: ‘Let’s restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country.’
The absence of a clear front-runner in the leadership race has tempted a number of less-fancied contenders to step forward, with backbencher John Baron saying he will be ‘taking soundings’ over the weekend.
Tory MP and newly-appointed minister Rehman Chishti also confirmed on Saturday he is ‘actively considering’ running for the post.
As candidates have started to make their move, Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said it is incumbent on those running for leader that they ‘don’t knock lumps out of each other’.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps appeared to rebuke ‘plotting’ against Boris Johnson within the Tory party in an apparent dig at rival Rishi Sunak as he set out his own leadership bid.
Seeking to present himself as a candidate with a track record of loyalty, Mr Shapps said he would not have started planning a campaign ‘behind (Boris Johnson’s) back’.
The comments come after it was reported a website with a similar name to Mr Sunak’s ‘Ready For Rishi’ site, which redirects to the official page, appeared to have been set up as far back as December 2021.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak (right) and trade minister Penny Mordaunt (left) are among the bookies’ favourites to replace Mr Johnson, as the field of candidates begins to take shape
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps appeared to rebuke ‘plotting’ against Boris Johnson within the Tory party in an apparent dig at rival Rishi Sunak as he set out his own leadership bid.
Seeking to present himself as a candidate with a track record of loyalty, Mr Shapps said he would not have started planning a campaign ‘behind (Boris Johnson’s) back’.
The comments come after it was reported a website with a similar name to Mr Sunak’s ‘Ready For Rishi’ site, which redirects to the official page, appeared to have been set up as far back as December 2021.
Launching his bid in the Sunday Times, the Transport Secretary told the paper: ‘I have not spent the last few turbulent years plotting or briefing against the Prime Minister.
‘I have not been mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back. I tell you this: for all his flaws – and who is not flawed – I like Boris Johnson.
‘I have never, for a moment, doubted his love of this country.’
Mr Sunak’s team have said domains are bought all the time, adding that they had been transferred a number of them.
But even before he made his formal announcement, he had come under fire from Johnson loyalists, with Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg denouncing him as a ‘high tax chancellor’.
Launching his bid in the Sunday Times, the Transport Secretary told the paper: ‘I have not spent the last few turbulent years plotting or briefing against the Prime Minister.
‘I have not been mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back. I tell you this: for all his flaws – and who is not flawed – I like Boris Johnson.
‘I have never, for a moment, doubted his love of this country.’
Mr Sunak’s team have said domains are bought all the time, adding that they had been transferred a number of them.
But even before he made his formal announcement, he had come under fire from Johnson loyalists, with Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg denouncing him as a ‘high tax chancellor’.
And other hopefuls also appear to have sought to distance themselves from him, with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Attorney General Suella Braverman, as well as Mr Shapps, pledging to curb taxes.
Mr Shapps, a long-standing ally of Mr Johnson who was key to his fight for survival during partygate, said he was ‘glad’ he had not double-crossed the Prime Minister.
‘I have not been mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back. I tell you this: for all his flaws – and who is not flawed – I like Boris Johnson.
‘I have never, for a moment, doubted his love of this country.
‘It is easy to criticise Boris after keeping one’s head down for years while being happy to benefit from his patronage. I am glad that I did not do that,’ he said.
‘Even as the skies darkened over his premiership, often because of errors committed by him, I hoped he could pull it back. Because in losing him we would lose a man who makes a unique connection with people.’
The comments come after it was reported a website with a similar name to Mr Sunak’s ‘Ready For Rishi’ site, which redirects to the official page, appeared to have been set up as far back as December 2021.
Mr Sunak’s team have said domains are bought all the time, adding that they had been transferred a number of them.
Sajid Javid made resignation decision at parliamentary prayer
Sajid Javid says he wrestled with his conscience
Sajid Javid says he wrestled with his conscience for months from inside Boris Johnson’s Government, but decided to resign as health secretary on Tuesday morning at a parliamentary prayer breakfast.
Announcing his intention to run for the Tory leadership alongside a host of other contenders, Mr Javid said it was only last weekend that he started to lose confidence in the Prime Minister.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Javid said: ‘I kept trying to convince myself why I did but I just couldn’t do it. Even then, on Sunday, I hadn’t quite decided to resign.
‘I was thinking maybe I just owe the Prime Minister, one more time, the benefit of doubt.’
As the controversy over how Mr Johnson dealt with the Chris Pincher scandal was unfolding on Tuesday morning, Mr Javid said he attended a parliamentary prayer breakfast with MPs and the Prime Minister which ‘made me reflect’.
‘I made my decision then, sitting there listening to his sermon, and I just thought it’s about integrity, it’s about a duty. If you haven’t got confidence in the boss, you owe it to yourself and the country to tell the boss nicely that you can’t serve and that was it.’
Despite supporting aspects Mr Johnson’s style of governance, the Transport Secretary, who backed Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, said he would end ‘tactical government by an often-distracted centre’.
He claimed people had ‘lost sight’ of what was needed from a Tory Government, suggesting his leadership would bring a return to more a traditionally Conservative approach to state.
The 53-year-old, who has three children and is Welwyn Hatfield MP, said tackling the cost-of-living crisis and strengthening the economy so it is the biggest in Europe are top of his agenda.
As Transport Secretary, he dismissed calls for Government intervention in the rail strikes as a ‘stunt’ and presided over the handling of the aftermath of the P&O Ferries scandal.
Prior to his cabinet appointment, Mr Shapps has a chequered history in the Conservative Party.
Following the 2015 election, he was removed as party chairman and made a minister at the Department for International Development – a move widely seen as a demotion.
He was forced to resign from the post after just six months when it emerged that he had been warned about bullying among young party activists.
Mr Shapps denied being informed about the allegations, but quit as minister saying that ‘responsibility should rest somewhere’.
He was also accused of having breached the codes of conduct for ministers and MPs when it was revealed he held a second job after entering parliament, working as a marketer of get-rich-quick schemes under the pseudonym Michael Green.
Educated at his local grammar school, he set up a marketing and printing business in his early 20s before contesting his first parliamentary seat in 1997.
He eventually ousted Labour’s Melanie Johnson in 2005 to become MP for Welwyn Hatfield, being elected the Tory Party’s vice chairman the same year.
In 2007, he became shadow housing minister and following the 2010 general election – in which he retained his seat with a majority of more than 17,000.
He served as minister of state for housing and local government, being appointed to the Privy Council that June, and in 2012 was appointed co-chairman of the Tory party.
That didn’t take long! The race for No.10 is already mired in claims of affairs and money laundering… and guess which master of the dark arts is already dripping in the poison, writes GLEN OWEN
It is already being called the ‘dirtiest Tory leadership race in history’, with wild stories about prostitutes, affairs and money laundering being traded on the ‘dark web’ of Westminster gossip.
A member of one leading candidate’s campaign team is even said to have held a secret meeting with a Labour official to pass on information about their rivals.
The bitterness surrounding Boris Johnson’s astonishing ejection from office has seeped into the contest to succeed him, with candidates whispering conspiratorially about the source of the fortune of new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and the already contentious wealth of his predecessor, Rishi Sunak.
In characteristic fashion, former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings – who waged a long guerrilla campaign against Mr Johnson and is reputed to be hoping for a return to Government if Mr Sunak wins the contest – has published some of the wilder claims on Twitter, writing that it would be ‘very Westminster’ for ‘Boris to get the bullet cos of lies over sex/groping… only to be replaced by someone actually sh***ing their spad!’
In characteristic fashion, former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings – who waged a long guerrilla campaign against Mr Johnson and is reputed to be hoping for a return to Government if Mr Sunak wins the contest – has published some of the wilder claims on Twitter
A ‘spad’ is Westminster shorthand for the special advisers who work for Ministers. Mr Cummings said: ‘At least 3 current candidates would be worse than Boris… at least 1 is more insane than Truss, clearly unfit to be anywhere near nuclear codes… at least one a spad sh***er.’
He then added: ‘Sorry, correction, I’m informed by Cabinet Office ‘at least 2 spad sh***ers!’ ‘
The Mail on Sunday knows the identity of the candidates referred to by Mr Cummings, and has been assured by them that they are ‘baseless smears’.
Another candidate was horrified to be told that a rival campaign team was spreading false rumours about their alleged use of prostitutes, while a third is said to have been named in the divorce papers of a leading Establishment figure.
But perhaps the most extraordinary claim is that an adviser to one of the leading contenders – this newspaper is not identifying them – met a Labour Party official in a pub on the outskirts of Westminster last week to pass on gossip about their rivals, in the expectation that it would be passed on to Labour-friendly newspapers in what is known as a ‘fencing’ operation.
The bitterness surrounding Boris Johnson’s astonishing ejection from office has seeped into the contest to succeed him, with candidates whispering conspiratorially about the source of the fortune of new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and the already contentious wealth of his predecessor, Rishi Sunak
Mr Sunak’s early advantage in the leadership contest comes just three months after his political career had been effectively written off by many advisers following revelations that his multi-millionaire wife Akshata claims non-domicile status, which allows her to save millions of pounds in tax
Mr Sunak’s early advantage in the leadership contest comes just three months after his political career had been effectively written off by many advisers following revelations that his multi-millionaire wife Akshata claims non-domicile status, which allows her to save millions of pounds in tax.
But the former Chancellor’s ratings rose again as Mr Johnson became bogged down in by-election losses and rows about sleaze, culminating in the terminal crisis over ‘groper’ Chris Pincher.
Mr Sunak’s Lazarus-like resurgence has fed anger among Mr Johnson’s allies – who denied leaking the tax stories to damage the former Chancellor – over his perceived ‘betrayal’ of the PM.
Rival candidates are already planning to revive the tax issue, on the grounds that it is alienating to working-class voters. They will also focus on the questions being asked about why Mr Sunak held a US Green Card for more than 18 months after becoming Chancellor. The card puts the holder on the path to US citizenship if they declare their intention to make America their permanent home and pay tax there, and at times it allowed him to bypass tough US travel restrictions during the Covid pandemic.
Mr Sunak insisted he followed ‘all laws and rules’ and gave up the status after seeking advice on his first official trip to America.
Mr Zahawi, who entered the race yesterday, has also faced questions over his wife’s tax status – he says she is not non-domiciled – along with his work fundraising with novelist Lord Archer in the 1990s, and the millions he made from a Kurdish oil business.
Mr Zahawi’s attendance at the infamous Presidents Club dinner at London’s Dorchester Hotel in 2018, where guests were reported to have groped and sexually propositioned women employed at the event, has also been raked up.
He was given a ‘dressing down’ by the Tory chief whip for attending the event. Sources close to Mr Sunak deny claims by rival camps that Mr Cummings is working on his campaign.
IAN GALLAGHER: Rishi Sunak has been ‘plotting since Christmas’, but some scenes were noticeably absent from his flashy campaign video
Everyone loves a tale of triumph over adversity. And these days a humble-origins back story is a trusty weapon in the politician’s arsenal. If you can boast a tower-block childhood and a single mother or, like Rishi Sunak, an aspirational story of migrants striving hard to improve their life, then so much the better.
Anyone listening with half an ear to his slick ‘Ready for Rishi’ pitch for Prime Minister would have heard that his path to the Government’s top tier was not the breeze we thought.
He spoke of his grandmother coming to Britain ‘armed with hope for a better life’, who saved ‘enough money for her husband and children to follow her’. We heard, too, of the sacrifices made by Rishi’s father, a doctor, and his mother, a pharmacist. ‘My family gave me opportunities they could only dream of,’ he said.
TO THE MANOR BORN: The Sunaks’ sprawling manor house in North Yorkshire
Not quite everything was sacrificed – his parents employed a gardener at their comfortable Southampton home – but it is Rishi’s hope that everyone should ‘have those same opportunities to be able to give their children a better future’.
Admirable stuff. Social mobility exemplified.But what exactly were the opportunities he skirted over in his glitzy video? The breaks that helped propel his vertiginous ascent, enabling him to afford a home in Santa Monica, a £6.6 million mews house in Kensington, a sprawling manor house in North Yorkshire and a London flat for visiting relatives?
LONDON HOME: The ex-Chancellor’s £6.6 million mews house in Kensington
Rishi Sunak alongside his wife Akshata Murthy
Foremost among them was a first-class education. Naturally smart and possessed with a fierce work ethic, Rishi was always going to excel. But would he have risen so far without the leg up afforded by elite Winchester College, where he forged friendships and connections that would help him enter Westminster?
His mother once said his schooling enabled him to ‘stand up and talk at any time in front of a crowd’. But at £45,000 a year, Winchester is an opportunity few can afford.
From here Rishi went to Oxford and then Goldman Sachs bank, leaving after three years for Stanford University in the States.
LIFE’S A BEACH: The Sunaks also own a home in Santa Monica, California
He made more connections there, and he met his future wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of billionaire Indian businessman N. R. Narayana Murthy, founder of IT giant Infosys.
Last week, Akshata dented her husband’s hopes of projecting a man-of-the-people image by serving tea to journalists outside their London home in £38 mugs. Rishi himself famously owns a £160 coffee mug that keeps your beverage at your preferred temperature and tracks your caffeine intake. And he has stepped out in Downing Street wearing £335 trainers. More damaging was the revelation in April that Ms Murty had ‘non-dom’ status – now given up – and did not have to pay UK tax on foreign income.
After Stanford, Rishi worked as a hedge fund manager and later at his father-in-law’s investment company.
RICH TEA: Akshata Murty serves refreshments to journalists in £38 mugs last week
Rishi once said: ‘I am very lucky to have been at these places. It does put me in an elite in society.’
Yet not so long ago many believed that Rishi’s background was working-class. Indeed, his advisers wrongly suggested he had a similar past to that of Sajid Javid, his predecessor at the Treasury, and famously the son of an immigrant Muslim bus driver who came to Britain with just £1 in his pocket. Now that’s the kind of back story money just can’t buy.
Carrie Johnson ‘DID convince her husband Boris to quit’: Ousted PM’s wife told him ‘the game’s up’ the night before his resignation speech
BY ADAM SOLOMONS FOR MAILONLINE
Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie reportedly persuaded him to step down as prime minister, telling him ‘the game was up’ after a slew of bruising Cabinet resignations.
Ex-Conservative party staffer Carrie Johnson ended her husband’s ‘state of denial’ with a frank conversation on Wednesday evening, one Whitehall insider claimed.
On Thursday morning, Mr Johnson told aides he would quit.
Downing Street officials informed the BBC’s Today programme of his intentions that morning, with the No 10 resignation speech taking place at lunchtime.
Carrie is pictured holding baby Romy next to Nadine Dorries as they await the PM’s speech
Boris Johnson embraced his family after re-entering Downing Street following his resignation
The Whitehall source said that at 11pm on Wednesday, the PM went up to his flat to spend the night with Carrie, son Wilf, 2, and baby daughter Romy.
Race for PM: Who are the bookies’ favourites?
1 Rishi Sunak
Best odds: 6/5
2 Penny Mordaunt
Best odds: 4/1
3 Liz Truss
Best odds: 5/1
4 Tom Tugendhat
Best odds: 7/1
= 5 Nadhim Zahawi
Best odds: 12/1
= 5 Jeremy Hunt
Best odds: 12/1
7 Sajid Javid
Best odds: 14/1
= 8 Suella Braverman
Best odds: 16/1
= 8 Kemi Badenoch
Best odds: 16/1
10 Grant Shapps
Best odds: 20/1
They told The Sunday Mirror: ‘Boris then talked through his predicament with Carrie who has an astute political brain. She told him she thought the game was up, but they agreed to sleep on it.
‘The PM had been angry all day. In a real state of denial and determined to stick in. He kept going on about his personal mandate like a broken record.
‘The press team had taken the phones off the hook by mid-afternoon because they said it was unfair for anyone to have to go out and defend him.’
It was the same brutal but loving advice given Margaret Thatcher by her husband Denis in November 1990.
Journalist and Mr Johnson’s ex-girlfriend Petronella Wyatt explosively tweeted today that Boris would himself enter the Tory leadership contest.
That would be an apparent violation of 1922 Committee rules.
Number Ten slapped down the rumour, telling the media: ‘Not true.’
Foreign secretary Liz Truss, newly installed chancellor Nadim Zahawi and transport secretary Grant Shapps all entered the Tory leadership race today.
They joined ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, foreign affairs committee chair Tom Tugendhat, attorney general Suella Braverman ex-levelling up secretary Kemi Badenoch, who already launched bids.
Earlier, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that after ‘careful consideration’ and discussion with colleagues and family, he would not stand to be party leader and the next prime minister.
Other potential front-runners include trade minister Penny Mordaunt and former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt.
Tory MP Mark Francois has said he believes at least 12 people will put their names forward.
He told GB News: ‘It looks like this is going to be the Grand National but without the fences, so we are probably heading for at least a dozen candidates at the moment.’
Launching his campaign in The Sunday Times, Mr Shapps said he wants to rebuild the economy so it is the biggest in Europe by 2050, and address the cost-of-living crisis.
The newspaper said it is anticipated that he will launch his campaign website, as well as list his supporters, in the coming hours.
Ms Badenoch announced her bid in The Times, with a plan for a smaller state and a Government ‘focused on the essentials’.
Boris’s resignation speech at a glance
PM vows to stay on until new Tory leader chosen
‘I have today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will until a new leader is in place.’
He fought to stay in power out of ‘duty’ to 2019 voters
The PM hailed his ‘incredible mandate’ from the 2019 general election.
He added: ‘The reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was not just because I wanted to do so, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised to do in 2019.’
PM hits out at those who removed him in ‘eccentric’ rebellion
‘In the last few days I have tried to persuade my colleagues it would be eccentric to change governments when we are delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate and when we’re actually only a handful of points behind in the polls.
‘Even in mid-term after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging.’
Boris admits ‘pain’ at leaving and attacks ‘herd instinct’ of MPs
‘Of course it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.
‘But, as we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.
‘In politics, no one is remotely indispensable.’
Pledges support to next Tory leader but urges them to cut taxes
‘Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.
‘Not just helping families to get through it but changing and improving the way we do things – cutting burdens on businesses and families and, yes, cutting taxes.
‘To that new leader, whoever he or she may be, I say I will give you as much support as I can.’
His ‘sadness’ at giving up ‘best job in the world’
‘I know there will be many people who will be relieved and, perhaps, quite a few who will also be disappointed.
‘I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but thems the breaks.’
Message of support to Ukrainians
He said: ‘Let me say now to the people of Ukraine that I know we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.’
Promise of a ‘golden future’ for Britons
‘Even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.’
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