Liz Truss latest: Sunak to lose Tory leadership race but not by expected margin, says pollster

Boris Johnson has been accused of cronyism after giving a plum job to the author of a book praising him.

Harry Mount, who wrote a book about the “wit and wisdom of Boris Johnson”, will now help oversee peerages as part of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

Labour said the prime minister was using his final hours in office to “hand out more jobs for the boys”.

As expected, Lord Pannick’s legal advise to the PM about an Commons investigation into Partygate has today been made public.

Lord Pannick said an inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament is being conducted by an “unfair procedure” which would be ruled “unlawful” by courts.

The opinion was commissioned by the Cabinet Office.

The Commons privileges committee is investigating whether Mr Johnson’s denials of lockdown-breaching parties at No 10 amounted to a contempt of parliament.

Andrew Woodcock has more on this breaking story:

MPs charged taxpayers almost £200,000 for energy bills and other utilities at their second homes over the past year, new analysis by The Independenthas found.

Campaigners said the findings showed that Britain’s elected representatives were partly “insulated” from financial pain during the cost of living crisis, since much of their energy costs are covered by the public purse.

Adam Forrest has this exclusive:

Extinction Rebellion supporters have superglued themselves around the Speaker’s chair in the House of Commons chamber to demand action on climate change.

At least five protesters took part in the protest, which took place during the summer parliamentary recess.

They held banners declaring “Citizen’s Assembly Now” and “Let the people decide”.

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, has said he “suspects” that a nuclear weapon will be used in the near future.

“We’re in for a very, very difficult decade,” he told Times Radio.

“Our world will change. I suspect, horrible to say so, that we will see a tactical nuclear weapon used in the next 10 years.

The MP added: “I hope that will then wake people up to say, Wow, life is going to get dangerous. What are we going to do about it?”

Mr Ellwood said “other nations around the world look to Britain for leadership”, adding: “We do need another Churchill right now.”

My colleague Liam James looks at some of Liz Truss’s biggest gaffes in politics:

Former Tory MP Lord Hayward has urged Liz Truss to pick her cabinet from across the Conservative party if she becomes the country’s next prime minister.

The peer’s remark came as he predicted she would win the leadership race by a thinner margin that pollsters anticipate.

Lord Hayward went on to warn her against appointing only her supporters to ministerial positions.

“Now that would be bad even if there was a very clear margin of victory, but if there’s a narrower margin of victory it is absolutely necessary that right at the top the sides are brought together,” he said.

“Liz Truss starts off with a disadvantage which has faced a number of other politicians in their time – the most recent one being probably Jeremy Corbyn – in that she doesn’t necessarily have the automatic support of the majority of her parliamentary party.”

Labour has accused the government of misusing taxpayers’ money after spending £50,000 for Whitehall officials to go on a sightseeing flight around Britain.

The government’s plane was used on Wednesday to transport the group on a return trip from London to the Scottish borders.

Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said this was a “blatant misuse” of public funds.

“This kind of blatant misuse of taxpayers’ money would be considered totally unacceptable at the best of times, but in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis our country is facing, those responsible should feel utterly ashamed,” she told the PA news agency.

A Conservative pollster has said Liz Truss will not beat Rishi Sunak by the 30 per cent margin some have predicted.

Lord Hayward, a former MP and current Tory peer, said the current foreign secretary will likely win the race, but not by so emphatic a margin.

“My overall sense is Liz Truss will win but I am not convinced it will be by the margin that the polls are predicting,” he told the PA news agency.

“It will be clear, she will have a clear victory, but I would be surprised if it’s by the margin the polls are predicting.”