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‘The ghost PM’: what the papers say about Liz Truss’s hold on power
This morning’s papers make dire reading for No 10. My colleague Samantha Lock has a summary.
Cabinet is over, Sky’s Sam Coates reports.
Cabinet leave Number 10 – avoiding cameras, grim faces
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) October 18, 2022
Ministers want to change the law to prevent former RAF pilots from training the Chinese military, amid reports at least 30 British personnel are believed to have taken advantage of “very generous” recruitment packages offered by the superpower. My colleague Jamie Grierson has the story here.
Liam Fox, the Tory former international trade secretary, told Sky News this morning that Liz Truss’s future would partly depend on whether the financial markets settle down following the latest mini-budget U-turns. He said:
We can all read the polls and I don’t need to tell you what the atmosphere is like at Westminster. People will be weighing up what the prime minister said last night – that she had made mistakes, that she learned from those, and that the measures that Jeremy Hunt had put in place seemed to be providing the necessary economic stability in the markets.
If the markets don’t believe that a Conservative government is able to manage public finances sensibly then that government has had it.
So that, really, is the number one priority and I think that most of my colleagues will be looking to see if the measures being put in place have achieved their effect.
It looks at the moment as though they have – that will take the political temperature down somewhat.
Wallace cancels select committee appearance for urgent trip to US
Dan Sabbagh
Ben Wallace has hastily cancelled an early afternoon appearance before the Commons defence committee for an urgent trip to Washington DC, prompting speculation as to the purpose of the visit.
James Heappey, a defence minister, said “my boss Ben Wallace is in Washington this morning” in an interview in Sky News and offered a cryptic explanation of his presence there. He suggested that Wallace would be having “the sort of conversations” that had to take place face to face.
Heappey also said that the MoD was doing “a good job keeping our nation safe at a time of incredible global insecurity” – although it was unclear exactly what he may been referring to.
A day earlier, questions were raised after a beleaguered Liz Truss did not appear in the Commons to handle an urgent question about the conduct of her government. Penny Mordaunt, deputising, had told MPs she had a “genuine reason” for not being present – but the reason was not explained and it is not clear if it is related to Wallace’s sudden travel.
Wallace had been due to take questions from the committee on a range of issues, including political engagement with the US administration on military operations, the W93 nuclear missile and US protectionism and export controls.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
The Liberal Democrats have been fined £1,500 for the late reporting of donations and filing of the party’s spending return from the 2019 general election, the Electoral Commission has said. In a statement the commission’s director of regulation, Louise Edwards said:
Political finance laws are in place to make sure the system is transparent and accurate. The requirements for political parties are clear so it’s disappointing when they are not me.
In the case of the Liberal Democrats, our investigations found offences related to the late reporting of donations and its spending return from the 2019 UK general election.
Where we find offences, we do not automatically issue sanctions. We balance the evidence and take into consideration a range of factors before making our final decision.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, gave a ringing endorsement of the prime minister when he arrived at Downing Street for cabinet this morning, PA Media reports. PA says:
While other colleagues were tight-lipped, Rees-Mogg appeared delighted to see the reporters opposite No 10, asking: “How are you? Very nice to see you.”
Rees-Mogg said that ministers were “fully” behind Liz Truss, before heading into a cabinet meeting.
Colleagues were more reticent, with a number ignoring shouted questions about the prime minister’s survival.
When asked if Truss would remain in office, work and pensions secretary Chloe Smith offered only a terse “yes” before entering No 10.
Defence minister James Heappey hints he will quit if PM drops pledge on defence spending
James Heappey, the defence minister, has suggested he would resign if the prime minister did not fulfil her leadership promise to raise defence spending, after the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said no department would be immune to cuts. My colleague Jessica Elgot has the story here.
‘Vast majority’ of Tory MPs do not want to see Truss replaced as leader, minister claims
Here are some more lines from James Heappey’s morning interview round on the Tory leadership crisis.
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Heappey, a defence minister, said Liz Truss could not afford to make any more mistakes. Asked how many more errors she could make, he told Sky News: “I suspect given how skittish our politics are at the moment, not very many,” he said. Pressed how many, he said: “I don’t think there’s the opportunity to make any more mistakes.”
She’s very much our prime minister and for what it’s worth I think she’s doing a good job.
There are a few colleagues in parliament who are irreconcilable and the government needs to work to bring them back into the fold as best we can.
But the vast majority of colleagues recognise that after the last few months – indeed after the last year when we’ve been going through all of the angst over Boris Johnson, which has divided our party deeply – what we cannot do is reverse the decision of a leadership election that we’ve literally only just completed.
Most journalists who have spent time talking to Tory MPs in private in recent days say the opposite. They say Conservatives do want a new leader, although there is no consensus as to who is should be, how he or she should be installed, or when.
Truss is more unpopular ‘by some distance’ than any British leader in past 20 years, says polling firm
Liz Truss is now more unpopular than any British political leader has been in the past 20 years, according to the polling firm YouGov. It has released new figures that suggest her net favourability rating is -70.
The findings are good for Keir Starmer, whose net favourability score is much higher than those of four leading Tory rivals.
In his write-up of the findings, YouGov’s Peter Raven says both Truss and Starmer have lower net favourability ratings than their parties. But Truss is a lot more unpopular than her party, whereas Starmer is only marginally more unpopular than his. And the Labour party is viewed far, far more favourably than the Conservative party.
The prime minister is also less well-liked than the Conservative party as a whole, which has a net favourability score of -53, down from -44 in the previous poll. The party is considered favourable by 18% of the British public, down from 22% earlier in the month.
Labour leader Keir Starmer continues to be considerably less unpopular than his Conservative rivals, with 41% of people liking him and 46% disliking him, a net score of -5. Labour themselves are slightly more popular still, with 45% having a favourable opinion of the party compared to 44% who don’t, giving a net score of +1.
This point is important because it suggests that, although the Tory brand is deeply unpopular, having Truss as leader in election campaign would hold it back even more.
YouGov’s Patrick English says “by some distance” Truss is the most unpopular leader the company has tracked since it was set up in 2000.
Unprecedented unpopularity.
Liz Truss is now by some distance the most unpopular leader we have tracked.
Her net favourability of -70 is now a full 15 points worse than Corbyn’s worst ever score of -55 (June 2019) *and* 17 points beyond Johnson’s worst of -53 (July 2020). https://t.co/otqfhPQouI
— Patrick English (@PME_Politics) October 18, 2022
Labour says James Heappey’s admission that no one in the cabinet realised the mini-budget was flawed (see 9.30am) shows the Tories have lost all economic credibility. In a statement, Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said:
The frank admission that they all approved the disastrous mini-budget shows the Conservatives have lost all economic credibility.
They couldn’t run a bath let alone a major G7 economy. They have put a Tory premium on people’s mortgages and reduced the UK to nervously watching its gilt yields day by day.
Labour will match the financial stability the country needs with a proper plan for growth based on the efforts of the whole country, not tired and failed trickle down economics.
Minister tries to defend Truss by saying cabinet failed to realise mini-budget would backfire
Good morning. Liz Truss finally did something half-sensible last night and apologised for the problems caused by the mini-budget. It is not clear yet what, if anything, this will do to improve her survival prospects, and in her interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason she also said that she would “lead the Conservatives into the next general election”.
In normal circumstances, this would be a mistake, because fighting an election with her as leader is the last thing that Tory MPs want, and unpopular prime ministers who insist that they want to “go on and on” normally only incentivise those plotting to get rid…
Read More:Minister tries to defend Truss by saying cabinet failed to realise mini-budget would backfire – UK politics live |
2022-10-18 08:30:00
