Party leadership races often involve candidates tweaking policies on the hoof, and thus tend to have more than the usual share of U-turns. Here are some highlights.
Liz Truss
Public sector pay Late on Monday last week, Truss announced a plan to save £11 billion a year with a “war on Whitehall waste”, of which £8.8 billion would come from “adapting ” public sector pay to where people work, meaning cutting it for people outside London and the South East of England.
After a barrage of criticism, including from Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, Truss quit the policy just over 12 hours after it was announced. A statement from his campaign falsely said there had been a “deliberate misrepresentation” of the plan, although the original press release made it clear the savings would come with the creation of regional pay scales for all workers in the sector public, including the police, teachers and the like.
Help with energy bills Another “clarification” came a few days later when, in an interview with the Financial Times, Truss appeared to rule out any extra help for people to pay rising energy bills this winter beyond of tax cuts, which disproportionately help the wealthiest. .
Truss said: “Of course I will look at what else can be done. But my way of doing things is in a conservative way to reduce the tax burden, not handing out handouts.” Following criticism from Rishi Sunak’s campaign, Truss supporter Penny Mordaunt took to the airwaves to say other forms of assistance remained possible. Truss has since refused to say whether he would offer further help.
Long-term changes of vision All politicians adjust their views over time, but Truss stands out for the extension of his ideological trajectory, in the short and long term. Until recently, Truss was an enthusiastic supporter of building new homes on the green belt, but is now more coy about the issue.
More generally, Truss started out as a Liberal Democrat student who wanted to abolish the monarchy, and more recently was an opponent of Brexit before the 2016 referendum. In the leadership race, he has stood for Prime Minister for keep the flame of true Brexit alive.
Rishi Sunak
VAT on energy bills The former chancellor’s main point for No 10 has been as the voice of financial reality, in contrast to what his camp represents as Truss’ push. But that changed as the campaign progressed.
The highlight was his idea to reduce VAT on energy bills, saving the average household £160 a year. Although this is a modest proposal given the expected rise in energy bills, Truss’s allies gleefully described it as “a handbrake U-turn”.
Game Raises Funds This is less a spin than a confession. Speaking to Tory party members in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Sunak said that as chancellor he had managed to take money out of deprived urban areas and give it to other parts of the country.
In footage obtained by the New Statesman, Sunak said: “I’ve managed to start changing the funding formulas to make sure areas like this get the funding they deserve.” Sunak’s allies said he had only been reasserting the idea of also focusing on deprivation in cities and rural areas.
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The war against the woke Sunak was never seen as a culture warrior by the standards of Boris Johnson’s cabinet, but appealing to members of the Tory party has seen him change his tune. In a speech late last month, he pledged to fight “left-wing agitators” who sought to “bring a bulldozer to our history, our traditions and our core values”.
Separately, Sunak said he would extend the Prevent counter-extremism program to people seeking to “vilify” Britain, described by one former police officer as an idea that risks “detouring into thought crimes”. .