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The Liz Truss camp claims Chris Skidmore’s defection (see 9.28am) could be the start of a “bigger exodus” of MPs from Rishi Sunak’s campaign. A spokesman for Truss’s campaign said:
We are in talks with others from the Rishi camp and Chris coming could lead to a bigger exodus of Sunak MPs to us. Rishi’s flip flop and the economy is clearly bothering many of his backers. Our supporters like Liz’s optimistic vision for the future, her conservative plan for the economy based on tax cuts, and her credentials as a leader who will stand up to dictators like Putin and prioritize national defense.
Liz Truss at the Tory boxes in Darlington last night. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA
Truss ‘is looking for targeted help’ for people with energy bills, says senior ally James Cleverly
James Cleverly, the education secretary, was giving an interview to the media this morning. He was speaking as a member of the government and as a supporter of Liz Truss for the next Tory leader. This created some tension; at one point he was talking about what the government is doing now about energy bills, while at another point he was explaining why a full answer should wait until the leadership campaign is over.
Here are the key points.
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He has smartly confirmed that Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, will hold a meeting with the heads of energy companies tomorrow. Ministers will discuss increasing the scope of the windfall in light of rising energy profits. He cleverly said:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Business Secretary are calling on the leaders of these big energy companies to butt some heads and basically hold them to account about what they’re going to do with those profits.
Rising energy costs have been driven by the war in Ukraine and a global crisis, this is affecting almost everyone around the world, everyone in the developing world is seeing these energy bills rise. What we need to do is make sure we have a short, medium and long-term plan, so the Chancellor and the Business Secretary are bringing these energy companies on board as part of the short-term response.
My colleague Alex Lawson has more information on tomorrow’s meeting here.
To bring about changes in tax systems or financial support systems, we must have votes in the chamber, which must go through a proper vetting process.
It’s not as simple as reminding parliament to have an emergency debate on something like military action, which is a very simple yes or no question. An emergency budget has to be comprehensive and by definition therefore a complicated thing, it’s not just a one-day session, it’s a protracted debate process in parliament, and that’s best done when Parliament comes back in September and this is what Liz has pledged to do.
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She insisted Truss would bring “targeted help” for people who need help with energy bills in the emergency budget she plans for the autumn if she becomes prime minister. In recent days, Truss has refused to explicitly commit to specific extra support for people struggling to heat their homes. He has not ruled it out (and backed away from the firm “no handouts” stance he laid out in an FT interview last week), but has repeatedly stressed that his priority is to cut taxes. In an interview on the Today programme, Cleverly said Truss would have an emergency budget. He did not say what it would be, but when it was suggested that the tax cuts would not help people on benefits or people on very low incomes, he replied:
He has said he will seek support packages for people who need it most. So for people who won’t directly benefit from the tax cuts, look for specific help. For those people who do pay taxes, it’s rightly so to make sure we don’t take more money from them than we really need.
This is quite different in tone, and somewhat more engaged in substance, than what Truss said in the Tory boxes last night. He avoided committing to “targeted help,” but Cleverly says he’s “looking at it.” It was not clear from the interview whether this was a deliberate change or if Cleverly was just reflecting the widespread assumption in Westminster that, whatever Truss says now, he will have to offer people specific support with the energy bills in the fall because the alternative would be a social catastrophe.
(This may be a good example of how leadership campaigns can be poor guides to future policy. Truss is campaigning in opposition to a policy he will probably end up implementing in a few months. In the three-year campaign the The main political difference between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt was Johnson’s insistence that the UK should leave the EU at the end of October 2019. Johnson won and the UK was still in the EU at the start of 2020. )
Truss gets a boost when the ex-minister leaves Sunak’s camp
Good morning. Last week my colleague Aubrey Allegretti reported on how Liz Truss’ team was hoping to get the support of Tory MPs who had publicly pledged to support Rishi Sunak. This type of public vote switching by MPs in a leadership contest is rare, because the MP involved looks duplicitous and indecisive and because MPs tend to know the candidates very well, which means they don’t change their minds easily. The story suggested that the Truss camp may have been overconfident in his briefing.
But (as usual) Aubrey was absolutely right, and in an article for the Daily Telegraph, Chris Skidmore, the former universities minister, has explained why he is defecting from the Sunak camp and backing Truss. He blames Sunak’s “constantly changing position,” especially on the economy. He says:
The status quo cannot be an option. He had initially supported Rishi Sunak during the MPs stage of the contest. However, in recent weeks, I have become increasingly concerned about his campaign’s ever-changing position, particularly on the economy, to chase votes. I am convinced that we need a bolder and more positive approach to the future of the UK.
Above all, we need a leader who will unite the party. Liz Truss has shown that she has the leadership and personal ability to bring us all together. We cannot afford to be seen as a divided party, and I now believe that Liz is the best person to bring us and the country together to meet the challenges we face.
At this stage of the contest, MP endorsements are unlikely to have any direct impact on members as they decide how to vote. But MPs tend to be pretty astute observers of where the political wind is blowing, and so while Skidmore is hardly a household name, his defection represents a major morale boost for the Truss camp. There are now so many Tory MPs trying to get on the bandwagon that the campaign resorted to announcing the latest endorsements as a big job.
Truss and Sunak are making major television appearances later today. Meanwhile, pressure continues for both to make firmer commitments about what they will do about rising energy prices. My colleague Julia Kollewe covers some of the latest developments in this story on her live business blog.
Here is the agenda for the day.
12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, is interviewed by broadcaster Iain Dale at an event on the sidelines of the Edinburgh festival.
12.30pm: Suella Braverman, the Attorney General, gives a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank on equalities and rights.
5pm: Liz Truss takes part in a People’s Forum for GB News in Leigh, Greater Manchester. Alastair Stewart is presenting.
7pm: Nick Robinson interviews Rishi Sunak on BBC One’s Our Next Prime Minister.
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Updated at 10.11 BST