A YouGov poll has put Liz Truss well ahead of her rival Rishi Sunak in support from party members, with her lead increasing to 34 points. Mr Sunak appears to have lost significant ground as 60 per cent of party members polled between July 29 and August 2 say they intend to vote for the foreign minister. That’s up from 49 percent from July 20 to 21. Support for the former chancellor fell from 31 per cent to 26 per cent according to YouGov, with the rest of the 1,043 Conservative party members polled saying they are undecided or will not vote. It comes as voting in the Conservative Party leadership race is set to be delayed by more than a week after GCHQ warned that hackers could interfere with members’ ballots. The National Cyber Security Center – the GCHQ hearing and one of three government intelligence agencies along with MI5 and MI6 – said there were vulnerabilities in the electoral system, the Telegraph reported.
Basic points
Show latest update 1659513487
Sunak backer David Davies rejects polls showing Truss lead
Tory MP David Davies, who is backing Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest, played down the significance of recent polls showing Liz Truss as the clear frontrunner. Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday morning, he said: “To be fair to the polls, these are difficult to do – how do you find Tory members? You know we don’t publish their names. You phone someone – ‘Are you a Tory?’, ‘Well I voted Tory to make me a Tory’, ‘No it’s not’. Mr Davis said the poll that counts is the one that comes after August 11, when people start sending in their ballots. He added that the polls that came out on Wednesday came before Liz Truss’s turn to cap public sector pay. “I think the public will come to an opinion about their judgement,” he said. “It’s very, very important in this process.” Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 08:58 1659512463
Truss backer Brandon Lewis says there was ‘never any risk’ to public sector pay
Conservative former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who backs Liz Truss, said there was “never any danger to the pay of the brilliant public sector”. Asked about Truss’s campaign abandoning a key policy of cutting £8.8 billion from public sector pay outside London, he told Times Radio: “You see during leadership campaigns obviously people coming up with ideas – we saw Rishi’s team Sunak has brought out eight or nine different things that have changed. “The reality of yesterday is that what Liz was describing was part of a package to deal with Whitehall’s waste. We all want this addressed, it’s part of a program of work to get the Civil Service up – it’s grown by around 91,000 in just the last few years, back to levels where we’re using taxpayers’ money effectively and efficiently. “What Liz was looking at yesterday and what the campaign was looking at is what do you do in the new contracts as people come in, but look, she made it very clear yesterday, we’re not moving that forward, that’s not something that’s going to happen and we obviously appreciate all the the job – and there has never been any risk to the pay of the brilliant public sector that has done so well during the Covid period and the challenges we have seen over the last two years.” Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 08:41 1659511185
Truss gains lead over Sunak in support of party members, YouGov poll shows
A YouGov poll puts Liz Truss well ahead of Mr Sunak in support from party members, with her lead increasing to 34 points. It shows 60 percent of party members polled between July 29 and August 2 say they intend to vote for the foreign secretary, up from 49 percent from July 20 to 21 when rivals first made the cut for the last two. Support for Mr Sunak, the former chancellor, fell from 31 per cent to 26 per cent according to YouGov, with the rest of the 1,043 Conservative party members polled saying they are undecided or will not vote. In a further blow to Mr Sunak, the YouGov figures also showed that 83 per cent of those who currently say they intend to vote for Ms Truss also say they have made up their minds. Just 17 percent say they might change their minds, while 29 percent of Mr. Sunak’s supporters say they might vote differently. But the Sunak campaign will be hoping that the extra time to make the case before the first votes will go in their favor. Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 08:19 1659510567
Labor is making “very steady progress” under Starmer
Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator said the party was making “very steady progress” under Sir Keir Starmer. MP Shabana Mahmood told Sky News the Labor leader had achieved in two years what Neil Kinnock did in eight, making Labor “electorally competitive again”. Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 08:09 1659509714
Work: Lisa Nandy’s picket line visit ‘very different’ to Sam Terry’s actions
Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Shabana Mahmood MP says Lisa Nandy’s visit to the picket line was very different to Sam Tarry MP’s because it breached “collective responsibility”. Rising Shadow Secretary Lisa Nandy was photographed in Wigan, where she is the local MP, by Communications Workers Union (CWU) North West Regional Secretary Carl Webb. Last week, shadow minister Sam Tarry was sacked hours after appearing on chat. Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 07:55 1659508814
YouGov poll shows 60 per cent of Tory voters intend to vote for Liz Truss
A YouGov poll shows that 60 per cent of Conservative party members polled between July 29 and August 2 say they intend to vote for Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as the new prime minister. In an additional poll, 40 per cent of voters said they would prefer Boris Johnson to Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak. Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 07:40 1659507879
Labor MP unfairly sacked senior adviser who called him ‘first class idiot’, court finds
A Labor MP unfairly sacked his assistant and ex-girlfriend after she felt “marginalized and isolated” in the months before she lost her job, a court heard. Elaina Cohen has accused Birmingham Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmoud of sacking her after she raised concerns under whistleblowing regulations about a colleague who she claimed was a “criminal thug”. Mahmoud claimed Ms Cohen was sacked for breaching parliamentary office protocols and sending him “derogatory” and “insulting” emails, one of which described him as a “first class idiot”, which were forwarded to the Labor leader, Sir Keir Starmer. My colleague Isobel Frodsham has more:
Labor MP unfairly sacks senior councilor who called him ‘first class idiot’
Khalid Mahmood fired ex-girlfriend Elaina Cohen after she sent him “derogatory” and “offensive” emails. Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 August 2022 07:24 1659506428
Truss to face the GB News audience for live questions
Liz Truss has agreed to face questions from a GB News audience as she continues her campaign for the Tory leadership. The Foreign Secretary agreed to take questions live from an audience in Leigh, Greater Manchester, a so-called red wall seat. The People’s Forum With Liz Truss will be broadcast live on GB News at 5pm on 10 August and is expected to last an hour. The channel said it had also invited Rishi Sunak, Ms Truss’s Tory leadership rival, to take part in a similar event on a separate night. Ms Truss said: “I’m looking forward to talking to GB News viewers and our members at the heart of our red wall and answering their questions. “As prime minister, I will work tirelessly to deliver on those who voted for us across the red wall, including those who first trusted us in 2019.” Read more in this report:
Liz Truss will face the GB News audience for live questions
The Secretary of State agreed to answer questions in Leigh, Greater Manchester, a so-called red wall seat. Namita Singh3 August 2022 07:00 1659505828
Johnson goes on summer vacation five weeks before leaving office
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to start a summer holiday today, weeks before the end of his term in office. While Downing Street did not share details of where Johnson would be spending his holiday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said he would remain in charge of the country and receive required updates. Mr Johnson will not be out of office for long after his return, with Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak currently vying to replace him in No 10 on September 6. Asked who would be in charge while Mr Johnson is away, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “It will be standard practice. “The prime minister will be briefed as required … the deputy prime minister and, as always with a cabinet government, other ministers will be on hand to support if needed.” Read the details in this report:
Boris Johnson will take a summer break less than five weeks before he leaves No 10
A spokesman said Mr Johnson would remain in charge of the country and receive updates as needed. Namita Singh3 August 2022 06:50 1659504928
Truss renews public sector pay cut in just 12 hours
Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss has rejected plans to cut the pay of public sector workers outside London and the south east after a massive backlash against the policy from Tory MPs. Critics in her party accused the foreign secretary of planning to make millions of nurses, police officers and teachers poorer. Tees Valley Tory mayor Ben Houchen, who is backing Ms Truss’s rival Rishi Sunak, said he was “actually speechless” at her pitch before party members choosing the next prime minister. The proposal was a…
