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Today’s political headlines includes Johnson vows to leave the EU, Labour fails to block no-deal, Tory candidates campaigning for the top job and Sedwill criticised for online talking to leadership front runners.  

Johnson vows to leave EU on 31 October but faces criticism for dodging questions
The Daily Telegraph says that Boris Johnson has said he has the ‘guts and the courage’ to ensure that the UK leaves the EU by 31 October, warning of ‘mortal retribution’ from voters if MPs stopped Brexit. He now has 81 declared supporters, more than twice as many as any other candidate. The Times claims that Johnson has assured senior Brexiteers that he will not rule out suspending Parliament to stop it from blocking a no-deal Brexit, while the Daily Mirror reports that he ducked questions about his past use of cocaine and other issues.

Labour attempt to block no-deal Brexit blocked
The Guardian reports that a Labour-led cross-party move to prevent a no-deal Brexit was blocked by 11 votes yesterday. Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer warned Conservative leadership candidates that his party would ‘use whatever mechanism it can’ to prevent such an outcome, though former Conservative MP Nick Boles cautioned that ‘it is very hard to see where any further legislative opportunities will come from’.

Stewart appeals for votes, Javid is the ‘change candidate’ and Hancock can beat Corbyn
The Sun says that Rory Stewart is appealing for votes so that he can get through the first round of the leadership contest, telling the paper he is ‘one or two votes short’ and MPs should ‘give me a chance’. The Times reports that Sajid Javid used his campaign launch yesterday to claim that he was the ‘change candidate’ and criticised ‘the same old insiders with the same old school ties’, while The Guardian says Matt Hancock claimed he could beat Jeremy Corbyn by ‘turning the page’ on Brexit and ‘putting pounds in people’s pockets’.

Sedwill criticised for only talking to leadership frontrunners
According to The Times, Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill is being criticised for only having held talks with the two frontrunners in the Conservative leadership contest, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. A spokesman for Dominic Raab described the news as ‘disappointing’ while another campaign said ‘the civil service should be treating all candidates equally’.

Mail hails victory in Post Office campaign
The Daily Mail is hailing a victory in its campaign against Post Office closures after business minister Kelly Tolhurst announced a new review of the pay of postmasters, which she wants to ‘be concluded as soon as possible to ensure postmasters receive a fair wage’, starting with a summit today.

NAO issues warning about Help to Buy
The Financial Times reports that the National Audit Office has warned that the Government’s Help to Buy scheme has exposed the Government to ‘significant market risk’ and that some buyers who have made use of it are at risk of entering negative equity. The scheme was introduced in 2013 in a bid to help more people buy homes for the first time.

Channel 4 may ‘empty chair’ Johnson if he refuses debate invite
The Sun claims that Channel 4 may ‘empty chair’ Boris Johnson in its planned televised leadership debate on Sunday. Johnson is apparently the only one of the candidates not to have agreed to appear. His campaign insists that it is in talks with all broadcasters, with the BBC planning a debate on Tuesday and ITV a head-to-head between the last two candidates.

Cabinet note warns UK not ready for no-deal in October
The Financial Times has seen a confidential Cabinet note which warns the UK is not prepared for a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, especially with regard to medicines and border control. The note, prepared for a meeting on 21 May but not circulated, claims many plans in place have only ‘a minimum viable level of capability’, while others had ‘material’ shortcomings.

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Today’s political headlines includes Gove’s personal attacks on Boris; Hunt, Gove and Raab attack Boris’ tax cut plans; and BBC faces backlash over acing of free TV licences for over 75s.

Gove’s personal attacks on Boris
The front page of The Daily Telegraph focuses on Michael Gove’s ‘personal attack’ on Boris Johnson, which it calls ‘an act of desperation’. Yesterday Gove joked ‘whatever you do, don’t pull out – I know you have before’. The newspaper says Gove is quickly losing ground to Jeremy Hunt, who it claims is now Boris’ main rival in the leadership race.

Hunt, Gove and Raab attack Boris’ tax cut plans
The Times reports that Conservative leadership contenders have criticised Boris Johnson’s plans to cut taxes for the wealthiest. Boris has been accused of making the Conservative Party look like the ‘party of privilege’, as he revealed plans to raise the threshold for higher rate income tax from £50,000 to £80,000.

BBC faces backlash over axing of free TV licences for over 75s
The Daily Mail reports on the BBC’s decision to scrap free TV licences for the over 75s, which is referred to as ‘BBC betrayal of the elderly’. From June 2020, only those on pension credit will be eligible for a free TV licence. The Daily Mirror claims that a lot of anger is being aimed at the Government, as during the 2017 election, the Conservatives promised that free TV licences for the over 75s would be maintained.

Rory Stewart warns ‘electoral bribes’ by Tory Leadership candidates risk party reputation
According to the BBC, Rory Stewart has warned leadership rivals against offering ‘cheap electoral bribes’, saying the Tory membership are ‘smarter than this’. As opposed to ‘being straight with the people’, Stewart said his opponents had pledged ‘eye-watering’ tax cuts worth £84bn. He is expected to propose that any money available from a negotiated Brexit deal should instead go towards technical education and digital infrastructure.

EU take ‘deeply critical’ view of Tory leadership candidates
The Guardian reports that after a Brexit hiatus, Brussels is watching the Tory leadership race with both ‘amazement and exasperation’. According to the Guardian, the EU see bookies’ favourite Boris Johnson as a ‘Trumpian figure’, remembered for his time working as Brussels correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in the 1990s where he mocked EU regulations and promoted ‘Euromyths’. Meanwhile, Dominic Raab is said to be held in low esteem after losing the trust of EU counterparts during his time as Brexit Secretary.

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Today’s political headlines includes Labour winning the Peterborough by-election, Queen could be put in a terrible conflict over suspending Parliament, Hammond and May in row over money and Johnson more likely to win back Brexit Party supporters. 

Labour wins Peterborough by-election
As the BBC reports, Labour’s Lisa Forbes has won the Peterborough by-election, seeing off the Brexit Party’s Mike Greene by 683 votes. She claimed that the electorate had ‘rejected the politics of division’, embracing the ‘politics of hope’, but Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said that his party’s result was ‘very significant. Labour MPs Margaret Hodge and Jess Phillips have raised concerns about Forbes after it emerged that she’d liked a social media post claiming that Theresa May had a ‘Zionist slave masters agenda’.

Queen could be put in ‘a terrible conflict’ over suspending Parliament
The Times says Hannah White of the Institute for Government has warned that suspending Parliament in order to enable a no-deal Brexit would put her in ‘a terrible conflict’, suggesting the palace might delay the process long enough to allow Parliament to prevent itself from being prorogued. Tory leadership candidate Dominic Raab, has refused to rule it out, but rivals including Matt Hancock and Rory Stewart have criticised this stance, with Stewart claiming that such a move would be ‘unlawful, undemocratic and unachievable’.

Hammond and May in row over May’s £10bn leaving announcements
The Financial Times says that Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond are arguing over a number of spending announcements she wants to make before her departure as Prime Minister, including increasing education spending. The Treasury is apparently concerned that May’s plans might cost over £10bn, and Hammond doesn’t want to spend his ‘war chest’ until a no-deal Brexit is ruled out, in case it is needed as a ‘cushion’.

Polling shows Johnson most likely to win back Brexit Party supporters
The Daily Telegraph says that private polling of the Conservatives’ 48 most marginal seats by CTF Partners has found that Boris Johnson is the leadership candidate who is most likely to regain supporters lost since Theresa May became party leader. 59% Brexit Party and UKIP backers said that they were more likely to back the Tories under Johnson’s leadership, with just 31% saying that his nearest rival, Michael Gove, would have the same effect.

Javid in ‘veiled’ attack on Johnson over ‘exploiting division’
The Times says that Sajid Javid has made ‘a thinly veiled attack’ on Boris Johnson, telling an event that the worst thing you can do to ‘get votes is to appeal to division, to exacerbate division, to get angry people to vote for you’, adding that he believes that some of his rivals would ‘try to win a general election’ through ‘exploiting division’. He said that to deliver Brexit, people’s ‘underlying frustrations’ that led them to vote for it need to be dealt with.

Hancock promises business rates cut for small retailers
Interviewed by The Daily Telegraph, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has promised to axe small retailers’ business rates at a cost of £1.5bn and set the new digital services tax at a higher level in order to fund this, arguing that this would help to ‘level the playing field’ and ‘save the high street’.

DWP extends benefits assessment contracts
The Daily Mirror reveals that the Government has extended its contracts with Atos and Maximus to test people’s eligibility for benefits without going out to tender, giving them an extra £630m. Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabled People, Marsha De Cordova said the decision was ‘scandalous’ and criticised the firms’ assessments for ‘appalling inaccuracies’.

Badenoch backs Gove
The Sun says that Conservative vice chair and ‘rising star’ Kemi Badenoch has resigned from her post in order to support Michael Gove’s campaign for the Tory leadership. Writing in the paper, she says that she is a ‘realist’ and is ‘suspicious of anyone proposing simple answers’ to Brexit, and praises Gove’s education reforms.

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Today’s political headlines includes Gove saying he would delay Brexit to get a deal, the ‘very close’ Peterborough by-election, Hancock comparing Corbyn to Hitler and the £1tn cost of net zero emissions. 

Gove says he would delay Brexit to get a deal
The Daily Telegraph reports that Michael Gove told the One Nation group of centrist Conservative MPs that he would delay Brexit beyond 31 October, if it would deliver a deal, and that, while no-deal should be ‘on the table’, it wasn’t ‘the best option’. However, Dominic Raab told the same group that he would definitely leave by that date, and was prepared to suspend Parliament in order to do so, and Jeremy Hunt warned that a ‘hardline approach’ from the UK would merely lead the EU to respond in kind.

Brexit Party and Labour ‘very, very close’ in Peterborough by-election
The Guardian reports from today’s by-election in Peterborough, with a source in the local Labour party claiming it is ‘very, very close’ between them and the Brexit Party, and warning Labour may find it hard to get its voters to turn out. According to the paper, the Tories, who held the seat from 2005 to 2017, ‘are widely thought to be out of the running’.

Hancock compares Corbyn to Hitler
The Times reports that Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has compared Jeremy Corbyn to Hitler, warning that if the Conservative Party did not pick someone who could beat him, the UK ‘could end up with the first antisemitic leader of a western nation’ since World War Two. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said that the remarks were ‘a disgrace’.

Chancellor warns of cost of net zero emissions
According to the Financial Times, Chancellor Philip Hammond has written to Theresa May to warn that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will cost the country more than £1tn, meaning that less would be available for other areas of public spending and making some sectors of British industry ‘economically uncompetitive’.

Trump compares Irish border to that between USA and Mexico
The Guardian reports that Donald Trump started his visit to Ireland by comparing its border with Northern Ireland to that between the USA and Mexico, saying that he thought it would ‘all work out very well’ after Brexit ‘with your wall, your border’. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkhar later said that Trump ‘shares our objective to keep the border open’.

Small employers may have to report gender pay gap
The Financial Times reports that Hilary Spencer, Director of the Government Equalities Office told members of the Commons Treasury Committee yesterday that the Government was considering bringing employers with under 250 employees into the scope of gender pay reporting, and increasing enforcement powers.

Grayling confirms HS2 is being reviewed
The Daily Mail says that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has confirmed that a review is being conducted into the deliverability of HS2, with the new chairman of the rail projects, Allan Cook, assessing whether it can be built within its current £65bn budget. He also indicated that elements could be scaled back, following the problems with Crossrail.

Gibb defends teaching of same-sex relationships
Writing in The Times, schools minister Nick Gibb says that pupils in Birmingham schools, should be taught about British values, including same-sex relationships, despite protests against this by Muslim parents. He also describes Ann Widdecombe’s defence of gay conversion therapy as ‘deeply offensive’ and warned Conservative leadership candidates that members and the public would not be ‘impressed’ if they sided with the protesters.

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Today’s political headlines includes the Lib Dems are top of the polls as Swinson launches leadership campaign, Trump indicates support for Johnson and a record number of patients are forced to change surgery as GPs close.

Lib Dems top poll as Swinson launches leadership campaign
A new poll by YouGov for The Times shows that the Liberal Democrats have taken the lead, with 24% of the vote, followed by the Brexit Party on 22%. The Conservatives and Labour are each on 19%. The unprecedented finding appears to reflect the electorate dividing between those who want a no-deal Brexit and those who’d rather remain in the EU. The Guardian says that Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson has confirmed that she is standing for the leadership, saying that the ‘country is crying out for a liberal movement that will challenge the forces of nationalism and populism’.

Trump indicates support for Johnson
According to The Daily Telegraph, Donald Trump has indicated that Boris Johnson is his preferred leader of the Conservative Party. While he hasn’t formally endorsed him, yesterday he said that Johnson was a ‘friend’ and that he had ‘a lot of respect’ for him. The two men are expected to hold private talks when Trump visits the UK next week, which would be a breach of convention, while Nigel Farage could also be invited.

Record number of patients forced to change surgery as GPs close
The Daily Mirror reports that last year 519,000 patients had to change GP because their clinic closed, which is a record high. According to the Patients Association, this is because of ‘long-term failures in workforce planning and shortage of funding for the NHS in the face of rising patient need’. The number of surgeries closing has increased sevenfold since 2013.

Harper joins Tory race
The Daily Telegraph reports that Mark Harper, the former Chief Whip, has announced his candidacy for the Conservative leadership. He is the twelfth MP to do so, and admits that he is an ‘underdog’. However, he claims that he has an advantage over ministers who ‘shared the responsibility’ for failing to deliver Brexit with Theresa May, telling the paper ‘we’ve seen basically the same faces saying the same things that they’ve been saying for the last three years’.

Labour peer claimed £50,000 in expenses but didn’t speak
An investigation by The Guardian reveals that Labour peer David Brockman claimed almost £50,000 in expenses from the House of Lords despite not speaking or asking questions. Other findings include that 88 peers didn’t speak, hold posts or take part in committees, and that 46 didn’t vote, sit on committees or hold posts.

Trump to confront May over Huawei
The Times says that Donald Trump will confront Theresa May about the security risk posed by Huawei when he visits next week. His national security advisor, John Bolton, said that the USA would only be happy with ‘zero’ risk in its federal telecoms network, suggesting that it was trying to convince its intelligence partners to follow its lead.

Most Tory leadership contenders say they’re feminists
The Guardian says that eight of the Tory leadership contenders, including frontrunner Boris Johnson, have said that they are feminists. This follows Dominic Raab saying that he ‘probably’ wasn’t one, choosing to defend a claim he made in 2011 that feminists were ‘obnoxious bigots’.

Candidates endorse report calling for increased public spending
The Daily Mail reports that five Conservative leadership candidates, including Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, have backed a report from the think tank Onward calling on the Government to ‘turn on all the taps’ and boost spending on schools, hire more police officers and cut corporation tax. However, Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned that radical tax cuts could be unaffordable.

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