Quote of the day
Jeremy Hunt on the Brexit talks in a speech to the Tory conference arguably as much about his own leadership ambitions as his brief as foreign secretary:
“And let me say one more thing about these talks: never mistake British politeness for British weakness. Because if you put a country like Britain in a corner, we don’t crumble. We fight.
Row of the day
Boris Johnson versus everyone else.
The former foreign secretary might have hoped his pre-conference interview with the Sunday Times would dominate the first day. Instead he first found himself sharing the front page with Theresa May, and then had his ideas – including a grand plan for a bridge to Northern Ireland – either mocked or derided.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said Johnson had spent “very little time” in his criticisms of May’s Brexit plans mentioning the fact he was foreign secretary for two years “and was in the room helping to influence this and, indeed, was praising it as soon ago as December”.
Even his former cabinet colleague David Davis criticised the ideas he raised in the interview: “He wants to cancel HS2 and spend it on a bridge to Northern Ireland. I don’t want to do that. I think one of the blights of British politics is politicians having fantastic ideas that cost a fortune and don’t do much good.”
More blunt still was the former CBI head Digby Jones who told the conference that reportedly derogatory comments by Johnson about business “showed him up for the irrelevant and offensive person he really is”.
Debate of the day
Unlike Labour, the main Conservative party conference hall doesn’t hear debates: it receives speeches from ministers, which are received with different degrees of rapturous reverence. Of those on Sunday, the address by the defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, was notable in that in contained some new announcements.
This included improved welfare support for armed forces members, including career development plans and ID cards to allow veterans to show they have been in the forces when they are back in civilian life. He also announced a scheme for so-called “cyber cadets”, to learn how to protect the country from cyber-attacks.
Tweet of the day
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, joins the throng mocking Johnson’s “Irish bridge” brainwave, tweeting:
Flight from Birmingham to Belfast delayed. Wish there was a bridge. Wait....
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) September 30, 2018
Monday’s highlight
Philip Hammond’s speech at noon. The chancellor’s speech is usually the second biggest highlight of Tory conference, after the prime minister’s. But there’s a crowded field this year, with grassroots favourites Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg touring the fringes. Hammond will try to convince delegates – and the country – that the Tories remain the party of business. He’s almost certain to tell them that the economy depends on May’s plans for Brexit, too.
.jpg?w=600)
