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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Tom Ambrose and Andrew Sparrow

Tory leadership: Nadine Dorries steps down and returns to backbenches – as it happened

Liz Truss Geoffrey CliftonBrown 1922 Committee Boris Johnson Kwasi Kwarteng Laura Kuenssberg

Summary

Here is a round-up of today’s headlines:

  • Liz Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister on Tuesday and will immediately appoint a Cabinet of loyalist MPs as her government begins a race against time to set out plans to deal with the cost of living emergency. She will become Britain’s fourth Tory prime minister in six years after beating Rishi Sunak in the bitterly fought Conservative leadership contest launched after Tory MPs ousted Boris Johnson. The prime minister-elect is expected to announce plans for an energy price freeze on Thursday as she battles to navigate an overwhelming in-tray during the worst economic crisis in a generation.

  • Truss is weighing up plans to freeze energy bills until the next general election in 2024, according to the Daily Telegraph. The foreign secretary, who will become prime minister tomorrow, could announce energy bills support for households as soon as Thursday, it has been reported.

  • Priti Patel has confirmed her plan to resign as home secretary and return to the backbenches in a tweet. “I congratulate Liz Truss on being elected our new leader, and will give her my support as our new prime minister,” her letter to Boris Johnson said. “It is my choice to continue my public service to the country and the Witham constituency from the backbenches, once Liz formally assumes office and a new home secretary is appointed.”

  • Culture secretary Nadine Dorries is set to step down and return to the backbenches as Liz Truss becomes prime minister on Tuesday. Truss, the new leader of the Conservative party, is understood to have offered Dorries the opportunity to remain in the role, in a story first reported by Mail Plus.

  • Nigel Adams, who has served as minister of state without portfolio at the Cabinet Office since 2021, is the latest Tory to resign from the government following Liz Truss’s election as party leader. In a resignation letter to the outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson, Adams said “there has never been a dull moment” and that he is “honoured” to have Johnson as a friend.

  • Rishi Sunak will not be offered a role in Liz Truss’s cabinet, as her team put the final touches to job offers to be made on Tuesday afternoon. Kwasi Kwarteng, Truss’s closest cabinet ally, will become her chancellor and she is also expected to confirm the appointments of Suella Braverman as home secretary and James Cleverly as foreign secretary. Those appointments will mean that, for the first time, there will be no white men in the four great offices of state.

  • Sunak has vowed to carry on as an MP despite losing out in the Conservative leadership race, with supporters suggesting his better than expected performance means he could run again if Liz Truss loses the next general election. The Guardian understands he told party donors at an event the day before voting closed last week that he would remain in frontline politics regardless of the result.

  • The co-director of Liz Truss’s campaign has been lobbying the UK government on behalf of Libya’s controversial parliament and a company that won the biggest PPE deal of the pandemic through the VIP fast-track lane. Mark Fullbrook, an ally of Boris Johnson’s former strategist Lynton Crosby, is expected to enter Downing Street as Truss’s chief of staff after working on her campaign this summer.

  • French president Emmanuel Macron has congratulated Liz Truss on winning the battle to become the next UK prime minister, stating that “the British nation is our ally”. Truss told Tory members at a leadership hustings in Norwich in August that she was undecided as to whether the French leader was “friend or foe”.

  • The Conservative MP Christopher Chope has been tipped to join the committee investigating claims Boris Johnson misled parliament about his knowledge of Covid law-breaking parties, sources have told the Guardian. Chope would replace Laura Farris, who announced over the summer that she was stepping down from the body that scrutinises complaints about MPs’ behaviour.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. Thanks for following along on a busy day in Westminster. Goodbye for now.

Tomorrow's front pages

Here is a look at some of Tuesday’s front pages:

Dorries to step down ahead of cabinet reshuffle

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries is set to step down and return to the backbenches as Liz Truss becomes prime minister on Tuesday.

Truss, the new leader of the Conservative party, is understood to have offered Dorries the opportunity to remain in the role, in a story first reported by Mail Plus.

But Dorries, an ardent supporter of Boris Johnson during his controversial stint at No 10, is expected to receive a peerage from the outgoing prime minister when he leaves office.

Nadine Dorries walks outside Downing Street

Mail Plus reports:

Liz Truss had offered her the opportunity to stay in her post if she wanted to but Mrs Dorries, who has been a vocal supporter during her leadership campaign, has decided to return to the back benches.

A friend last night said: ‘Nadine has agonised over this as she is 100 per cent supportive of Liz. But she has decided now is the right time to leave Cabinet.’

It is expected she will be given a peerage as Boris Johnson leaves office, which will trigger a by-election in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency she has held since 2005.

Updated

Truss considering plans to freeze energy bills until next election - report

Liz Truss is weighing up plans to freeze energy bills until the next general election in 2024, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The foreign secretary, who will become prime minister tomorrow, could announce energy bills support for households as soon as Thursday, it has been reported.

She will also give a speech on the steps of No 10 Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon, weather allowing, when she will set out her vision for her premiership.

The Telegraph reports:

The Telegraph understands that, among the moves to tackle the cost of living crisis set to be unveiled this week, Ms Truss could freeze energy bills for all households until 2024.

The “huge” policy intervention would last longer and cost tens of billions of pounds more than the Labour Party’s proposal to cap prices at their current levels until early 2023.

Ms Truss is also expected to announce a huge expansion of North Sea gas extraction. Future revenues could potentially help to fund the cost of freezing bills.

Truss to appoint Cabinet of loyalists as she becomes UK’s next PM

Liz Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister on Tuesday and will immediately appoint a Cabinet of loyalist MPs as her government begins a race against time to set out plans to deal with the cost of living emergency.

She will become Britain’s fourth Tory prime minister in six years after beating Rishi Sunak in the bitterly fought Conservative leadership contest launched after Tory MPs ousted Boris Johnson.

The prime minister-elect is expected to announce plans for an energy price freeze on Thursday as she battles to navigate an overwhelming in-tray during the worst economic crisis in a generation.

She faces an uphill struggle to win over Tory MPs as she inherits a deeply divided party lagging behind in the polls with some mutinous backbenchers already said to be plotting her demise.

Truss won 81,326 votes (57.4%) of Tory members to the former chancellor’s 60,399 (42.6%), a narrower victory than many had expected.

The co-director of Liz Truss’s campaign has been lobbying the UK government on behalf of Libya’s controversial parliament and a company that won the biggest PPE deal of the pandemic through the VIP fast-track lane.

Mark Fullbrook, an ally of Boris Johnson’s former strategist Lynton Crosby, is expected to enter Downing Street as Truss’s chief of staff after working on her campaign this summer.

The political consultant set up his own company, Fullbrook Strategies, this spring and has since been lobbying the UK government. His clients included Libya’s house of representatives, which has twice attempted to overthrow the UN-established government of national unity in Tripoli, and Sante Global, formerly Unispace Health, which was awarded a £680m PPE contract in 2020.

The parliament, which was last elected in 2014, is seen by some as a block on democratic elections in Libya, and is allied to the rival government in the east of the country, which is seeking recognition from the UK and others.

When Libya’s elections were postponed last year, the UK’s diplomatic mission in Libya published a message on its Twitter account saying it continued to recognise the interim government of national unity “as the authority tasked with leading Libya to elections and does not endorse the establishment of parallel governments or institutions”.

For the first time in Britain’s history, there will not be a white man in one of the four great offices of state.

Prime minister-in-waiting Liz Truss, who beat Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership contest, is expected to appoint James Cleverly as foreign secretary, Suella Braverman as home secretary and Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor.

Kwarteng, who is set to become the UK’s first Black chancellor, will take the reins of a position where three of his Tory predecessors were also from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

The expected appointments were welcomed by some, including Boris Johnson’s former race adviser, Samuel Kasumu, who resigned last year after a controversial a report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which critics said dismissed institutional racism.

“The new cabinet is another reminder that people from all backgrounds can go far within the Tory party,” Kasumu said. “The challenge for us is to have this diversity reflected among who votes for us. It will be key to the party’s future success.”

Education secretary James Cleverly has dismissed suggestions Liz Truss will take the Conservatives to the right.

Cleverly, who is tipped to be the next foreign secretary, told Channel 4 News:

I have heard that accusation at the formation of every government that had a Conservative at the head.

Liz is going to be focused on growing economy, she is going to make sure we support people that need help, both domestically and internationally, she is going to work with countries around the world that believe in freedom and openness.

That strikes me as a political agenda that everyone should be able to rally around.

Cleverly said he believed the government would continue its support for Ukraine, despite the impact of the war on energy prices.

“If we signal to the world that we are willing to allow the pressure to defeat democracy, then all of the concerns we are currently experiencing will pale into insignificance,” he said.

“We have absolutely got to stand by our commitment to Ukraine. I have no doubt we will.”

French president Emmanuel Macron has congratulated Liz Truss on winning the battle to become the next UK prime minister, stating that “the British nation is our ally”.

Truss told Tory members at a leadership hustings in Norwich in August that she was undecided as to whether the French leader was “friend or foe”.

“Congratulations to Liz Truss on her election,” Macron tweeted.

“The British people are our friends, the British nation is our ally. Let us continue working together to defend our shared interests.”

The Conservative MP Christopher Chope has been tipped to join the committee investigating claims Boris Johnson misled parliament about his knowledge of Covid law-breaking parties, sources have told the Guardian.

Chope would replace Laura Farris, who announced over the summer that she was stepping down from the body that scrutinises complaints about MPs’ behaviour.

The nomination would need to be passed by the Commons in order for him to be appointed to the privileges committee.

Normally, the vote is done as a “nod or nothing” – meaning that if there were one dissenting voice, it would fall.

Chope’s appointment is likely to prove controversial given his history of blocking laws, including attempts to outlaw “upskirting”.

A source said he was well-versed in parliamentary procedure. Chope also sat for two years on the privileges committee from October 2017 until November 2019.

The government did not respond to a request for comment.

Liz Truss’s imminent arrival in Downing Street as British prime minister has been greeted with scorn and scarcely veiled condescension from the Kremlin, but an outpouring of praise in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, expressed concerns that relations might deteriorate in comments to reporters shortly before Truss was announced as the winner of the Tory leadership race.

“I wouldn’t like to say that things can change for the worse, because it’s hard to imagine anything worse,” Peskov said when asked if Moscow expected any shift in relations with Britain. “But unfortunately, this cannot be ruled out.”

The Kremlin has openly mocked and belittled Truss since she went to Moscow in February for talks with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. In the meeting, a fortnight before the Russian invasion, Truss challenged Lavrov on the buildup of 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, which Moscow denied was preparation for an attack. Lavrov complained that her interventions were “just slogans shouted from the tribunes”.

Rishi Sunak has vowed to carry on as an MP despite losing out in the Conservative leadership race, with supporters suggesting his better than expected performance means he could run again if Liz Truss loses the next general election.

The Guardian understands he told party donors at an event the day before voting closed last week that he would remain in frontline politics regardless of the result.

Allies close to the former chancellor confirmed he planned to fulfil that pledge and not quit parliament, which would have triggered an early and potentially embarrassing byelection for Truss in his Yorkshire constituency of Richmond.

Sunak received 43% of the vote from Tory members and sources on his campaign claimed they had won over a high proportion of members who remained undecided until the final weeks of the contest.

The former chancellor is will not be offered a cabinet job after he declined to say last month whether he would vote for an emergency Truss budget.

Tory sources also said he would likely have rejected the offer of running a “poisoned chalice” department, such as the Department of Health and Social Care, for which the Sun previously reported that he was being lined up.

Cabinet minister Nigel Adams resigns following Truss victory

Nigel Adams, who has served as minister of state without portfolio at the Cabinet Office since 2021, is the latest Tory to resign from the government following Liz Truss’s election as party leader.

In a resignation letter to the outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson, Adams said “there has never been a dull moment” and that he is “honoured” to have Johnson as a friend.

The Yorkshire Post’s Westminster correspondent Mason Boycott-Owen has tweeted the full letter.

Truss will not offer Sunak a job in her new cabinet

Rishi Sunak will not be offered a role in Liz Truss’s cabinet, as her team put the final touches to job offers to be made on Tuesday afternoon.

Kwasi Kwarteng, Truss’s closest cabinet ally, will become her chancellor and she is also expected to confirm the appointments of Suella Braverman as home secretary and James Cleverly as foreign secretary. Those appointments will mean that, for the first time, there will be no white men in the four great offices of state.

Thérèse Coffey, a longtime friend of Truss, is expected to become health secretary and Ben Wallace has asked to stay on as defence secretary.

Sources close to Truss told the Guardian Sunak would not be offered a post, a break from the tradition where most unsuccessful leadership contenders have been offered posts. Sunak told the BBC on Monday that the cabinet was “not something I’m thinking about”.

Senior Tories have warned there is a pressing need to unite the party in the post-Boris Johnson era, though Truss is keener to prioritise loyalty. Truss received a lower share of the vote than any previous Tory leader chosen by members, as well as fewer MP backers in the first rounds of the leadership race. Fewer than half of eligible Conservative members backed Truss.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has said he hopes incoming prime minister Liz Truss “puts aside the culture wars” which have been key topics of debate during the Tory leadership contest.

Speaking at College Green in Westminster, Khan told the PA news agency:

On a personal basis, and I mean it sincerely, I congratulate Liz Truss for winning the Conservative election contest today, and for tomorrow becoming the prime minister of our country.

I think although we come from different political traditions, I think we share surely the same common desire to see our capital city succeeding and our country succeeding.

So I’m hoping that she puts aside some of this anti-London nonsense that we’ve seen over the last two to three years, that she puts aside some of the culture wars that we’ve seen engaged in over the last few years – pitting one part of the country against the other, pitting one community against another – and working together during this national crisis to respond to some of the big challenges we’re facing.

Khan added that the government must lay out a “comprehensive plan” to alleviate the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, including freezing rents paid to private landlords in the capital.

The mayor said:

I think we’re facing a national crisis that I’ve not seen in my lifetime, with soaring inflation we’ve not seen in 40 years, and energy prices rising to record levels.

What we need from the prime minister this week is a comprehensive plan that deals with the scale of the crisis we’re facing: freezing energy bills, giving targeted support to businesses and families, business rates reform.

Updated

The home secretary Priti Patel told opposition MPs to “shut up” in the Commons after they heckled her as she paid tribute to the outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson.

Patel said she was proud to have served in Johnson’s government, and defended her record including the controversial policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Priti Patel has confirmed her plan to resign as home secretary and return to the backbenches in a tweet.

“I congratulate Liz Truss on being elected our new leader, and will give her my support as our new prime minister,” her letter to Boris Johnson said.

“It is my choice to continue my public service to the country and the Witham constituency from the backbenches, once Liz formally assumes office and a new home secretary is appointed.”

Patel quits as home secretary and returning to backbenches by choice

Priti Patel is resigning as home secretary. In a letter to Boris Johnson she says that it is her choice to return to the backbenches and that she will formally quit once a new home secretary is appointed. Steven Swinford from the Times has her resignation letter.

It has been widely reported that Liz Truss intends to appoint Suella Braverman, the attorney general, as home secretary and so staying on as home secretary was almost certainly not an option for Patel anyway. But there had been speculation that she might get another post in a Truss administration.

That is all from me for today. My colleague Tom Ambrose is now taking over.

Updated

Two thirds of people have little or no confidence in Truss to tackle cost of living crisis, poll suggests

Britons are not enthusiastic about the election of Liz Truss as the new Conservative leader, making her the next prime minister, new polling from YouGov suggests.

Two thirds of Britons have little or no confidence in her to tackle the cost of living crisis, the poll suggests – and more than half of Conservative voters have little or no confidence in her on this issue.

By more than two to one, Britons are disappointed rather than pleased to see her as the new PM.

And only 14% of Britons – and only 17% of Conservative voters – think she will be an improvement on Boris Johnson.

B

These are dire figures, but they could change dramatically if Truss announces a bold cost of living plan that confounds and persuades people that they should have confidence in her to tackle the cost of living crisis. This means that what happens over the next week will be crucial for the Truss premiership. If her ratings are still this poor this time next week, it gets much harder to imagine how she could recover.

Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether or not he would accept a job from Liz Truss. In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, when asked if he would accept a job from Truss, he replied: “It is just not something I’m thinking about.”

At one point during the Tory leadership contest Sunak signalled he would not be able to accept a ministerial post in a Truss administration because he could not support her economic policies. But as the campaign drew to a close Sunak adopted a more conciliatory tone, stressing the need for the party to unite behind the new leader.

Sunak also told Mason that he would stand again as an MP at the next election.

Sunak is only 42, and there is speculation that if the Conservatives lose the next election, he might stand again in another leadership contest. One of the factors that damaged him most in this contest was the perception that he was disloyal to Boris Johnson. Sunak may be keen to ensure that is not a problem again in the future.

Liz Truss looking at Rishi Sunak at the QEII Centre at lunchtime, shortly before the result of the leadership election was announced.
Liz Truss looking at Rishi Sunak at the QEII Centre at lunchtime, shortly before the result of the leadership election was announced. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/AP

Boris Johnson will give his final speech to the nation from No 10 at 7.30am tomorrow, my colleague Pippa Crerar reports.

Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister who has been a prominent advocate for low-tax Conservatism since he resigned from Boris Johnson’s government, had been tipped for a job in Liz Truss’s administration. But, according to the Sun’s Harry Cole, he is now unlikely to take the CDL (chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster) post because he did not want to be a mere “fixer”.

A newspaper in France has described Liz Truss as the Iron weathervane (or weathercock), in a reference to her Thatcherite pretensions and changing position on Brexit, according to a BBC report rounding up international reaction to Truss’s victory in the Tory leadership contest.

At the height of the Partygate scandal, whenever Boris Johnson was facing particularly awkward headlines, he often managed to find time for a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Johnson has been one of Ukraine’s main international supporters and he was proud of the relationship he build up with Zelenskiy.

Today they spoke for the last time before Johnson’s departure from No 10. Zelenskiy praised Johnson for his “personal bravery”.

And Johnson told Zelenskiy that Ukraine “can and will win the war” against Russia, No 10 says. In its readout of the call Downing Street said:

The prime minister spoke to the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, this afternoon to thank him for his leadership and friendship.

The prime minister made clear that he believed President Zelenskiy and his people can and will win the war in Ukraine.

President Zelenskiy thanked the prime minister for believing in Ukraine and its people and updated on the recent progress of his armed forces in the south of the country.

The prime minister said he was convinced the Ukrainian forces could continue to succeed in pushing back Russian forces and added that the UK remained steadfast in its support.

The prime minister told President Zelenskiy it had been a privilege to work with him and support him, and the leaders agreed to stay in close touch as friends.

Darren Mott, the Conservative party’s chief executive, has paid tribute to Ben Elliot, who has resigned as the party’s co-chair. (See 2.54pm.) Mott said:

The whole Conservative party wants to thank Ben Elliot for his tireless service over the past three years. Without his incredible efforts, the 2019 landslide would not have been possible. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Broadcasters outside Downing Street this afternoon.
Broadcasters outside Downing Street this afternoon. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has reported the government to the UN’s labour standards organisation for alleged attacks on workers’ right to strike. As my colleague Jasper Jolly reports, the TUC said ministers had taken several steps to infringe the right to strike, including a new law that allows companies to use agency workers to break strikes and a proposal for a minimum service level on transport and other “critical” sectors. The submission to the International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations that sets standards for workers around the world, follows a pledge from Liz Truss – who will be appointed prime minister after being named winner of the Conservative leadership race on Monday – pledged to crack down on unions within the first 30 days in office.

The full story from Jasper is here.

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has released a statement of congratulations to Liz Truss, referring to New Zealand’s “exceptionally strong relationship with the United Kingdom based on our shared values, history and culture.” Ardern said:

As secretary of state for trade and then foreign secretary, Liz Truss has been a close friend of New Zealand. She has been a staunch supporter of the UK’s ‘tilt’ to the Indo-Pacific and played a central role in advancing our historic free trade agreement.

Ardern said she was looking forward to working closely with Truss on a range of shared interests, including “ratification of the NZ-UK FTA, implementing the extension to the youth mobility scheme, climate change, the Pacific, and supporting Ukraine”.

Ardern, who has led New Zealand’s Labour party since shortly before she ascended to prime minister in 2017, said she looked forward to meeting Truss.

She also praised the outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson, saying New Zealand had “enjoyed excellent relations” with the UK during his time in office.

Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative party deputy chairman, has announced that he is writing a biography of Liz Truss. In a statement he said he hoped it would be useful to voters ahead of the next general election. He said:

I know that Harry Cole, the political editor of the Sun, and James Heale, the diary editor of the Spectator, are currently working together on a book about Ms Truss. According to my contacts in the publishing industry, their effort – which is apparently being produced with the co-operation of Ms Truss and her wider family – will be published this autumn. My project will be different. As with all of my previous political biographies, my book on Ms Truss will be accurate, objective, open-minded, fair, factual and even-handed. It will also be independent.

Ashcroft, a political obsessive who also commissions a great deal of independent polling, has published biographies of David Cameron, Carrie Johnson, Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Jacob Rees-Mogg. None of them have been hagiographies, and some of them have contained material embarrassing to the person being profiled. Ashcroft is not a full-time journalist or writer, but he can afford to pay for good researchers and his books normally contain interesting and revelatory material.

Updated

UK economy on brink of recession as Truss takes over, figures show

Liz Truss will become the UK’s next prime minister with the economy on the brink of recession, according to figures that show private sector activity fell last month as businesses struggle with soaring costs. My colleague Richard Partington has the story here.

Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland and first minister designate, has called for a “serious change of tack” from Liz Truss on Northern Ireland.

This is from Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, on the task ahead for Liz Truss.

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, has congratulated Liz Truss on her victory, and urged her to tackle the cost of living crisis immediately.

In the Commons Mark Spencer, the leader of the Commons, has just announced that the second reading of the digital protection and digital information bill, which was due to take place tonight, has been shelved. He said this would allow more time for the bill, which is meant to simplify the data protection framework, to be considered.

There was some booing from people outside as Liz Truss entered CCHQ after being elected as the new Tory leader. Here is the clip.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has congratulated Liz Truss on her election as the next prime minister – whilst stressing that the EU expects the UK to abide by its Brexit agreements. Von der Leyen included this line because Truss, as foreign secretary, introduced the Northern Ireland protocol bill, which would allow the UK government to abandon parts of the protocol, in breach of its deal with the EU.

Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission vice president in charge of Brexit negotiations with the UK, has delivered the same message.

Updated

Conservative co-chair Ben Elliot resigns, reports say

Ben Elliot, the Conservative party co-chair who masterminded Tory fundraising under Boris Johnson, has resigned, the Mail on Sunday’s Glen Owen reports.

Elliot, a nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall, has been a controversial figure at CCHQ. Earlier this year Keir Starmer called for his resignation because of the links his concierge company, Quintessentially, had with Russian oligarchs.

Updated

The British Chambers of Commerce wants Liz Truss to introduce Covid-style support for small to medium sized businesses who risk going under in the energy crisis.

It has one of five demands BCC is making of the new PM which also include: a cut in VAT to 5%; more powers for Ofgem; a temporary reverse in the national insurance rise; and an immediate review of the shortage occupation list, which was brought in after Brexit to stop low-skilled workers coming to Britain from overseas.

“We believe the country has already entered a recession,” said the BCC chair, Sarah Howard. “She must now take immediate steps to support the economy.”

Updated

During the leadership contest Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, deputy PM and Rishi Sunak supporter, infuriated the Liz Truss camp by describing her economic policy at the time as an “electoral suicide note” in a Times article. Now he says the party must support her.

The “suicide note” claim resulted in Truss’s allies claiming that Raab would definitely be sacked if she won the contest. But Raab was writing at a time when Truss was still saying she would not use “handouts” to help people deal with rising energy bills. Only a day after the Raab article appeared, Truss concluded a U-turn, and made it clear that she would do everything she could to help people with the cost of living. Perhaps she concluded that Raab was right about the flaw with her strategy.

Tomorrow night, at 8pm, Guardian Live is hosting an online discussion on what Liz Truss’s election as PM will mean for the UK. The panel will be chaired by Hugh Muir and will include our chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot, columnist Owen Jones and a former special adviser to Sajid Javid, Salma Shah. You can read more details of the event, and where to get tickets, here.

Updated

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, says he is praying for Liz Truss as she takes over the leadership of the country.

And David Cameron, the Conservative former prime minister, has also offered his congratulations to Liz Truss. He urges all Tories to unite behind her.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has urged Liz Truss to freeze energy bills following her election as Tory leader and next PM.

In a reference to a report in the Sunday Times yesterday claiming that Truss is considering passing a law saying a vote for Scottish independence would only be valid if 50% of those entitled to vote were in favour, not just a majority of those actually voting, Sturgeon also says that only 47% of Tory members voted for Truss.

Updated

Theresa May, the Conservative former prime minister, has congratulated Liz Truss on her victory. May says she looks forward to supporting the government if it is “delivering for those in need and managing the public finances responsibly”.

It is not clear from May’s tweet that she is 100% confident that these will be two of Truss’s priorities. Only this morning Kwasi Kwarteng, who is set to be chancellor in Truss’s government, signalled that she would let borrowing rise in the short term and prioritise tax cuts for the wealthy over redistribution. (See 9.23am.)

From Darren McCaffrey from GB News

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has responded to Liz Truss’s election as Tory leader and next PM by calling for a general election.

And this is what Keir Starmer has tweeted about Liz Truss’ election as the new Tory leader.

Keir Starmer has described Liz Truss as “out of touch” and “not on the side of working people”. Responding to her election as Conservative leader and next PM, the Labour leader told reporters on a visit to a school in north London:

We’ve heard far more from the latest prime minister about cuts to corporation tax over the summer than we have about the cost-of-living crisis, the single most important thing that’s bearing down on so many millions of households.

That shows not only that she’s out of touch, but she’s not on the side of working people. So she needs to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, she needs to deal with the fact the NHS is on its knees, and she needs to deal with the collapse of law and order.

Keir Starmer visiting Friern Barnet school in London this morning.
Keir Starmer visiting Friern Barnet school in London this morning. Photograph: James Manning/PA

Rishi Sunak has posted a message on Twitter urging Tories to unite behind Liz Truss.

Boris Johnson has used Twitter to offer his congratulations to Liz Truss. But he started off by talking about himself.

Truss's victory speech - snap verdict

On the plus side, the speech that Liz Truss delivered at the QEII Centre a few minutes ago (see 12.41pm, 12.44pm and 12.51pm), does not matter very much. The more important one will be the one she delivers outside Downing Street (or inside if it is raining, as looks likely) tomorrow afternoon, after her audience with the Queen where she will be asked to form a government. We know that Truss is quick learner; after a dire performance in the first TV debate of the campaign, she spent a day rehearsing and was much, much better in the second one, two days later.

But this speech was still significant. For some people it will help shape their first impression of Truss, and it was surprisingly bad. The delivery was wooden and the content was bland. Apart from saying she expects the next general election to be in 2024, she did not say anything memorable. And in the first speech of her leadership, she sounded like a cut-price version of Boris Johnson. She addressed the audience as “friends” (a Johnson mannerism) and she praised him lavishly – even though she could not trigger the applause at the right moment (a mistake that Johnson would never make). So much for a new start.

The main problem, though, was that at the point where she needs to start communicating with the country at large, she was addressing her remarks entirely to the party. She was speaking at a party event, and so perhaps that is understandable. But people across the country want to know that a person elected PM by just 80,000 Conservative party members is going to address the concerns of all voters, particularly on the cost of living. Truss could have used this speech to convey that point, but she didn’t.

Liz Truss delivering her victory speech at the QEII Centre.
Liz Truss delivering her victory speech at the QEII Centre. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

Truss elected with 57.4% of vote - lower margin than any previous Tory leader chosen by members

Liz Truss got 57.4% of the vote, and Rishi Sunak received 42.6%. That means, of the four Conservative party leaders elected after a ballot of the whole membership, she is the only one to have secured less than 60% of the vote.

At 82.6%, the turnout was lower than it was in the ballot that saw Boris Johnson elected in 2019. But it was higher than in 2001 and in 2005 (when the party was in opposition, and the result counted for less.)

In 2001 Iain Duncan Smith beat Ken Clarke in the final ballot with 60.7% of the vote over Clarke’s 39.3%. Turnout was 78.3%.

In 2005 David Cameron beat David Davis in the final ballot with 67.6% of the vote over Davis’s 32.3%. Turnout was 78.4%.

And in 2019 Boris Johnson beat Jeremy Hunt in the final ballot with 66.4% of the vote over Hunt’s 33.6%. Turnout was 87.4%

Truss promises to 'deliver for our country' as she says she expects next general election in 2024

Truss goes on:

During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative.

And my friends, we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.

I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.

I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.

And I will deliver on the National Health Service.

But we all will deliver for our country. And I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative party, our brilliant members of parliament and peers, our fantastic councillors, our MSs, our MSPs, all of our councillors and activists and members right across our country. Because, my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver.

And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative party in 2024. Thank you.

The reference to an election in 2024 should quash speculation about Truss calling an earlier election (not that it was every very plausible in the first place).

And that is it. Truss’s speech has finished.

Updated

Truss goes on:

Friends and colleagues, thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative party, the greatest political party on Earth.

I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people. Our beliefs in freedom, in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes, in personal responsibility.

I know that’s why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019 and as your party leader I intend to deliver what we promised those voters right across our great country.

Updated

Liz Truss says it's an honour to be elected and pays tribute to Boris Johnson

Liz Truss says it is an honour to have been elected as party leader. She thanks the party staff “for organising one of the longest job interviews in history”.

She thanks her family, friends and supporters,

She pays tribute to her rivals, particularly Rishi Sunak. She says they have shown “the breadth and depth of talent in the Conservative party”.

And she thanks the outgoing leader, “my friend Boris Johnson”. She goes on:

Boris, you got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine. And you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You were admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.

Truss pauses, but it takes a while before people in the audience applaud.

Updated

Truss elected Tory leader and next prime minister

Sir Graham Brady is now reading out the results.

The ballot was secure, as well as free and fair, he says.

He thanks the 1922 executive committee and staff for their work, and the party board for organising the hustings. And he thanks those involved in counting, party members for taking this so seriously, all the candidates who stood, and particularly Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

He reads out the result.

Liz Truss: 81,326

Rishi Sunak: 60,399

Electorate: 172,437

Turnout: 82.6%

Rejected ballot papers: 654

Stephenson welcomes the two candidates into the hall. They take their seats. Liz Truss is smiling more than Rishi Sunak.

Stephenson thanks MPs, and the 1922 executive, for their support.

And he offers “a huge thank you” to Boris Johnson.

His name provokes sustained applause.

Stephenson says Johnson led the country through Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. It was never going to be easy. But Johnson rose to the challenge, he says.

He says it is now essential that the party unites behind the new leader.

Stephenson says there have been 12 hustings. They have been attended by 20,000 members, he says (after initially saying 2,000 by mistake) and watched online by 2.5 million people.

Andrew Stephenson, chair of the Conservative party, is taking to the platform.

He says he is proud of the way the contest has been run. It has shown the Conservative party “to be in good voice and good strength”.

Liz Truss arriving at the QEII Centre to hear the result of the leadership contest.
Liz Truss arriving at the QEII Centre to hear the result of the leadership contest. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

This is from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope.

Those MPs putting money on Rishi Sunak to win are in a minority. This morning Chris Curtis, head of political polling at Opinium, told the Today programme that, although polling party members is hard (because there are relatively few of them, and it is hard to weight a sample according to age etc), he was “fairly confident” that Liz Truss would win because the polls showed her ahead by such a wide margin.

In the past polls have often been wrong. But if they are wrong, there is normally at least one poll challenging the consensus view, and journalists can find insiders involved in the campaign saying the polling is misleading. In this contest neither of those conditions applies. Even Sunak himself seemed to be conceding defeat in his interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg yesterday.

Conservative party set to announce leadership election results

We are now only about 15 minutes away from the announcement of the winner of the Conservative party leadership contest. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, were the two candidates to make it on to the ballot for party members. They were candidates who came top after five consecutive rounds of voting by MPs eliminated the original field of eight candidates down to a shortlist of two.

The Conservative party only started letting members elect the leader after 1997, and this is the fourth time a ballot of all members has been held. But it is only the second time that the party has used this process to choose a new leader while in office. There are only about 160,000 members of the Conservative party (CCHQ has not give an up-to-date figure recently), and many people have expressed alarm that the decision about who will be the next prime minister is being taken by such a tiny (and unrepresentative) sample of the population.

When Tory MPs voted for Boris Johnson to become prime minister in 2019, 92,153 party members voted him into office.

Labour started giving its members a vote in leadership elections after its defeat in 1979. But Labour members have never had the chance to vote in a leadership contest while the party has been in government. When Tony Blair resigned, Gordon Brown was elected to replace him unopposed.

At 12.30pm Andrew Stephenson, chair of the party, will make a short speech. Then the result will be announced by Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee.

Updated

From Darren McCaffrey at GB News

Responding to reports that Liz Truss is considering freezing energy prices (see 8.10am), Keir Starmer said the Labour party was proposing this weeks ago. Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school in north London, he said:

We need to freeze energy bills, that’s why Labour set that out very, very clearly, weeks ago now. So I want to see that happen. It’s very important that it’s very clear who pays for this, we’ve been clear that oil and gas companies who’ve made excess profits this year should have a windfall tax, which would then pay for the energy freeze.

So yes, we want an energy freeze. It’s vital for families and households across the country. I want to see that happen. There’s no justification for an incoming prime minister not doing it, because the political will is there across the political parties.

The Lib Dems have been in touch to remind me that Ed Davey, their leader, announced his own plan to freeze energy bills a week before Starmer announced his own version of the policy last month.

The first MPs have begun arriving at the QEII Centre in Westminster where the next prime minister is due to be announced at 12.30pm, PA Media reports. PA says Oliver Dowden, the former party co-chair, arrived around 50 minutes ahead of the announcement. Penny Mordaunt, an earlier contender in the Conservative party leadership competition, arrived shortly afterwards. Neither responded to the large media scrum assembled outside.

On his last full day in office Boris Johnson has said that he has asked officials to look again at the case for honouring veterans of the UK’s nuclear testing programme with medals. In an open letter he also said he was commissioning an oral history of their achievements.

From ITV’s Anushka Asthana

Survation has released some new polling this morning suggesting that Labour has a 10-point lead over the Conservatives – but that if respondents are told Keir Starmer is the Labour leader, and Liz Truss the Tory leader, the Labour lead rises to 17 points.

Broadcasters outside Downing Street this morning.
Broadcasters outside Downing Street this morning. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

The main Tory leadership news in the papers this morning is probably the story about Liz Truss considering freezing energy prices. (See 8.10am.) But here are some of the other stories about a Truss premiership.

Treasury sources have told i that Ms Truss, who is widely expected to be confirmed as the nation’s next Prime Minister, is keen on cancelling Rishi Sunak’s freezing of the 40 per cent tax threshold at £50,270 and raising it by around £30,000.

The move would mean that those earning between £12,570 and £80,000 would pay just 20 per cent on their earnings on tax, while those earning less than £12,570 would continue to be exempt from income tax.

The tax cut will mean around three million people will no longer pay higher rate tax, saving them an average of around £3,000 a year. The saving will be around £6,000 for someone on an annual salary of £80,000 or more.

  • Oliver Wright in the Times says Samantha Jones, who was appointed permanent secretary and chief operating officer at Downing Street earlier this year after the Partygate scandal, will lose her post if Truss becomes PM. Wright says other senior officials will leave. He says:

Sir Stephen Lovegrove, the national security adviser, is also expected to be moved on to be replaced by the Russia expert Sir Tim Barrow, who Truss worked with at the Foreign Office.

Truss also intends to quickly appoint a new principal private secretary, while Simon Case, the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, is not expected to stay on. Truss is thought to favour James Bowler, permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, for the role.

Updated

Boris Johnson arriving at Downing Street this morning for his last full day as PM. Recently he has been commuting into his office from Chequers, where he chose to reside for his final weeks in office.
Boris Johnson arriving at Downing Street this morning for his last full day as PM. Recently he has been commuting into his office from Chequers, where he chose to reside for his final weeks in office. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Paul Goodman, the former Tory MP who edits the ConservativeHome website, has a good summary of expectations as to what Liz Truss’s margin of victory might be.

Philip Hammond, who was chancellor when Theresa May was prime minister, has joined Rupert Harrison, another Tory Treasury alumnus (see 10.02am), in criticising the Truss camp this morning for disparaging Treasury orthodoxy. Hammond told Times Radio:

When I hear people talking about Treasury orthodoxy, I do worry that what they might sometimes be talking about are economic facts of life. And yes, the Treasury will ensure that politicians, however senior, are confronted with the realities of the economic facts of life. “Yes, Minister, you may wish to do this. But you need to understand that the consequences will be as follows.” And we can’t legislate to change the laws of economics, unfortunately. And I think Liz Truss understands that very well.

Obviously, I worked very closely with her. She was chief secretary to the Treasury when I was chancellor, she understands the laws of economics as well as anybody does. And it’s essential that the political solutions that a government crafts, go with the grain of the laws of economics, because if you try and confront the laws of economics, you will come unstuck.

Hammond also said people should recognise that high energy prices were here to stay. He explained:

I think it is right and unavoidable that the government needs to provide support to people dealing with these huge energy bills as a short term solution, but we have to be clear, and I think [Truss] will be clear, that this can only be government support to deal with the immediate emergency energy prices being sky high, largely because of the war in Ukraine.

At the same time we’ve got to be honest about the fact that energy bills in the future are going to be higher than they were, traditionally, as we move to ensure energy self sufficiency, and to decarbonise our economies. That has always been the case; decarbonisation doesn’t come free.

Philip Hammond.
Philip Hammond. Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/AP

My colleague Richard Partington, the Guardian’s economics correspondent, is also unimpressed by the case for “Trussonomics” set out by Kwasi Kwarteng (who does not use the term himself) in his FT article. (See 9.23am.)

Chris Giles, economics editor at the FT, is sceptical about the plan from Liz Truss to focus on growth. (See 9.23am.)

And Rupert Harrison, who was chief of staff to George Osborne when he was chancellor, does not accept her argument that previous governments did not prioritise growth too.

Robert Peston, ITV’s politcal editor (and one of the few political editors with a background in business reporting), has posted an interesting Twitter thread on the news that Liz Truss is considering freezing energy prices. (See 8.10am.) Householders would still end up paying, he says, in the thread starting here.

Peston also says the plan (in so far as there is a plan – nothing has been confirmed on the record yet) has “much in common with Corbynomics”.

Faisal Islam, the BBC’s economics editor, says people in the energy industry think that, if Liz Truss does want to freeze energy bills (see 8.10am), she would have to end up part funding that through a windfall tax. But Truss has ruled out a further windfall tax on energy companies.

Updated

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, told RTE’s Morning Ireland this morning that Liz Truss was a “talented, very energetic politician” but that her support for the Northern Ireland protocol bill had “created a lot of tension and undermined trust” with Ireland. He went on:

She is going to be the next prime minister, and we will work with her and her team, but I hope we can change the direction of travel for British-Irish relations that we’ve seen over the last couple of years, which really has been one of tension and standoff on very important issues - predominantly related to Northern Ireland.

Truss would prioritise stimulating growth over redistributing wealth, says leading ally Kwasi Kwarteng

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, is already pencilled in as the next chancellor if Liz Truss becomes prime minister. The pair have been friends and allies for years – they were among the authors of the Thatcherite polemic Britannia Unchained written jointly by five Tory backbenchers in 2012 – and they are near neighbours in Greenwich. In an article for the Financial Times, Kwarteng has defended her approach to the economy, and addressed some of the concerns raised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. (See 8.48am.) Here are the key points.

  • Kwarteng confirms that Truss would raise borrowing, saying “some fiscal loosening” is needed. He says:

As prime minister, Liz will take immediate action if elected that will help people with the challenges we face in the coming months, and lay the groundwork for the change we need in the long term. This means cutting taxes, putting money back into people’s pockets and unshackling our businesses from burdensome taxes and unsuitable regulations. Given the severity of the crisis we face, there will need to be some fiscal loosening to help people through the winter. That is absolutely the right thing to do in these exceptionally difficult times.

  • But he says the UK can afford to increase borrowing, and that Truss would allow the deficit to rise “in a fiscally responsible way”. He says:

The UK’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product is lower than any other G7 country except Germany, so we do not need excessive fiscal tightening. The OECD has said that the current government policy is contractionary, which will only send us into a negative spiral when the aim should be to do the opposite. But I want to provide reassurance that this will be done in a fiscally responsible way. Liz is committed to a lean state and, as the immediate shock subsides, we will work to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio over time.

In this passage Kwarteng seems to be seeking to counter the claim from Rishi Sunak, in an interview with the FT last week, that Truss’s policies could led to international investors losing confidence in the UK economy.

  • Kwarteng says Truss wants to cut taxes to stimulate economic growth.

  • He says she wants to raise the trend rate of growth to 2.5%.

Economic growth is the key to delivering for the British people and unlocking opportunity across the country. And it will be Liz’s top priority. She will make it her aim to get us to 2.5% trend growth, which will deliver higher wages, more vibrant high streets and exciting opportunities here in the UK for our children and grandchildren. And ultimately, higher tax revenues.

For much of the postwar period the trend rate of growth was at this level or above, but growth has been more sluggish recently, particularly in the last decade.

  • He says Truss will reject “the voices of decline” and “economic managerialism”. He says:

We do not have to appease the voices of decline. The same old economic managerialism has left us with a stagnating economy and anaemic growth, with labour productivity growing at just 0.4% a year since the financial crisis. Taxes are now at their highest in 70 years. This toxic combination needs to be urgently addressed.

  • He confirms that a Truss government would prioritise stimulating growth over redistributing wealth. He says:

We need to be decisive and do things differently. That is what Liz plans. Instead of managing one short-term shock after another, ducking or delaying the difficult reforms needed for lasting economic growth, as prime minister she will take bold action to change things for good.

That means focusing on how we unlock investment and growth, rather than how we tax and spend. It is about growing the size of the UK economy, not burying our heads in a redistributive fight over what is left.

This confirms what Truss herself signalled in her BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg yesterday. When it was put to her that the rich would gain most from her plan to reverse the national insurance increase, Truss insisted her proposal was “fair”. She also said:

To look at everything through the lens of redistribution, I believe is wrong because what I’m about is about growing the economy. And growing the economy benefits everybody.

Kwasi Kwarteng with Liz Truss, when they met in a crowd of MPs at the Commons earlier this summer.
Kwasi Kwarteng with Liz Truss, when they met in a crowd of MPs at the Commons earlier this summer. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, told the Today programme that Liz Truss’s economic policies would increase inflation.

Referring to her argument that a new economic approach is needed because growth has been so weak over the last decade or more, he said:

She’s clearly absolutely right that we’ve had dreadful growth over the last 15 years. But the truth is that simply cutting taxes, cutting national insurance contributions, for example, is not a strategy for growth.

And it is clearly pumping a large amount of money into the economy on top of the £30bn we’ve already had to support energy bills, on top of the presumably many, many tens of billions additional that are going to come [on top of] that, and on top of what’s going to have to be more money for public services.

Now put all of that together and that will lead to not just extremely high borrowing in the short run, but also additional inflationary pressure.

Updated

Leadership contest went on 'too long', says treasurer of 1922 Committee

Many of us felt that the Conservative party leadership contest went on for too long and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a senior figure in the party machinery, told the Today programme this morning that he agreed. Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the backbench 1922 Committee, said there should be a “rethink” of the timetable before the next contest. He explained:

I would shorten the process of members in the country.

There was no reason why it couldn’t have been shortened. We could have had more than one hustings a day.

I think it’s just been too long.

Clifton-Brown also said that, despite being a member of the 1922 Committee’s executive, he did not yet know the result, which is being publicly announced at 12.30pm. He said:

I suspect Sir Graham [Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee) knows, but as always he is completely inscrutable on these matters.

Liz Truss reportedly planning energy bill freeze after her expected election as new Tory leader and next PM

Good morning. Parties hold leadership contests so that candidates can set out their policies and members can choose which they like best. But the Conservative party ballot, which will end today with Liz Truss all but certain to be chosen as the new leader, to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister after an audience with the Queen tomorrow, has seen that process inverted. The cost of energy will pose the biggest crisis for the next PM, but Truss and her rival, Rishi Sunak, only spoke in general terms about how they would handle it and yesterday Truss, in her interview for the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, even suggested it would be improper for her to say what she would do. Sounding like a chancellor before budget day, Truss said:

What I want to reassure people is I will act, if elected as prime minister, within one week. Now, what I can’t do, Laura, on this show, is tell you exactly what that announcement would be … It would be completely wrong.

Truss argued that her reticence was justified because she had not been confirmed as leader yet, and she suggested that she needed a briefing from No 10 before she could take final decisions.

Well, maybe. But perhaps Truss is also nervous about confirming that her first act as PM will be to announce a freeze on energy bills – a policy proposed by Labour and the Lib Dems last month, and also championed by Gordon Brown (who was regularly cited by Truss during the campaign as representing the sort of economic policy she rejected). Truss has not confirmed that she will introduce some sort of energy price freeze. But she did not deny that she was considering this in her BBC interview yesterday, and in the papers this morning there are multiple reports saying that this is what she is planning.

In their splash for the Daily Telegraph, Ben Riley-Smith and Tony Diver say “campaign sources familiar with discussions, and energy company insiders who have been consulted, have said that a freeze of some form is now expected”. They go on:

Scottish Power has proposed a £100 billion plan for a two-year energy bill freeze, financed by loans underwritten by the Treasury. The proposal is backed by other energy firms.

One energy company source said the idea has been “extremely actively explored” by Truss campaign figures and that Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary tipped to become chancellor if Ms Truss wins, appeared “very open” to options for a freeze.

A second industry source confirmed the proposal was being scrutinised by the Truss campaign.

Truss team insiders have told The Telegraph the same. One said: “I’m confident there will be a mechanism introduced that freezes bills.” Another said the idea had been discussed “quite a lot in the last fortnight”.

The specifics of such an energy bills freeze – exactly who would benefit, how long for, at what price level and the degree to which the taxpayer would cover the cost – remains a point of debate, according to sources.

And in the Times Geraldine Scott, Oliver Wright and Henry Zeffman report the same. They say:

Senior Tories lined up for appointments in Truss’s cabinet have been told “in no uncertain terms” not to scorn the idea that energy bills could be frozen.

Industry sources said that a price freeze for consumers was “the only conversation that anyone was having with the government”, including discussions involving Kwasi Kwarteng, who is expected to be Truss’s chancellor.

“The plan is to introduce some kind of artificial price cap for consumers combined with a mechanism for reimbursing suppliers,” one source said. “Plans are reasonably well advanced and involve not just civil servants but also ministers lined up for jobs by Truss.”

The Conservative party will announce the results of the leadership contest at 12.30pm at the QEII Centre in London. The winner will then deliver a short speech, but will not formally become prime minister until after Johnson tenders his resignation to the Queen at Balmoral tomorrow.

My colleague Archie Bland has used his First Edition briefing to explain how the first week, the first 100 days and the first year for Truss may unfold if, as expected, she is the victor.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Updated

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