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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Matthew Weaver

Gove and Leadsom join crowded Tory leadership race – as it happened

The Conservative leadership contenders: Andrea Leadsom, Rory Stewart, Esther McVey, Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock have declared their intention to succeed Theresa May.
The Conservative leadership contenders: Andrea Leadsom, Rory Stewart, Esther McVey, Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock have declared their intention to succeed Theresa May. Photograph: REX/PA/EPA/Getty

That’s it for today. Attention now switches to the European parliamentary elections.

You can follow the latest on the Tory leadership race here.

Updated

The Independent’s commentator John Rentoul points out that at least 118 Tory MPs, or 37% of the parliamentary party, have already declared their voting intentions, according to lists compiled by Guido Fawkes and Conservative Home.

If the contest finished now Johnson would not make the final two candidates to be put to the wider membership.

But it’s early days and this Matt cartoon reminds us that Tory MPs are not a reliable bunch when it comes to leadership voting intentions.

One more for Boris Johnson? The Conservative MP, Sheryll Murray, says Johnson will make an excellent PM, but will she be voting for him?

The recriminations in the Labour party about the European election campaign are getting increasingly bitter even before the results are known.

According to ITV’s political editor Robert Peston, Labour MEP, John Howarth, said: “Had Labour’s ‘high command’ set out to lose an election they could not have gone about it in a more convincing way”.

Even before the results of the European elections are in

Even before the results of the European elections are in

Jeremy Hunt is winning the race for the number of MPs willing to express backing for a single candidate, according to Conservative Home.

It reckons 27 Tory MPs have come out in favour of the foreign secretary, with his predecessor Boris Johnson second on 20 MPs.

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, is hot on Johnson’s heals with the backing of 19 MPs. Raab is currently in fourth on 17 and Javid fifth with 10 MPs. No MPs have yet publicly backed Stewart, according to Conservative Home.

An earlier tally by the Guido Fawkes site had Gove and Raab neck and neck on 18 each, with Johnson third on 15.

The bookies Betway say the odds on favourite Johnson have lengthened slightly from evens to 13-8.

Betway’s Alan Alger said: “The Tory leadership race is taking shape, albeit with no fewer than eight candidates so far, and Michael Gove is the latest to throw his hat into the ring.

“Gove, previously at double-figure odds up until Sunday morning, is now a clear third in the betting at 5-1, behind Dominic Raab, 11-4, and 13-8 favourite Boris Johnson. Johnson has been eased out from evens in the wake of reports that he could attempt to push through a no deal Brexit.”

The odds on Stewart have shortened from 14-1 to 11-1 despite the lack of MPs willing to express backing for the international development secretary.

Rory Stewart is keeping up the attacks on the hard-Brexiters over no deal.

The Independent focuses on the battle between the hard-Brexit front runners Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson.

It counted that in his Marr interview, Raab said three times that he was “details-oriented man” and stressed his background as a lawyer. As the Indy notes this was “less-than subtle jab at his rival Boris Johnson”.

Summary

Here’s how things currently stand:

Len McCluskey, the leader of the powerful Unite union, appears to be in no mood to accept Tom Watson’s argument about the need for Labour to back a second referendum.

Michael Gove is due to be set out his case to become Tory leader in an interview at 7pm for Nick Robinson’s podcast Political Thinking.

In the meantime here are the remarks he made to PA outside his home.

And here’s the Guardian’s story on Gove’s bid.

Stewart has added this cryptic tweet to his 5 Live interview:

Presumably he means swallowing a compromise on Brexit now, however divisive, rather than falling for the unrealistic promising of his opponents.

The international development secretary, Rory Stewart, has joined Hammond and Greening, in not ruling out voting no confidence in a government that pursues a no-deal Brexit.

On Saturday Stewart, said he could not serve under Boris Johnson, after the former foreign secretary said he would take the UK out of the EU in October with or without a deal.

On Sunday Stewart was asked on Radio 5 Live whether he would back a no confidence motion to avoid no deal. He said: “I can’t understand what that scenario would be. I can’t understand how Boris, or anybody, thinks they are going to get a no deal through parliament. There simply aren’t the votes for that. I certainly would vote against a no-deal in Parliament.”

Stewart added: “I want to say to Boris: ‘let’s be practical, let’s be realistic, let’s be truthful.’ That slogan of no-deal is closing opportunities not opening them.”

Asked if Johnson had lied to him about opposing a no-deal Brexit, Stewart said: “Boris is an incredibly charming person, but it is sometimes quite difficult to be certain what’s going on. I called him out and said I was against him because he seemed to advocating for something that I thought would damage us. And he called me and said ‘no, no, no I’m not doing that’, and it seems I think he is doing that.”

He added: “There isn’t a majority in parliament for a no-deal Brexit. And what parliament would do in that situation is request an extension from the EU. But it doesn’t need to that, we can get Brexit done a long time before that if we can begin to explain to the public, to the Tory party members, that no-deal isn’t going to happen, that no-deal is a route to a general election.”

Stewart said the key to securing a deal that all sides of the Commons would accept was negotiation and communication.

He said: “I’m talking about holding the vast majority of my party, and reaching out to moderate Labour MPs [and] talking to the trade unions. We are about a quarter of an inch apart within the House of Commons of getting a deal that people can sign up to and get Brexit done. I believe that if you were to elect me as prime minister I would be able to deliver that deal by October and the way I would do it is by communicating.”

Stewart also pitched his case for centre ground Conservatism.

I would like to create an entire new department, secretary of state for the union, whose job would be to take the European structural funds and use them to regenerate the United Kingdom.

All of us [candidates] our playing for 150/200 MPs who have not yet declared for anyone. What I think they want to hear is that they have a candidate who can reunite the United Kingdom, reunite young people with old people, by talking about issues that matter to people: health, education, climate and the environment. And basically make us into the radical party of the centre ground, not try to out Farage Farage, or compete with Corbyn.

Here’s video of Raab’s pitch for the Tory leadership on Marr show.

Allen says Change UK and LibDems could merge

Change UK spokesman Chuka Umunna and party leader Heidi Allen
Change UK spokesman Chuka Umunna and party leader Heidi Allen Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/Athena Pictures

Change UK leader, Heidi Allen, said her party could form a single centrist party with the Liberal Democrats, PA reports.

On Saturday Change UK MP and spokesman Chuka Umunna said it should form a pact not to stand against LibDems in the next general election.

Allen, who left the Conservatives to join other breakaway Tory and Labour MPs, said she would go “one step further” than her party spokesman.

“I would like us to be in the same vehicle,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Asked if she meant the same party, Allen replied: “Yeah, probably, I don’t know. This partisan thing completely passes me by and when I look across Europe, they seem to do pretty well with coalitions.

“I don’t know what the format will be, but will we be singing from the same hymn sheet? I would hope as a collective, let’s call us a collective, somewhere in the middle with other like-minded colleagues. “I don’t think it’s sensible to be too prescriptive at the moment.”

Allen said to be a “real insurgent force”, the alliance needs to be “brand new” rather than a larger Liberal Democrat Party.

Last week, she admitted she had threatened to quit in an internal row over tactical voting to maximise the pro-Remain challenge to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

But on Sunday she indicated all MPs within the party are moving towards a closer relationship with the Liberal Democrats.

“I think we are sensible enough to know we can’t do it on our own,” she said.
“Are we at different stages on the continuum? Of course we are, because everybody’s different. “But do we all agree that the long goal is something centrist together? Then, yes, we are all on that same path.”

Allen said she thinks more Tory MPs could desert the party if Boris Johnson becomes prime minster, while Labour MPs may also defect if Jeremy Corbyn continues to refuse to commit to a second referendum.

Updated

Leadsom enters race

Andrea Leadsom has confirmed she’ll be standing too and like Raab, Johnson and McVey, is prepared to leave the EU without a deal.

Speaking to Sky News, Leadsom who resigned as leader of the Commons on Wednesday, said:

“I can confirm I will be standing for the leadership of my party and as the next prime minister. I do believe I am the decisive and compassionate leader who can reunite our great country.”

“In order to succeed in a negotiation you have to be prepared to leave without a deal, but I have a three point plan for Brexit, for how we get out of the European Union. I’m very optimistic about it. My role as leader of the Commons means that I have had a very good insight into what needs to be done and I look forward to setting that out once the campaign starts.”

Updated

Summary

Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far today:

Updated

Hammond’s comments suggests this leadership race is going to be very feisty if not hostile. And the key battleground in this blue-on-blue war is the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Here’s some reaction:

Updated

In his Marr interview Hammond seemed determined to derail candidates, including Raab, Johnson and McVey, who have advocated leaving the EU without a deal.

He said:

I hear a lot of my colleagues wanting to do a deal with the EU, but actually many of them only want to do a deal that is entirely on their terms. They are not really proposing to negotiate with the EU, they are simply proposing to go to Brussels once again and tell the EU once again what it is they don’t like about the withdrawal agreement.

The EU will not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement. I’m quite clear about that.

There is also a contradiction between saying that we are going to leave on 31 October and we should try to renegotiate yet again with the European Commission. There isn’t going to be time.

People who say ‘I’m going to go and have one last go at negotiating the backstop away and then we’ll have to leave on no-deal terms’, in fact the negotiation is a fig leaf for what is actually policy of leaving on no-deal terms. That policy has a major flaw in it, a part from the fact that it would have serious implications for our country, that is that parliament has voted very clearly to oppose a no-deal exit.

Hammond repeatedly ducked Marr’s questions about whether he would back a no confidence motion against a leader who pursued no-deal. But he said: “This is a parliamentary democracy. A prime minister who ignores parliament cannot expect to survive very long.”

He warned that daring Parliament to except a no-deal Brextit s a “dangerous strategy”.

And the chancellor repeated the outgoing prime minister’s plea for compromise on Brexit.

Theresa May standing down hasn’t changed anything. I would urge all of my colleagues who are standing in this contest to embrace the concept of compromise. The only way forward on Brexit is compromise. Compromise in parliament, compromise in the country.

Hammond also had barbed comments about the tax cuts being proposed by Raab and Jeremy Hunt.

He said:

“We have some fiscal headroom which at the moment we need to retain because of the possibility of a no-deal exit which will have very significant economic and fiscal impact on the country.

“I would strongly urge my colleagues to recognise that fiscal responsibility is a core Conservative brand and spraying spending and tax cutting commitments around is playing fast and loose with the value of that brand.”

Here are the key points and passages from Raab’s interview with Marr.

Raab wants to renegotiate the withdrawal bill with a threat of walking out without a deal:

I would fight for a fairer deal in Brussels with negotiation to change the backstop arrangements and if not I would be clear we would leave on WTO terms in October.

There is a clearly a reasonable ask that we can make, one that had the approval of the House of Commons around the so-called Brady amendment, in particular making sure we have to an exit from the backstop. We need to be absolutely resolute in a way that weren’t last time.

One of the reasons [that the EU says they won’t budge on the withdrawal agreement] is that we were not resolute enough and we took no-deal off the table. I don’t want a WTO Brexit but unless you are willing to keep our promises as politicians we put ourselves in a much weaker position in terms of getting a deal, because if you are not willing to walk away from the negotiation it doesn’t focus the mind of the other side.

Raab called for a united cabinet:

My experience was of being undermined by some others in government so we would need to have a very well organised number 10 operation and a united cabinet.

I resigned on principle because I tried very hard to fight for the deal that I’m still fighting for now. And when my advice wasn’t taken by the prime minister or indeed by the cabinet. I did the honourable thing.

On voting for Theresa May’s withdrawal bill on the third time of asking, Raab said:

I voted to avoid the European elections and any further extension. I only voted only to avoid an extension which was bad idea and I think I have been proved right about that.

Raab ruled out an extension to article 50:

There is no case for a further extension. We have got to bring some finality to this. I will not asks for an extension. Of course if parliament legislates then we would be in a difficult position, but as the Institute for Government points out it would be very difficult for parliament to legislate against no deal or in favour an extension unless resolute prime minister is willing to acquiesce in that. And I would not.

Raab did not rule out working with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party:

“I always listen to all sides of this debate, from Nigel Farage to others.”

Asked if as leader he would enter an electoral pledge with Farage he said:

“That’s not what I would be aiming for. My aim is not to cosy up with other parties, my aim is to keep Conservative promises, present an optimistic, aspirational vision of the future, then go and beat Jeremy Corbyn.”

Raab insisted his proposed tax cuts could be paid for:

I’ve talked about raising the National Insurance threshold and I’ve talked about taking a penny off the basic rate of income tax. Overtime my ambition would be to get the basic rate down from 20p to 15p.

Taking penny off and [raising] the National Insurance threshold would come to around £15bn. We have got £26bn worth of headroom within our deficit target. I would cut down the number of Whitehall departments, cut out the bureaucracy. I would have a special commission looking at public sector procurement particularly in the NHS and the MoD. And then I would recycle roughly half of that into front line services and half into the tax cuts.

Hammond warns against no-deal Brexit

Chancellor Philip Hammond has refused to rule out backing a no confidence vote in the government if the new leader went for a no-deal Brexit.

Speaking to the Marr programme he said he had never voted against the Conservative whip, and did not want to start now.

But he added: “A prime minister has to command the confidence of the House of Commons. How will they govern if they have defied parliament on such an important issue?”

And he said if there was a no confidence vote on the issue of no-deal he said: “It would challenge not just me but very many of my colleagues”

Raab said if elected as leader he would listen to the Brexit party leader Nigel Farage.

He refused to rule out an electoral pact with the Brexit Party, but said it was not what he was aiming for.

Updated

Raab backs 'WTO Brexit'

Former Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, has confirmed he is running and he is prepared to leave the EU on WTO rules.

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, he said he wanted to renegotiate the backstop or leave without a deal in October. Marr pointed out that he was not liked in Brussels. Raab said that showed he was doing a good job.

He also said he would not ask for an extension beyond 31 October. He said: “There’s no case for a further extension in October. I will not ask for one”.

Updated

McDonnell expects 'good kicking' in Euro elections

Labour is braced for a “good kicking” in the European Parliament elections, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said, PA reports.

His comments come after deputy Labour leader Tom Watson said the party must “find some backbone” and fully commit to a second referendum on Brexit to have any chance of winning the next general election.

McDonnell said he understood Mr Watson’s frustration, but that the party had been right to “tread a really difficult road” of trying to bring Leave and Remain supporters back together.

The shadow chancellor said Labour would pay an electoral price for that stance when European Parliament results begin to be announced late on Sunday.

McDonnell told Sky News: “I think we most probably will get a good kicking in the election results tonight. We’ll see. We are braced for that.”

He added:

“But, you know, we had to do the responsible thing.

“It was a hard road to follow. But someone had to be there and say ‘Can we bring the country back together again?’ “And it would have been easy to go to one side, go to the Remain side and ignored all those people who voted Leave - that’s not the nature of our party.

“We are the party that is trying to bring people back together again.

“That’s been difficult electorally for us in these elections, of course it has.

“But now we have got to move on.”

Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy Hunt Photograph: David Mirzoeff/PA

The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has refused to say whether he would be prepared to serve in a Boris Johnson government.

Returning from a run to his official residence in central London on Sunday morning, Hunt would not answer questions about his predecessor, after Johnson had said that UK should leave the EU on 31 October deal or no deal.

Asked if he was running to get fit for the Tory leadership race, Hunt said: “I’m already fit.”

Damian Green, the former de facto deputy prime minister is backing Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Speaking to Sky News, Green said: “I think the next leader should be Matt Hancock. “I do think we need a fresh start.”

Former education secretary, Justine Greening, has suggested she would be prepared to back a vote of no confidence in the government if the new leader goes for a no-deal Brexit.

Greening, confirmed that she will not be standing the contest and refused to say who she will back.

Asked by Sky’s Sophy Ridge about the prospect of the new leader taking the UK out of the EU without a deal, Greening said: “Parliament will stop government doing that. Parliament has voted against no-deal several times. It is clear that communities for the most part do not want to leave the European Union with no deal.”

Asked if she was prepared to bring down the government to stop a no deal, Greening said:

“The danger is that a government with an unviable strategy on Brexit is destabilising itself. The choice is going to be quite simple ... either we end up with a general election which Jeremy Corbyn would likely win. I don’t think he’ll win it with a majority. He’s likely to have a coalition partner who is likely to demand some kind of a second referendum. Or we can chose to break the Brexit deadlock through giving people a vote. We are going to have to bite the bullet.”

Esther McVey has said there will be no further extensions and the UK will leave the EU on 31 October 31, with or without a deal.

The former work and pensions secretary told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the UK must start preparing for a no-deal exit straight away. She said:

“October 31 is the key date and we are coming out then, and if that means without a deal then that’s what it means.

“We won’t be asking for any more extensions.

“If Europe wants to come back to us, the door is open if they want a better deal.

“Time is limited, we have to make sure we are ready to leave.”

McVey also said she would use the growth in the international aid budget to boost school and police funding.

She said the aid budget has grown from £8bn to £14bn and while that would remain high under her leadership, she would use the growth to fund “radical changes”.

She told the programme she would invest an extra £4bn for schools and also said there needs to be an extra £3bn for policing.

She added: “Obviously we have to live within our means, that will come from the extra amount that has gone into foreign aid.

“We are going to leave it at high levels, however we have got to look after people at home, particularly safety on the streets, particularly in schools and transport and the NHS.

“That’s the vision we have got to set out and unite the country and our party.”

Gove confirms he is running

Michael Gove
Michael Gove Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Michael Gove has confirmed he will formally enter the Conservative leadership race, PA reports.

Speaking from his London home, the prominent Brexiteer said he will join an already crowded field after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and ex-Cabinet ministers Dominic Raab and Andrea Leadsom threw their hats into the ring.

He said: “I can confirm that I will be putting my name forward to be prime minister of this country. “I believe that I’m ready to unite the Conservative and Unionist Party, ready to deliver Brexit, and ready to lead this great country.”

Gove’s intervention is likely to cause concern to current front-runner Boris Johnson.
A spectacular fall out between the two former allies in the 2016 leadership contest helped destroy both men’s chances of the top job.

Gove is posing as a self-styled “unity candidate”.

With the Tory leadership contest now in full swing, the Sunday papers are awash with the possibilities, with early pitches from the Raab and Gove camps, as well as an interview with Nigel Farage.

The Sunday Times focuses on the prospect of a leadership rematch between Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, using the visual aide of Gove stroking a dog in presumed anticipation of setting it upon his rival. The headline is “Get Boris! Gove challenges his rival again.”

The environment secretary says he has a better track record and is more capable of delivering Brexit, the newspaper reports. “His entry into the race will revive memories of the psychodrama of 2016 when he was Johnson’s campaign chairman,” it says.

Welcome to a special Sunday edition of Politics Live to cover the first round of Sunday interviews in the Tory leadership contest.

There is already a crowded a field in the race to succeed Theresa May and it’s getting bigger. Michael Gove, the environment secretary, is expected to enter the contest to challenge the front runner Boris Johnson, his former Vote Leave ally who he betrayed in the last contest.

The issue of whether the UK leaves the EU with no deal is emerging as the key issue in the campaign.

One of the candidates, international development secretary, Rory Stewart, is so opposed to the idea that he has said he would not serve in a government led by Johnson after the said the former foreign secretary said the UK must leave on the 31 October with or without a deal.

Two other candidates who have said they would be prepared to leave without a deal are due to present their leadership pitches in TV interviews today. Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary, is due to appear on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show. And Esther McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, is due on Sky’s Sophy Ridge programme.

Here’s taster:

Later, Rory Stewart is due to appear on the BBC Radio 5 live’s Pienaar’s Politics.

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