Sunak effectively rules out serving in Truss’s cabinet, saying ministers need to agree with PM on ‘big things’
Rishi Sunak has declared in effect that he will not serve in Liz Truss’s cabinet if she wins. There has been speculation that she might offer him the post of health secretary. But when Vanessa Feltz asked him if he would take that job if Truss offered it to him, he laughed heartily. He said:
I’m not focused on all that, and I doubt Liz is, to be honest.
In fact, according to Tim Shipman and Harry Yorke’s report in the Sunday Times yesterday, the Truss camp have held at least three meetings already on who will serve in her cabinet.
Sunak went on:
I’m focused on just getting out and about, trying to win this race at the moment. I’m not thinking about jobs for me or for anyone else.
And one thing I have reflected on a bit is, being in the government, in cabinet, over the last couple of years, you really need to agree with the big things, because it’s tough, as I found, when you don’t. And I wouldn’t want to end up in a situation like that again.
Sunak was referring to his disagreements with Boris Johnson on economic policy. But they were relatively minor compared to the chasm between Sunak and Truss on tax cuts. He has rubbished her plans as “fairytale” economics, while she thinks his approach has failed to deliver growth.
In the light of Sunak’s comment, it is now almost impossible to see him accepting any position in a Truss government.
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Afternoon summary
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An energy company boss has urged the Conservative party to wrap up its leadership contest early so that the new prime minister can cancel an energy price increase due to be announced on Friday. (See 10.19am.)
From Stefan Rousseau, chief political photographer at PA Media
Photo du Jour: Labour leader @Keir_Starmer during visits the Juniper House housing development in Walthamstow, east London, to see how families will save money on their energy bills through the installation of heat saving measures. By Stefan Rousseau/PA pic.twitter.com/yuRDTKg10p
— Stefan Rousseau (@StefanRousseau) August 22, 2022
Sturgeon urges UK government to ‘get its head out of sand’ on energy bills crisis
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has called for a “significant intervention” from the UK government to protect people from energy bill increases. Speaking to journalists after a meeting with energy industry leaders in Aberdeen, she said:
What needs to happen is a significant intervention to stop energy bills rising in the way that is currently projected.
What should happen is a cancellation of the next increase in the energy price cap and then work between government and energy companies to determine how that is funded over the long term.
The first responsibility of the UK government right now should be to stop the misery that will otherwise be inflicted on families happening.
Tomorrow Sturgeon is hosting a meeting with energy companies to discuss what they can do to protect customers and she said the Scottish government was considering all its options. But the UK government had to “get its head out of the sand”, she said:
The Scottish government is also working through an emergency budget review and assessment of other levers at our disposal to try to make sure we are doing everything possible.
But the scale of this, and the reality in terms of where the levers of power lie and where the access to resources lie, means that we need to see the UK government really get its head out of the sand and start to take real action here.
Conservative voters have “sellers’ remorse” over the ousting of Boris Johnson and would prefer him as prime minister over the two rivals vying to be his successor, the Times reports today. In his story, which is based on focus group research and polling, Oliver Wright says:
Interviews with floating voters in marginal constituencies found little enthusiasm for either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak becoming the next Conservative leader.
This was backed up by polling that found 49% of Tory supporters thought Johnson should remain prime minister – more than the combined support for both Truss and Sunak …
The Times conducted focus groups, organised by the policy research firm Public First, in three areas of the country that formed the bedrock of Johnson’s 2019 victory. The paper also commissioned YouGov to do a nationwide survey of voters to gauge attitudes towards the leadership race and the two contenders to be Britain’s next prime minister.
Both found little enthusiasm for either Truss or Sunak and a widespread belief that the Tories had badly damaged the reputation of the party by ousting Johnson before waging a bitter battle to succeed him.
Forty per cent of voters who chose the Tories in 2019 said the contest had made them think worse of the party while under a quarter were convinced of the candidates’ plans to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Johnson to focus on Ukraine and cost of living crisis in final two weeks in office, No 10 says
Boris Johnson will spend some of his final two weeks in office working from Chequers, his country residence, No 10 has revealed. Johnson has already moved out of the residence in Downing Street and is living at Chequers, but he will be working from there too for some of the time (instead of commuting every day into London), a No 10 spokesperson said at the lobby briefing. It was the only briefing scheduled this week, and here are the main points.
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Johnson will spend his final fortnight in office restating support for Ukraine and highlighting measures to address the cost of living crisis, the spokesperson said. Asked where he would be working, the spokesperson said from Downing Street and from Chequers – but would not say how much time he would spend in each place.
Households, businesses and industry can be confident they will get the electricity and gas that they need over the winter. That’s because we have one of the most reliable and diverse energy systems in the world.
The spokesperson also indicated that the government is not telling people to cut down on their energy use. “These decisions, in terms of energy consumption, remain decisions for individuals,” she said.
Under this government those caught with a knife are more likely to be sent to jail, and for longer, than they were a decade ago.
She also said the government was committed to getting more police officers on the street, and to extending the use of stop and search against people carrying knives.
We have been clear that the failure of water companies to adequately reduce sewage discharges is completely unacceptable. They have a duty to put their customers before shareholders and we would expect them to take urgent action on this issue or face fines.
Dame Vera Baird, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, told Radio 4’s World at One that the indefinite strike action planned by criminal barristers could lead to more criminals being allowed to walk the streets. She said the strike would lead to cases being dropped, and that even where trials were just delayed for longer, more defendants may be released on bail. She explained:
The underfunding of the courts, which has been systemic since long before the pandemic, is already leading to a lot of people thinking that their lives can’t remain on hold any longer and they are dropping out. That is inevitably going to happen more.
Consider too the other side – obviously not everybody who is charged with a case is a guilty person, but the CPS would say they convict about 60% or 70%. That means that defendants who may be guilty are still going to walk the streets, people can’t be kept in custody however grave their behaviour is alleged to be, for a long time.
The cost to society of having no resolution of serious cases is immense compared with what the public accounts committee has called ‘meagre money’ to resolve this issue. It really has to be confronted now.
In the final minutes of his Radio 2 interview, Rishi Sunak said innovation would solve the climate crisis. And he said he knew how to enable that, partly because of his time in California.
Vanesssa Feltz ended by asking him some questions that she said might reveal what sort of person he was.
Q: What was the best gig you have been to?
Sunak said the Live 8 concert in 2005. He was lucky enough to get a ticket, he said.
Q: And why do you want to be PM?
Sunak said he loved the country “to bits” because of the opportunities it gave his family.
UPDATE: Sunak said Live 8 was his best gig, not Live Aid. I’ve corrected that now. Sorry for the error.
Sunak effectively rules out serving in Truss’s cabinet, saying ministers need to agree with PM on ‘big things’
Rishi Sunak has declared in effect that he will not serve in Liz Truss’s cabinet if she wins. There has been speculation that she might offer him the post of health secretary. But when Vanessa Feltz asked him if he would take that job if Truss offered it to him, he laughed heartily. He said:
I’m not focused on all that, and I doubt Liz is, to be honest.
In fact, according to Tim Shipman and Harry Yorke’s report in the Sunday Times yesterday, the Truss camp have held at least three meetings already on who will serve in her cabinet.
Sunak went on:
I’m focused on just getting out and about, trying to win this race at the moment. I’m not thinking about jobs for me or for anyone else.
And one thing I have reflected on a bit is, being in the government, in cabinet, over the last couple of years, you really need to agree with the big things, because it’s tough, as I found, when you don’t. And I wouldn’t want to end up in a situation like that again.
Sunak was referring to his disagreements with Boris Johnson on economic policy. But they were relatively minor compared to the chasm between Sunak and Truss on tax cuts. He has rubbished her plans as “fairytale” economics, while she thinks his approach has failed to deliver growth.
In the light of Sunak’s comment, it is now almost impossible to see him accepting any position in a Truss government.
Feltz plays Blinding Lights by The Weeknd. Sunak chose it. He says it was a soundtrack he played a lot during the pandemic.
Q: People are already cutting their energy use, or going without food to save money. What can you say to people like that? And can you understand what they are going through?
Sunak accepts that is not his situation. He says he was not “born this way” (ie: wealthy). He worked and reached this point, he says.
But he says people probably first became aware of him during the pandemic. He was not at risk of losing his job. But he came up with a plan to get the country through this. There was no textbook for that. He says he is “broadly proud” of what he did. People still appreciate what he did.
He claims Liz Truss has ruled out direct support for people.
(In fact, although Truss did at one point rule out “handouts”, now she is making it clear that she would implement an energy support package that is likely to involve payments for people who need support with bills.)
Sunak says Liz Truss’s economic plans would make the country’s economic situation worse.
Her tax cuts would not help poor people and pensioners, he claims. She wants to have her cake and eat it.
Q: But Boris Johnson wanted to have his cake and eat it too, and that worked for him. You say you would rather be honest and lose than not be honest and win. That is not savvy, is it?
Sunak says he is being honest. If people think honesty is important, then they will back him, he says.
He says he will not change what he is saying to try to win.
Asked about the revelations about his wife being a non-dom, Sunak says he learned from the experience. He claims the experience has made him better able to lead the country.
Q: Didn’t you think how the decision to claim non-dom status would look when it became public?
Sunak says he accepts that is an issue. But generally spouses are not dragged into the political sphere, he says. He says broadly that is a good thing. Generally we don’t know much about ministers’ husbands and wives.
He accepts that, in very senior jobs, the situation is different.
Having learned from the experience, he is better qualified to be PM, he claims.
Q: What has made people misjudge you? If you can identify that, you can fix it.
Sunak says he came top of the ballot of MPs at every stage.
And people in the country feel he is someone who has delivered, he says.
Some Tories are upset that he resigned, he says. “That’s understandable, that’s fair enough.”
He says he was proud to serve with Boris Johnson. But he and Johnson were “on a different page” on the economy. On top of that, “there was an ethical issue … which I found hard to defend”.
Rishi Sunak interviewed on Radio 2
Rishi Sunak, the Tory leadership contender and former chancellor, is being interviewed by Vanessa Feltz, who is presenting the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2. She says Liz Truss has also been invited on for an interview but has declined.
Feltz puts it to Sunak that his leadership campaign is going badly.
Sunak says he is getting a good reception everywhere. People appreciate what he did during the pandemic, he says.
.@RishiSunak tells @BBCRadio2 on @trussliz‘s polling lead: “If i actually just spent all my time looking at the polls or reading the newspapers, I probably wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning.”
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) August 22, 2022