Dorries resigns as an MP, with a parting shot at the PM…
“Nadine Dorries has resigned from the Commons, more than two months after pledging to go “with immediate effect”. She launched a blistering attack on Rishi Sunak in her resignation statement, telling the prime minister “history will not judge you kindly”. The Mid Bedfordshire MP first announced her intention to quit on 9 June. She accused Mr Sunak of abandoning “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and said the country was now run by a “zombie Parliament”. Ms Dorries, whose salary as an MP is £86,584, had come under increasing pressure to act on her promise to resign as she had not spoken in the Commons since June 2022.” – BBC
- She accuses Sunak of endangering her safety – Sunday Telegraph
- Prime Minister says he is “fizzing with ideas” – Interview with Rishi Sunak, Sunday Express
- Labour candidate in by-election triggered by Dorries’ resignation takes unpaid leave from Bank of England job amid row over role in Greenpeace stunt – Mail on Sunday
…her letter claims “the Government is adrift”
“Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie Parliament where nothing meaningful has happened. What exactly has been done or have you achieved? You hold the office of Prime Minister unelected, without a single vote, not even from your own MPs. You have no mandate from the people and the Government is adrift. You have squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what?…It is a fact that there is no affection for Keir Starmer out on the doorstep. He does not have the winning X factor qualities of a Thatcher, a Blair, or a Boris Johnson, and sadly, Prime Minister, neither do you.” – Nadine Dorries’ resignation letter, The Mail on Sunday
- Over half of Tory Leave voters think Sunak failing on migration – Sunday Telegraph
>Yesterday: Parliament: “What exactly has been done or have you achieved?” Dorries resigns. Her letter to Sunak in full.
Chalk pledges sex attack murderers will face whole life sentences
“Murderers who carry out sexually motivated attacks will automatically face a whole life sentence under proposals to be announced by Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, today. Alex Chalk KC, the lord chancellor and justice secretary, said: “A whole life order will now be the expectation for murderers where the killing involves sexual or sadistic conduct. This important law change will ensure that the worst of the worst can now expect to spend the rest of their lives in prison.” The change, which is expected to be introduced in a crime and justice bill in the King’s Speech this autumn, would have stopped the killers of Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa from being released from prison.” – Sunday Times
India offers deal on Scotch and cars if Britain cuts worker tax
“India is prepared to cut tariffs on Scotch whisky and British cars and parts by at least a third, but wants Rishi Sunak to slash its workers’ tax to seal a post-Brexit trade deal. Indian companies and workers on short-term visas based in the UK pay £500 million a year in national insurance — yet will not collect a British pension and pay twice as they keep up payments at home too.” – Sunday Times
- Labour has called for more financial transparency after “it was revealed the prime minister’s wife’s shares could benefit from the agreement” – The Observer
- India has landed on the moon and is full of billionaires. Why do we send the nation aid? – Karren Brady, The Sun on Sunday
Harper warns Khan against further charges on motorists
“Sadiq Khan’s plans for pay-per-mile charging for motorists in a future Ulez-style scheme could be scuppered under a new law to let councils opt out. Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, has written to Sir Keir Starmer warning that the Government will back an amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill that would ensure that councillors could block “a Labour plan to use air pollution to attempt to justify” charges on drivers. The move comes as the Labour Mayor of London, declared Tuesday a “landmark day” when the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) expands across the capital.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Secret Labour “plan to charge drivers by the mile” – Mail on Sunday
- Labour deny having such a plan – Sunday Express
- I’ll be on the right side of history over Ulez – Interview with Sadiq Khan, Sunday Times
- The revolt against Ulez: meet the people fighting back – Sunday Times
Party Conference “will see pressure for tax cuts”
“Rishi Sunak is facing an ambush from MPs at the Tory conference over his failure to promise pre-election tax cuts. A group is planning to seize on last week’s figures showing a drop in Government borrowing of £11billion by calling for an easing of the tax burden for families and businesses, which stands at a 70-year high…Tory MP Danny Kruger, who is a leading tax hawk, told The Mail on Sunday that there was ‘no time to lose to show why voters should stick with the Conservatives and demonstrate how we are the only party with the true interests of the nation at heart’…Mr Kruger, a member of the Commons Treasury Committee, explained: ‘Only last week, we learnt that the public borrowing requirement for the first four months of this year was no less than £11billion less than predicted by the ever-unreliable Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).” – Mail on Sunday
Afghans “desperate to escape to UK”, says Mercer
“Afghans are resorting to desperate measures to try and escape to the UK, a minister has revealed. Johnny Mercer said he still receives calls for help ahead of the two year anniversary of the west’s withdrawal from Afghanistan….Harrowing reports have emerged from the country including parents selling their children and organs to feed starving families. Mr Mercer admitted some people who helped the British had been left behind after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. He said he wanted to see a “clear and professional pathway” to get those people out and into settled accommodation in the UK.” – The Sun on Sunday
Reeves pledges there will be no Wealth Tax under a Labour Government
“Rachel Reeves has ruled out any version of a wealth tax if Labour forms the next government, declaring that additional taxation will not lead to prosperity. In an interview with The Telegraph, the shadow chancellor launches a bold bid for support from businesses and wealthier households, saying she will not introduce a levy to target wealth or expensive properties, and will not increase capital gains tax or the top rate of income tax. Instead, she says, she will do “whatever it takes” to attract private investment to Britain.” – Sunday Telegraph
- “We’ll loosen planning law to take on Macron and Biden in green jobs race” – Interview with Rachel Reeves, Sunday Telegraph
- Starmer’s balancing act and why he prays it’s a jailhouse and not the White House that Trump ends up in – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday
- Tories can’t let Labour outflank them on tax – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
May criticises Bercow for undermining her Brexit deal
“The closest she gets to score-settling is an attack on John Bercow, the former Speaker (and Remain supporter), whom she accuses of carrying out the biggest abuse of power she witnessed during the Brexit impasse over Northern Ireland: “We got to a point where the DUP were being positive. We were actually at the point of them being willing to say they would support the deal. The normal processes went on in terms of going to the Speaker to talk about the motion, and he wouldn’t let us put the motion down. So that meant we couldn’t have the debate, we couldn’t have the vote, and by the time we did the DUP had changed [their mind]. And so there was a point we could have had a vote to do Brexit on the basis of the deal. He took a decision that meant that didn’t go ahead.” – Interview with Theresa May, Sunday Times
Lawson: The hypocrisy of China’s rhetoric attacking “imperialism”
“A Washington Post report last week from Fiji set out how that small nation is now recoiling from arrangements that appear to have given China’s security forces almost unchecked power in dealing with Chinese people in the region deemed undesirable by Beijing. A Fijian police officer told the paper how 77 “suspects”, many of them young women, were removed from the country by Chinese security officials…Last year, Beijing tried to push through a pact with ten Pacific Island nations that would have given it similar powers, but it fell through after David Panuelo, then the president of the Federated States of Micronesia, wrote to his fellow leaders in the region saying the agreement was “a smokescreen” for China taking “control.” – Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times
Hannan: Love of Putin is the result of anti-western wokery
“Asked who was responsible for the war, 36 per cent of Germans blamed the US, 15 per cent Nato and 9 per cent Ukraine; only 29 per cent blamed Putin or Russia. In France, 46 per cent blamed the Americans, 36 per cent Nato, 19 per cent Ukraine, and 40 per cent Putin. The trouble with performative wokery is that other countries are listening. Blaming Britain and America for all the world’s ills might be intended as a way to signal high-status views, but it has consequences. If the Anglosphere is systematically portrayed as wicked, rather than as the last-ditch defender of the rule of law, personal freedom and representative government, then some people will be drawn to other systems. Sure, they’ll miss the ascendancy of Western liberalism when it has gone; but that will be scant consolation.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
- Ukraine offensive to speed up as forces break through Russia’s strongest line of defence – Sunday Telegraph
Other political news
- Weed-choked pavements anger residents as ‘rewilding’ divides UK towns and cities – The Observer
- Home Office’s ex-asylum boss takes up post at Amnesty International – Sunday Telegraph
- Families whose relatives died from Covid in care homes are suing the Government – The Sun on Sunday
- Ex-schools tsar blames Tories for north-south exam divide – The Observer
- Long-term sickness leads to soaring number of women off work – The Sun on Sunday
- Do not heat your homes in the evenings, net zero quango tells public – Sunday Telegraph
- Homeowners left out of pocket after two-year delays at UK Land Registry – The Observer
News in brief
- Dorries is vindicating Sunak’s refusal to ennoble her – Fraser Nelson, The Spectator
- AfD voters are rebelling against a failing economy – Interview with Wolfgang Münchau, Unherd
- From shares to land, there’s plenty that could be sold off to reduce the size of the state – Harry Phibbs, CapX
- Pubs should be allowed to stay open longer – Elijah Granet, The Critic
- Ukrainians living in the UK are at risk of becoming homeless without more support – Olivia Blake MP, The House
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