Newslinks for Sunday 7th July 2024 | Conservative Home

Blair urges Starmer to curb immigration

“Sir Tony Blair has urged the new prime minister to come up with a plan for controlling immigration to turn the tide on populism, ­warning: “If we don’t have rules, we get prejudices.” The former Labour leader, who led the party to its biggest victory, offers his advice to Sir Keir Starmer, including on the challenges he faces from Nigel Farage, in an article for The Sunday Times. Offering a three-pronged solution to the threat posed by Reform, which got 4.1 million votes in the election and won five seats, Blair says that the new government’s focus should be on illegal migration, law and order and avoiding “any vulnerability on wokeism”. – Sunday Times

• My advice to Keir Starmer – Tony Blair, Sunday Times
• Now is not the time for triumphalism. The obstacles ahead are massive – David Blunkett, Mail on Sunday
• Starmer tells his cabinet: now it’s time to deliver on our promises – The Observer
• Two leading figures from Blair and Brown made Ministers – Sunday Telegraph
• David Miliband poised for shock return as ambassador to US, say insiders – The Sun on Sunday
• Slow and steady won Keir Starmer his throne. Now he needs a vision – Jason Cowley, Sunday Times
• ‘What a hell of a victory!’ Biden congratulates Starmer – Mail on Sunday
• Don’t hope for too much from the chilly commissars who’ll control Starmergrad – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
• People will quickly recognise Starmer as a vacillating bloviator – Andrew Roberts, Mail on Sunday
• Can Starmer succeed where more youthful Labour PMs have failed? – Anthony Seldon, Sunday Times
• PM gave a confident, analytical performance, determined to be across every detail – Leader, The Sun on Sunday

Milburn “to be called in to help drive through NHS reform”

“Labour is set to bring back Sir Tony Blair’s health secretary Alan Milburn to help reform the NHS, in a sign that the private sector and consumer choice will be at the heart of their plans. It comes after the Prime Minister said in his first press conference that the NHS was “broken”. Mr Milburn’s exact role is yet to be decided, and talks are still ongoing, but it is understood that he has already been advising the Health Secretary Wes Streeting and his team in recent weeks to ensure they can “hit the ground running” upon entering government.” – Sunday Telegraph

• Labour’s work to bring down the NHS waiting list starts Monday. It’s a sprawling challenge – Sunday Times
• Wes Streeting said the unsayable on NHS. Now to think the unthinkable – Leader, Sunday Times

The UK has too many prisoners, claims the PM

“Britain has “too many prisoners and not enough prisons”, Sir Keir Starmer said, as he suggested it was “impossible” to prevent more offenders from being released early. The prime minister said the prison overcrowding crisis was another part of the system that was “broken”, along with the NHS, as he vowed to confront the problems left behind by the Conservatives with “raw honesty”. – Sunday Times

• Starmer’s new prisons minister James Timpson believes ‘only a third of inmates should actually be in jail’ – Mail on Sunday
• Prison reform experts hail role for shoe repair CEO – The Observer

German Government says UK will work to get closer to the EU

“The Government is working with Germany to see how Britain “can move closer to the EU”, Berlin’s foreign ministry said. In remarks made as David Lammy headed for his first overseas visit as Foreign Secretary, the official Twitter account for Germany’s foreign office said: “The United Kingdom is our close friend and partner. Together we stand up for democracy and freedom in the world.” It added: “The United Kingdom is an indispensable part of Europe. Whether in science, culture or security – (Germany) and (Britain) work closely together: We are working with the new UK Government to see how the UK can move closer to the EU.” Mr Lammy, who voted Remain and advocated for a second Brexit referendum, said ahead of his trip that it was time to “put the Brexit years behind us”. – Sunday Telegraph

• Whisper it, but the election shows that Britain is fast turning French – Vernon Bogdanor, Sunday Telegraph
• Johnson warns UK is ‘on the road to serfdom’ as EU sources believe Starmer is willing to sign up to some Brussels rules – Mail on Sunday
• Labour will preach stability, so the EU will have to wait – David Smith, Sunday Times

Rwanda plan “dead and buried”

“Sir Keir Starmer has declared the Rwanda plan “dead and buried” as he confirmed he had ruthlessly axed the immigration scheme within a day of becoming Prime Minister. Speaking at his first press conference at Downing Street on Saturday, the country’s new leader was asked whether the controversial proposal to send those arriving in the UK illegally to the African country was no more. “It was dead and buried before it even started,” he replied.” – Sunday Express

Carney to propose private funding for Government’s spending pledges

“Britain’s most powerful business leaders will reveal plans this week to unlock billions of pounds in private investment. Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, has been leading a task force advising Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, on the creation of a national wealth fund. It will publish its findings on Tuesday. The group includes two FTSE 100 bosses, Dame Amanda Blanc, the chief executive of the insurer Aviva, and CS Venkatakrishnan, the chief executive of Barclays bank.” – Sunday Times

Fysh resigns from the Conservatives after losing his seat

“A former Tory MP who lost his seat at the general election has quit the party, saying it has “no chance of ever being electable again”. Marcus Fysh had represented Yeovil since 2015 but lost to the Liberal Democrats on Thursday as they overturned a majority of more than 16,000. A minister in Liz Truss’s government, he was a staunch Brexiteer and one of the 28 ‘Spartans’ who voted on three occasions in 2019 against Theresa May’s Brexit deal.” – Sunday Telegraph

• The Tories must learn the right lessons in defeat – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
• How Sunak got stumped: the inside story of a disastrous campaign – Tim Shipman, Sunday Times

>Today: ToryDiary: What is to be done?

Other political news

• Biden interview fails to quell Democrat concerns over fitness – BBC
• Sewage spills became a vote-winner for the Lib Dems – The Observer
• Calls for crackdown after voters threatened with violence at polling stations – The Sun on Sunday
• Can Iran’s first reformist president in decades bring change? – Sunday Times
• Independent Muslim who beat Labour in Leicester says victory was not ‘sectarian’ – The Observer
• A row over conscription could topple Israel’s government – Sunday Times
• Air strike leaves 100,000 without power in Ukraine – BBC
• Labour’s Sam Carling, 22, is first MP to be born in 21st century – The Observer

Braverman: We deserved this result

“High taxes, high immigration, and – I can hardly bear to say this – children literally physically mutilated by insane political correctness on our watch. The problem wasn’t people like me and David Frost warning about the mistakes being made, it was the mistakes! So, what must we do? First: restore trust. People were angry with betting and D-Day. But they were angry with us long before, and with good reason: we had let them down. We need to overhaul our party organisation so that MPs listen to members; we must not entertain any talk of removing the grassroots from a leadership election. They did not give us the leader who lost two-thirds of my colleagues their seats. We MPs did that. The feedback loop where a court of chums, and a claque of cheerleaders, tells you how brilliantly you’re doing needs to end. Parliamentary candidates have to be chosen by party members, not doled out by the leadership.” – Suella Braverman, Sunday Telegraph

• Who were the people that deserted the Tories and who did they vote for? – Peter Kellner, Sunday Times
• Now it’s time to unite behind a new leader and develop an alternative to put before the country – Michael Howard, Sunday Times
• Competence will redeem the Tories. Tacking right will not – Ben Houchen, Sunday Times

Jenrick: We got Brexit done but failed elsewhere

“How did a party full of people who want lower taxes allow the tax burden and government spending to rise to an all-time high? Where were the supply-side reforms, like with the planning system, that would liberalise and energise our economy? And we must acknowledge our failure on the NHS too. Yes, the pandemic and strikes knocked the NHS off course. But these factors do not explain the poor NHS productivity we oversaw. Over the last five years we increased the amount of money, nurses and doctors by a fifth, yet the amount of healthcare barely increased.” – Robert Jenrick, Sunday Times

Kruger: Don’t rush the leadership election

“It would be completely wrong for the Conservative Party to rush into a new leadership election. We need a proper post-mortem, with a proper opportunity for ex-MPs and, crucially, members to have their say about what went wrong. We need the various candidates for leader to be in listening mode for long enough to understand what their colleagues and the Party thinks, and for them to take their time to articulate their visions for the future.” – Danny Kruger, Sunday Telegraph

• The best way for the Tories to find a new leader? Slowly – Leader, Sunday Times

Colvile: The Conservatives must follow the example of Peel

“Once there is a leader of the opposition, they need to think about how to oppose. Robert Peel is remembered as the founder of the Tory party (and almost its destroyer, when he repealed the Corn Laws). But he was also an incredibly canny opposition leader, not least because he took his opponents’ proposals on their merits. If the Tories want to persuade the public that they can be trusted again, they could do a lot worse than declare, Peel-style, that they will support Labour if it brings forward big, difficult reforms in the national interest. It will always be tempting to make short-term political hay over NHS reform, or housebuilding, or social care, or pensions reform. But engaging in a grown-up way would make the Tories look like grown-ups too — and buy them a hearing when criticising Labour’s inevitable mistakes.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times

Hannan: A merger with Reform is not realistic but an electoral pact would be

“The Conservatives won’t accept a reverse takeover from a party that, even in the Tories’ current depleted state, is less than a 20th of its size. This is where the parallel with Canada after the 1993 election breaks down. In Canada, it was Reform that emerged with 52 out of 295 seats, and the Tories who were reduced to two – the mirror image of what has happened here. Are we doomed, then, to years of Labour rule, its majority holding even as its vote diminishes, because of a divided Right? Will we be ruined by a personality clash, rather as the Liberals were ruined by the Asquith/Lloyd George feud? Possibly. But there are options short of a merger. One is to have an alliance, such as the National/Liberal coalition in Australia, or the CDU/CSU pact in Germany. Another is to have an electoral entente, at least in seats where it makes a difference, rather as the DUP and UUP used to do in Northern Ireland.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph

News in brief

• So. Farewell then conservatismThe last train of the old life has finally departed – Peter Hitchens, Unherd
• What ‘tough decisions’ does Starmer have in mind? – Katy Balls, The Spectator
• The battle has only just begun for Keir Starmer – Henry Hill, CapX
• Labour’s support is broad but shallow. It shouldn’t rest easy – Ben Walker, New Statesman
• The scourge of EDI – Zewditu Gebreyohanes, The Critic