Newslinks for Wednesday 24th January 2024 | Conservative Home

Tories ‘hit back’ at Clarke as he calls for MPs to oust Sunak

“Senior Tories have turned on Sir Simon Clarke, the former cabinet ­minister, after he called for MPs to oust Rishi Sunak, claiming that the party would be “massacred” at the next election if he remained prime minister. Priti Patel, the former home secretary, accused Clarke of “facile and divisive self indulgence” and backbench Conservatives used WhatsApp groups to attack the former levelling-up secretary. One said that critics of the prime minister should “get behind the PM or get lost”, while another described Clarke’s intervention as “profoundly self-defeating”. A senior Conservative source ­accused Clarke of a “self-indulgent ­attempt to undermine the government at a critical moment for the country”. Clarke is understood to have written to Sir Graham Brady…” – The Times

• Oust Sunak or Tories face election massacre, warns former Cabinet ally – The Daily Telegraph
• Other senior Tory MPs ‘on cusp of calling for Sunak to resign’ – The Sun
• Clarke’s furious call to arms will show if Sunak’s critics have any fight left – Asa Bennett, Daily Express

>Today:

Simon Clarke: Replace Sunak as PM or face decade of decline under Starmer

“The unvarnished truth is that Rishi Sunak is leading the Conservatives into an election where we will be massacred. Denial of impending catastrophe is an extraordinarily powerful human instinct. Alan Clark, writing in 1998, the year after the Conservatives were obliterated, documented stories of Conservative MPs in the mid-1990s not believing what they were reading in the polls on the basis of warm conversations on the doorstep.  “What defence mechanism of the psyche allowed, combined in, otherwise sensible and hard-headed men and women to induce this illusion? Every single device for measuring popular opinion was pointing consistently in the same direction.” It is time to strip away illusion, and stop tolerating any indulgence of it.” – The Daily Telegraph 

Number 10 insists Lords vote won’t stop Rwanda migrant flights

“The House of Lords’ vote to delay the Rwanda Treaty will not prevent the Government getting deportation flights off in the spring, Downing Street has said. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the vote to delay ratification of the treaty until extra safeguards have been put in place would not “impact our timelines for the progress of the Bill or getting the flights off the ground”. On Monday, the Lords approved a motion by 214 votes to 171 demanding a delay in the ratification of the new, legally binding treaty signed with Rwanda last month. They backed a report by their international treaties committee setting out a 10-point action plan of safeguards that needed to be implemented first. The treaty underpins the Rwanda Bill…” – The Daily Telegraph

• He agrees closer co-operation with Belgium over people smugglers, while Kigali grows impatient over deportation rows – The Times
• Labour peer leading efforts to sink Rwanda plan for ‘safety’ declared more than £380,000 from country that tortures people – The Sun

>Today:

Sunak ‘warns Houthis’ as aid workers told to leave

“Rishi Sunak has warned the Houthis that Britain will not hesitate to bomb ­Yemen again if attacks on Red Sea ­ship­ping continue, as the Iranian-backed militia vowed to retaliate after the latest airstrikes. The prime minister said Britain did not seek a prolonged confrontation with the Houthis but raised the prospect of further military intervention. Despite a second wave of British-US airstrikes, Sunak acknowledged that the Houthis retained a powerful arsenal and could continue to harass commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis have warned ­British and American aid workers to leave Yemen within 30 days, according to a letter seen by Sky News. They have also vowed retaliation for Monday night’s airstrike…” – The Times

• UK must ‘brace for long campaign’ against Houthi rebels – The I
• The Houthis and Hamas both have a clear strategy. Do we? – Mark Almond, The Daily Mail
• Strikes against Houthis demonstrate that Tories prefer war-war to jaw-jaw – Tim Stanley, The Daily Telegraph
• Unlike Blair, Sunak doesn’t beat his pigeon chest over military action. Tory MPs may wish he did… – Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail

Hunt has ‘tiny’ margin for error against fiscal rules, says watchdog

“Jeremy Hunt has left himself only a “tiny” margin for error against the UK government’s debt-reduction rules, the public finance watchdog warned, firing a warning shot as the chancellor plots fresh tax cuts. Richard Hughes, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, said the £13bn budget headroom forecast in November was heavily exposed to changing assumptions on interest rates as well as data revisions. The headroom figure is a measure of how much…margin Hunt has to meet his self-imposed target of reducing the ratio of government debt to GDP in five years’ time. The OBR has yet to deliver its new forecast of how large the headroom will be in the upcoming Budget…The figure will act as a crucial determinant of the chancellor’s scope to cut taxes…” – The Financial Times

• UK spending plans ‘worse than fiction’, budget watchdog suggests – The Times
• Sharp fall in UK government borrowing in December raises prospect of Budget tax cuts – The Financial Times
• Hunt ‘must axe’ 20 per cent taxi tax which will harm economy and strapped Brits, warn campaigners – The Sun
• Economic growth is the best cure for debt – Editorial, The Daily Telegraph
• Hunt must be bold – he now has the windfall he needs to fund bumper tax cuts – Editorial, The Sun

>Today:

Cameron to return to Middle East and press for pause in fighting

“David Cameron will return to the Middle East on Wednesday to press for an immediate humanitarian pause…Downing Street said Cameron was expected to raise “the importance of a two-state solution”. The foreign secretary, who said the situation in Gaza is desperate, is due to visit Qatar, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey. Lord Cameron, on his second visit to the region since returning to government, will continue to insist no permanent ceasefire can be agreed unless Hamas releases all the remaining hostages, is incapable of firing rockets at Israel, and an agreement exists that allows the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza…His visit comes as Qatar continues to try to mediate between Israel and Hamas on a plan for a two-month ceasefire…” – The Guardian

• The Tories are in danger of Cameron looking more like PM than Sunak –  Katy Balls, The I

>Yesterday:

Badenoch ‘scraps more than 2,000 EU laws’ and promises there will be more to come before next election

“Kemi Badenoch has scrapped more than 2,000 EU laws – with the promise of more to come before the election. The Business Secretary said around 3,400 pieces of Brussels legislation would have been revoked or reformed by June 2026 – more than half of those that were carried over after Brexit. However, a report shows that 67 per cent of EU law remains unchanged, four years after the UK formally left the bloc. Writing to all Tory MPs to mark the fourth anniversary, she said she was making use of ‘new-found freedoms’ to ‘spur growth and innovation’…She said the changes so far had included ‘major’ reforms in employment law, cutting red tape and saving businesses up to £1billion. The Cabinet minister added that it had benefited the wine industry…” – The Daily Mail

HS2 ‘could be back’ as Harper mulls new plan to revive northern leg ‘with an open mind’ at ConservativeHome Future of Transport Conference

“Plans to revive the northern leg of HS2 through private investment will be looked at by ministers with an “open mind”, the Transport Secretary has confirmed. Mark Harper’s comments come after it was reported over the weekend regional mayors Andy Street and Andy Burnham had drawn up a cross-party plan, proposing to use the private sector to fund the Birmingham-Manchester high-speed line. Speaking at the ConservativeHome Future of Transport conference, Mr Harper confirmed the Government was “happy” to engage with the proposal. But the Cabinet Minister stressed he was “somewhat sceptical” the private sector could deliver the project at no cost to the taxpayer…Leading engineering giants Arup and Mace Engineering are leading the discussions.” – The Sun

Heaton-Harris ‘ratchets up pressure on DUP’ to lift boycott of Stormont

“The UK government ratcheted up pressure on Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party on Tuesday by giving it a fortnight to end two years of political deadlock over Brexit and restore the region’s executive. Chris Heaton-Harris, Northern Ireland secretary, had been expected to extend the time allowed to form a new power-sharing executive but analysts said his decision to set a new February 8 deadline was a shorter than expected timeframe to try to push the Democratic Unionist Party to lift its boycott. Heaton-Harris maintained that “significant progress” had been made in months of talks with the DUP to allay its concerns over post-Brexit trading arrangements for the region. “I believe . . . the constrained timescales will be sufficient,” he said.” – The Financial Times

Trump sweeps to victory in New Hampshire primary in huge setback for Haley

“Donald Trump won the Republican primary in New Hampshire, his second victory in a row, as his remaining rival Nikki Haley pledged to fight on to South Carolina next month. The former president saw off Ms Haley’s challenge on Tuesday and became the first Republican to win both Iowa and New Hampshire in an open campaign in almost 50 years. His path to the Republican nomination for November’s campaign is now all but certain. After more than 90 per cent of ballots had been counted on Wednesday morning, Mr Trump had secured almost 55 per cent of the vote, while Ms Haley had received 43 per cent. In a sign of his confidence in the primary race, Mr Trump used his victory speech to focus on his plans to win the election in November.” – The Daily Telegraph

• Ex-President moves a step closer to a Biden rematch but launches attack on his last remaining Republican rival as she refuses to bow out – The Times
• Haley ‘has exposed Trump’s weaknesses’ – The Daily Telegraph
• Battle to be Trump’s running-mate ‘explodes into the open’ – The Times
• I’m not going to vote for Trump or Biden, but what is happening in 2024 makes me afraid, says Bolton – The Sun
• Only the courts can stop Trump now – Tim Stanley, The Daily Telegraph

Anti-EU populists ‘poised to dominate’ in European elections

“Europe faces a political earthquake with “anti-European populists” poised to be the main winners in continent-wide elections…according to a new forecast. A close ally of President Macron has warned that the EU will become “ungovernable” unless the populist march is stopped in its tracks over the coming months. “Populists and nationalists are on the rise almost everywhere in Europe,” a senior European government source said. “Unless pro-Europeans can convince people we are heading to extremes, then Europe will become ungovernable.” Polling shows that conservative, nationalist, hard-right and Eurosceptic parties are in the ascendant and will either be the largest parties or will form the main opposition in a large majority of European Union countries.” – The Times

Daniel Finkelstein: How Starmer could steal ultimate Tory mantle

“The opportunity for Starmer and the challenge for the Conservatives is that the Baldwin settlement might now be reversed. That Labour might now become the natural party of government, and the Tories win office for short intermissions when Labour gets tired or complacent. This would involve Labour effectively becoming the “Liberal Party”, though without a formal merger with the Liberal Democrats or any change of name. They would simply complete Tony Blair’s unfinished job of transformation. They would be a Baldwinite party but of the left. Broad, national, gradualist, more progressive and modernising than Baldwin but not radical. Meanwhile, the Tories would inherit, or more truthfully would choose, MacDonald’s problems” – The Times

• Labour ‘draws up King’s Speech plans’ for first year in government – The I
• Ninja swords would be banned under Labour as part of dangerous knife crackdown – The Sun

News in Brief:

• We need to deal with the Houthis puppet master: Iran – Edward Stringer, The Spectator 
• German Euroscepticism is on the rise – Katja Hoyer, UnHerd 
• Britain’s twilight war – Philip Pilkington, The Critic 
• ‘Letters for the rich, letters for the poor’? The future of Royal Mail – Eliot Wilson, CapX
• The Tory media wars – Andrew Marr, The New Statesman