Big job lined up for former Tory leadership candidate Cleverly
“Defeated Conservative leadership contender James Cleverly is set for a high-profile return to the front line of politics by running for Mayor of London. Mr Cleverly, the former Home Secretary, is considering becoming the Tory candidate in the next election to choose the capital’s leader and colleagues are urging him to stand. A Conservative MP said: “We can win in London if we have a big-hitter candidate and James is certainly that. He’s a moderate and the type of Tory that can appeal to Londoners.” Mr Cleverly, born in Lewisham, is a former member of the London Assembly and served as the city’s “youth ambassador” for former London mayor Boris Johnson. The army reserve officer, who has also served as Foreign Secretary, then declined to accept a role in the Shadow Cabinet of new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.” – Sunday Express
Mandelson in pole position to become US ambassador
“Donald Trump’s victory did not come as a surprise to the Labour government. When David Lammy, the foreign secretary, went to Washington in May, he visited both Trump campaign headquarters and President Biden’s team in the White House. He concluded that Trump was likely to win and warned Sir Keir Starmer they needed to prepare. A key to the future relationship will be the identity of the next British ambassador to Washington. Four names were on the shortlist: David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, Lord Mandelson, the New Labour architect, Baroness Ashton, who served as the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, and Baroness Amos, a former international development secretary. Mandelson is now the clear frontrunner, enjoying the support of several of Starmer’s most influential political aides.” – Sunday Times
Trump takes Arizona in swing state clean sweep
“Donald Trump has won Arizona, completing yet another swing state victory and adding 11 electoral votes to his column. After four days of counting in the south-west state, NBC and CNN made the projection on Saturday. Arizona is now the seventh and final state Mr Trump has won back for the GOP, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada, which he took on Saturday. In 2020, Mr Trump lost the battleground state of Arizona, which he won in 2016, to President Joe Biden. Arizona went on to have a Democratic governor and senators.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Lammy reignites war of words with Trump – Sunday Express
- How more than a dozen of Starmer’s ministers have hurled abuse at Trump – Sun on Sunday
- ‘Start with the worst’: Trump’s mass deportation blueprint revealed – Sunday Times
- A surreal evening at Mar-a-Lago as Team Trump gets to work – Sunday Times
- Five forces limiting Trump’s global influence as Putin smells blood – Sunday Times
- Haley won’t be in my Cabinet, says Trump – Sunday Telegraph
- Farage: PM should proscribe Iran’s revolutionary guard to build bridges with Trump – Sunday Telegraph
- After Trump re-election, UK will lead efforts to save Cop29, says Miliband – Observer
Comment
Badenoch: A trade deal with America is within our grasp – but will Labour squander the opportunity?
“On Wednesday, at my first Prime Minister’s Questions just hours after Donald Trump’s election victory, I challenged Keir Starmer to get moving on a UK-US Free Trade Deal. If President Trump does pursue a new protectionist tariff regime it would be terrible news for the UK. Only a Free Trade Agreement will protect us. It shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for Labour. In 2020, towards the end of President Trump’s first term in office, the Conservative government worked with his administration to draw-up a landmark deal. Joe Biden scrapped it, deciding his White House wouldn’t sign trade agreements with any nation. So our deal got left on a shelf, ready to be dusted off if the opportunity arose. The return of President Trump is that golden opportunity.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Don’t fall into ‘populist trap’ of backing Trump, Badenoch warned – Observer
- Tories’ new plot so Badenoch can cause chaos for ‘rattled’ Starmer once a week – Sunday Express
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>Today:
>Yesterday:
Labour 1) Tesco’s £1bn budget bill fuels price rise fears
“Tesco is facing a £1 billion increase in its national insurance bill this parliament, The Sunday Times can reveal, as 200 business leaders call on Rachel Reeves to water down the tax increase. The costs facing the supermarket, Britain’s biggest private sector employer, are the latest illustration of the potential impact of the chancellor’s maiden budget. It adds to the pressure on Reeves to rethink her plans to raise £25 billion through the rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs), which is expected to lead to job cuts and price increases. Supermarkets and restaurant chains, which employ large numbers of lower-paid workers, are being particularly hard hit.” – Sunday Times
- How Reeves can unlock billions from pension funds – Sunday Times
- Reeves plans to use council pension pot to boost economy – FT
- Higher prices and more AI: how businesses plan to cope with Reeves’s budget – Sunday Times
>Yesterday:
Labour 2) Rayner to make council tenants wait up to 10 years for right to buy
“Council house tenants will have to live in their homes for up to a decade before they can buy them at a discount, under plans due to be announced by Angela Rayner. The period could be raised to between five and ten years from the present three. The plans are part of a tightening of Margaret Thatcher’s right to buy policy on which the deputy prime minister will begin a consultation next week. A recent report backed by more than 100 local authorities recommended doubling the period to ten years. Ministers had also looked at extending the period people have to own their council house before they can resell it without having to pay back some of the discount. However, as of this weekend, it is understood that the proposal has been dropped.” – Sunday Times
- NHS in ‘last-chance saloon’, says former health secretary Milburn – Observer
The partygate plot: how Cummings orchestrated Johnson’s downfall
“On November 12, 2020, Boris Johnson sat on a majority of 80 and was confidently pondering the prospects of ten years in power. That evening he and Dominic Cummings had an argument which paved the way for the chief adviser’s departure from Downing Street and the beginning of the end of his premiership. Cummings believed that Carrie, who was then Johnson’s girlfriend, and her allies were briefing against him and his team. He told Johnson: “You’d better get a grip on that, or things are going to blow up out of your control.” – Sunday Times
- Johnson was trapped into ‘lying’ about Partygate by Cummings aide, new book claims – Mail on Sunday
‘They can read my file’: Stanley Johnson’s China links spooked the CIA
“When Boris Johnson took over as prime minister, a very senior figure in the CIA alerted his counterparts in SIS [the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service] and security officials in Whitehall to concerns the Americans had about Stanley Johnson’s interactions with the Chinese regime. Johnson’s father was a regular at environmental conferences where Chinese government officials were present, and an advocate of closer relations with Beijing. Months after this warning, in February 2020, it emerged that Stanley had acted as a diplomatic back channel between the then Chinese ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, and Zac Goldsmith, the minister for environment and international development.” – Sunday Times
