London Playbook: Final countdown — The Truss
manifesto — One last scandal
BY ESTHER
WEBBER
SEPTEMBER
2, 2022 8:09 AM
POLITICO
London Playbook
By ESTHER
WEBBER
PRESENTED
BY
UK
Fisheries
Good Friday
morning. This is Esther Webber with you for the final time this week. Emilio
Casalicchio takes the reins on Monday.
DRIVING THE
DAY
FINAL
COUNTDOWN: The Conservative Party leadership contest ends at 5 p.m. today, with
the winner to be announced on Monday before taking office on Tuesday. Although
both camps insist they are fighting for every vote, in reality Liz Truss is
looking to the gargantuan task ahead while Rishi Sunak considers the options
open to him after the campaign. Boris Johnson has begun meeting staff and
thanking colleagues as he prepares, reluctantly, to leave the job he’s wanted
for most of his life.
Team Truss:
A campaign member said last night “we’re not complacent and very much fighting
the campaign until the end.” But there were no diary notes as Truss hunkers down
for final preparatory talks with her top lieutenants over the weekend.
Team Sunak:
A senior MP supporting Sunak said: “The single biggest thing we’re going to be
grappling with is the economic challenge, and I think if you look at his track
record, on the pandemic, and on the stuff that he’s laid out for dealing with
the cost of living he’s winning the big argument.”
TORY
LEADERSHIP RACE IN NUMBERS: 11 original candidates … 1 Rehman Chishti bid … 5
TV debates … 12 hustings over 40 hours … 14,000+ Tory member signatures on the
bring back BoJo petition, apparently … 5 unsettling 1922 committee post-ballot
pics … 127 MPs publicly backing Rishi … vs. 138 MPs backing Liz … 45
Ready4Rishi press releases sent to burnt-out hacks … 52 Liz4Leader press
releases … and 55 days we’ll never get back.
**A message
from UK Fisheries: The rich fishing grounds off Svalbard are the only remaining
waters in which the UK’s distant waters fleet still has meaningful rights to
fish. Our Government likes to boast of its success in preserving these rights
but this has come at a huge cost. Here’s why.**
PROMISES,
PROMISES: The leadership race has been a totally different beast from the
half-hearted showdowns which gave us Boris Johnson and Theresa May. At the very
beginning it was difficult to call, with Sunak even seeming to have the edge,
and was closely fought before Truss opened what became an unassailable lead.
Activists’ demands for a proper choice, as well as Sunak’s refusal to admit
defeat, meant there was no early concession this time. As a result, the summer
has produced a plethora of campaign promises that have been hard to keep track
of at times.
Liz’s big
list: Truss has not published her program for government, so we decided to do
it for her. POLITICO’s star intern Noah Keate has compiled every policy
commitment she has made across more than 40 hours of hustings, as well as
countless interviews and articles on the campaign trail. All in all, it adds up
to 149 separate policy pledges which form the Truss manifesto. The promises
cover almost every government department, starting with defense spending back
in mid-July and ending this week with her sudden turn against smart motorways.
Practice
makes perfect: One of Truss’ favorite anecdotes at the hustings was the period
she spent on a planning committee as a councilor. “Those are hours of my life
I’ll never get back,” she’d quip. Noah can say the same for his viewing
experience. He writes: “Her campaign is an example of how practice can make
perfect. During the first debate, she appeared awkward and uncomfortable. A
month later, she has transformed. Yes, the rhetoric is the same — but the
assurance, dynamism and enjoyment of campaigning has been unearthed.”
Schrödinger’s
manifesto: The list of Truss’ undertakings is not, technically speaking, a
manifesto — but it provides a handy measuring stick as she prepares to take
charge of a country in trouble as the U.K.’s third successive prime minister
first chosen by Conservative Party members rather than the general public, and
Playbook hopes everyone can make liberal use of it. On the campaign trail Truss
has made much of the decision to put up taxes in contravention of the 2019
manifesto, upping the ante when it comes to honoring her own commitments.
One for the
nerds: There are only a handful of pledges in her program that explicitly rely
on legislation, but it’s worth noting that because Truss is not entering
government on the back of an election manifesto, the Lords are not bound to
defer to the Commons in the way they usually are. Under the Salisbury
convention, peers are not meant to vote down at second or third reading a bill
mentioned in a manifesto — which won’t apply here.
A fiery
fortnight: Conservative MPs who back Truss fully expect her to go in next week
all guns blazing. “I am very confident that the first couple of weeks is going
to be decisive,” said one. “I think she’s going to be true to herself, because
that’s one of the lessons of her time in government and of this campaign.”
Less
complimentary: Another Tory — incidentally one also backing her — agreed with
this assessment, but was much less optimistic about the outlook. “She’s another
Boris, in many ways,” they said. “She hasn’t really got any ideas. All she
cares about is looking tough. All she cares about is the PR.” Buckle up,
buttercups.
Two-man
job: The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar has the inside track on how the new premier
will run her office. The job of No. 10 director of communications will be split
in two, with Johnson’s former Foreign Office Press Secretary Simon McGee taking
on a civil service role and Truss’ current senior media adviser, Adam Jones,
running the political side of the operation, Crerar hears.
TAX CUTS
GALORE: Nadhim Zahawi has drawn up plans for a huge package of tax cuts to help
businesses facing bankruptcy because of rising energy costs. The chancellor,
who is preparing options for the new prime minister, tells the Times’ Oliver
Wright and Steven Swinford the government could learn the “lesson from COVID”
and introduce targeted reductions in VAT and business rates to help retail and
hospitality. Zahawi is not expected to remain as chancellor after Monday, but
the Times team says he has discussed his plans with Truss.
Billions
for business: Meanwhile the i’s Arj Singh has got hold of a draft letter from
industry association Energy UK calling for a multibillion-pound package to help
businesses, including deficit funding for suppliers, the scrapping of VAT from
bills and COVID-style exemptions and relief from business rates. Alarmingly,
the letter also warns that the price of gas could stay high “well into 2023 and
even 2024” and calls for longer-term measures.
Tracing
Truss’ roots: The Times has published the first of a three-part in-depth
profile of Truss by Andrew Norfolk, Charlotte Wace and George Grylls. Overall,
the impression shared by those who knew her in her youth is one of surprise
that she is poised to become the next PM. She “adopted strong views in order to
get attention,” says one university contemporary, while others argue that her
identity as a student Lib Dem is less contradictory than it might first appear
and speaks to a consistent central political philosophy: the value of free
markets and the rights of the individual. Well worth a read.
OUT OF
OFFICE (NEARLY): Johnson is almost ready, but not quite, to hit send on his
handover note and switch on his out of office. What’s not yet known is if he’s
ever coming back. He’ll spend today on a private visit meeting public sector
workers, followed by a call with a foreign leader and constituency business.
Parting
salvo: As reported yesterday, Johnson will make some remarks as he departs No.
10 for the final time on Tuesday. Guido Fawkes hears Tory loyalists have been
summoned for the occasion at 8 a.m., and a three-line whip has been put down
for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as the party prepares for the installation of
the new PM.
This is not
a drill: As expected, Johnson used his speech yesterday to set out the
government’s stake in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant — with the Sun’s Harry
Cole on the money at £700 million. Not so expected was his shot across the bows
in the direction of his likely successor, as he warned fracking was “not going
to be the panacea that some people suggest” and that Britain should not “put
all our eggs in that particular basket.”
Zero
tolerance: While Truss has been keen to stress her closeness to Johnson in just
about every way, their respective attitudes to net zero represent one of the
most conspicuous gulfs between them. The outgoing PM and the Conservatives who
share his outlook on green issues will be watching closely to see how Truss
proposes to tackle the U.K.’s high dependency on gas, one of the main drivers
of energy supply challenges.
Pot,
kettle, black: It wouldn’t have been a final speech by Johnson if it had been
totally uneventful, and his comments comparing buying a new kettle to investing
in nuclear power inevitably ended up being represented as though he had offered
it as a simple money-saving tip.
ONE LAST
SCANDAL: Westminster was rocked once more last night by misconduct allegations
after an explosive story from Sky News’ Liz Bates and Agnes Chambre, who report
that a serving Cabinet minister has been accused of sexual assault and a No. 10
aide of sexual harassment. The claims come as part of a three-part podcast
series called Open Secret, which digs into why it’s so difficult to bring these
types of cases to light.
Grim
details: Speaking anonymously, an ex-parliamentary staff member for the
Conservative Party relayed details of a sexual assault she alleges was at the
hands of an MP who is now a Cabinet minister. She told Sky News the man kept
“feeding me more wine” despite already being “super drunk,” and that when she
went to bed “he didn’t leave me alone.” The woman ultimately did not report it
to the police or make a formal complaint to the party because “I was too scared
to kickstart that process and risk it spiraling out of control.”
And there’s
more: A former Conservative aide has alleged she was groped by a senior No. 10
employee before his appointment to a top job in Downing Street — an allegation
previously reported by Playbook’s Eleni Courea. The woman made multiple
complaints about him but he remains in the role. She also claimed that on
hearing of the allegation, his boss — a close aide to Johnson — dismissed it on
the grounds that the man was “good-looking and had women throwing themselves at
him.”
The
response: A Conservative spokesperson said: “If an allegation of criminal
wrongdoing is raised, we would always advise the individual to contact the
police,” while a government spokesperson said: “All prospective government
employees are subject to necessary checks and vetting. We do not comment on
individuals.”
What next:
With Johnson on his way out, hopes are being raised that Truss will reset the
tone when it comes to conduct at Westminster — in particular, by appointing the
first female Conservative chief whip. Playbook would venture that this alone
will not be enough to draw a line between them. With multiple conduct
investigations currently under way in parliament, the next PM is likely to face
a test of their leadership on this score soon enough.
PANNICK
STATIONS: Just in case you hadn’t had enough of reading about the PM and ethics
questions, there’s a trio of front-page stories on the latest developments in
the Partygate probe. The Daily Mail’s Martin Beckford and Harriet Line reveal
that top barrister and peer David Pannick, best known as an antagonist of the
government on Brexit, has offered a legal opinion to the privileges committee’s
inquiry into Johnson which says ruling on his intentions could endanger
democracy. “Ministers will never be able to say anything if they think they can
be found in contempt by accidentally giving the wrong answer,” a source who has
seen Pannick’s analysis tells the Mail.
Never
change, Nadine: Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries was in fine voice last night:
“This expert legal opinion shows that the inquiry was a biased, Kafkaesque
witch-hunt — it should now be halted before it does any more damage.” For what
it’s worth, the official No. 10 line has previously been that the parliamentary
process should be allowed to take its course, and Truss has signaled she is
unwilling to intervene.
Watch this
space: The Express’ Sam Lister and Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey have had the
same readout, highlighting that Pannick cannot exactly be dismissed as a
Johnson stooge, and there was a hint at it in the Mail on Sunday. Pannick’s
advice, sought by the Cabinet Office on behalf of the prime minister, is due to
be published today — but unless we’ve missed something, the matter is still
ultimately for the privileges committee to decide.
THE
CONSERVATIVES AFTER BORIS: With only a few more days to go before the big
announcement, Westminster Insider is back — and top POLITICO colleague Ailbhe
Rea takes a look at how Boris Johnson has changed the Conservative Party. None
other than Nadine Dorries discusses being a Boris believer since the coalition
days and says the “party will come to regret” ousting him.
Trouble
ahead: Rachel Wolf, co-author of the 2019 manifesto, says “neither the
candidates nor the party seem to understand” the new Tory voter coalition, and
we should be worried about a move toward extreme populist politics if the
promises of the manifesto aren’t delivered. “It’s incredibly destructive, it’s
morally wrong, but also it makes it much more likely that these people are
going to be susceptible to populist, really populist politics.”
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