The fight over the direction of the next Conservative election manifesto has begun as tensions rise within the party. The newly formed Conservative Democratic Organisation held its inaugural conference last weekend criticising the current leadership. The party's National Conservative conference has also seen Home Secretary Suella Braverman challenge the idea of mass immigration to fill work vacancies. The meeting had no obvious ideological homogeneity, with some aiming to model the party along German Christian Democrat lines instead of a more harsh Conservative model, while Michael Gove presented as a social liberal. The election's focus will be on the economy, particularly inflation and the NHS.
The Bank of England (BoE) is facing a UK wage price spiral, according Governor Andrew Bailey, in part stemming from “second-round effects” of rapid energy and food price rises. Speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference, Bailey said there could be long-lasting effects on pay growth within wider price-setting activity at companies. The BoE has repeatedly attempted to contain the impact of high food and energy prices on domestic prices and wages, but Bailey conceded the bank had failed in that task. Bailey pledged to raise interest rates as far “as necessary” to restore the BoE 2% inflation target.
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer recognises that to implement a reformist agenda, voters must perceive that the proposals are rooted in their values and know that he can restrain his radicalism, as all successful Labour leaders have understood. Although the non-Tory vote exceeds the Conservative Party's vote at elections, the innate conservatism of many Labour voters means that they believe in strong defence, patriotism, wariness of social change and the rule of law. In his speech to the Progressive Britain conference last weekend, Starmer reprimanded progressives for abandoning Labour's working-class support, for exhibiting patronising contempt for those who fly the flag and for pursuing culture war politics.
Thai police arrest 2nd teenager for defaming monarchy amid renewed debate over rigorous law
The Toronto Star
23-05-17 11:43
A 16-year-old girl in Thailand has been charged with defaming the monarchy for allegedly posting two messages on Facebook two years ago. She is believed to be the youngest person to face the charge, with 19 minors accused under the charge in the last eight months. Devotion to the monarchy is a pillar of Thai society, but the lese majeste law is heavily criticised. The two top opposition parties in Sunday’s general election both acknowledged the need for law reform. Conservative groups, which have ruled since a 2014 coup, are strong supporters of the legislation.
Former Brexit minister David Frost has warned the Conservative Party that it cannot win elections as “the party of the self-satisfied and entitled”. Speaking at the National Conservatism conference in London, Frost criticised the government for its policies on housing, taxation and energy. He also attacked the politicisation of everyday life and the “dangerous and counter-productive intrusion into private property” contained in new rent laws proposed by the UK’s housing secretary. Frost has recently been critical of government policy, and renewed his call for tax cuts and deregulation in his latest speech.
Car maker Stellantis, owner of brands such as Citroen, Fiat and Vauxhall, has warned that the current terms of the Brexit trade deal between the UK and the European Union (EU) could threaten large parts of the British automotive industry. The firm is concerned about the "sustainability" of its manufacturing operations under the deal. Stellantis committed to building electric vehicles in the UK two years ago and employs 5,000 people in the country. The warning is likely to increase pressure on the UK government to renegotiate its trade deal with the EU.
Poilievre declined meeting with Johnston on foreign interference, citing scheduling
CBC
23-05-17 16:11
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined to meet with David Johnston, the government's special rapporteur on foreign interference, citing an inability to find a mutually convenient time. Poilievre has criticised the move by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as only a delay tactic to avoid calling a public inquiry into the matter. Johnston is set to make a call on a public inquiry into foreign election interference by next Tuesday. The leaders of both the ND P and the Bloc Québécois have met with Johnston as he prepares his report.
The Chinese embassy in London has warned that Britain risks "serious consequences" after former PM Liz Truss's high-profile visit to Taiwan. Truss is the first former British leader to visit the island since Margaret Thatcher in 1996. Truss urged the UK to use “hard power” to deter China and to "get real" about military cooperation with Taiwan. Beijing called it a “dangerous political show”. Britain amended its foreign and defence policy in March to describe China as a “epoch-defining challenge”.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reversed on his previous promise to close 30 Chinese Confucius Institutes in the UK, with the government saying a ban would be "disproportionate". Sir Ian Duncan Smith, a Conservative MP, drew attention to the institutes, which teach Chinese language and culture, claiming they are not there for education purposes, but for spying on Chinese and Hong Kong students. UK former PM Liz Truss has criticised Sunak for the change, saying that the UK needs to go back to viewing China as a "threat" to national security.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack will stand down at the next general election but ruled out triggering a by-election by accepting a peerage offered in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list. The Dumfries and Galloway MP confirmed he will give up his seat at the election and it is understood he is keen to join the House of Lords afterwards. It is thought all four would continue as MPs until the next election, before moving to the Lords, thereby avoiding four by-elections that could prove a headache for the Prime Minister. However, the House of Lords Appointments Commission has advised it would be constitutionally improper. Alister Jack told ITV Border’s Representing Border programme: “I’m not going to the House of Lords and causing a by-election.” Pressed on whether he would move to the Lords after the election, he said: “Who knows?” He won the seat with a majority of only 1,805 from the 2019 contest, with the SNP in second place.
Lord Frost has criticised Michael Gove’s recently proposed changes to rental reforms, regarding them as “dangerous and counterproductive.” The criticisms were made during a speech at the National Conservatism Conference where Frost also discussed state interference in people’s life and the need for the Conservatives to portray themselves as the “party of opportunity and the party of the future”. Ian Fletcher, director of policy for the British Property Federation, has added concerns that the reforms could lead to an increase in short-term rentals, prompting holiday lets to replace permanent residences.
The Conservative Party is set for a historic landslide defeat for their failure to believe in conservatism, deliver on manifesto promises, and to even cut immigration. Every Tory manifesto since 2010 pledged to cut immigration, yet, the latest net migration figures are set to hit record-high figures. The Tories have presided over out-of-control inflation, mass public sector waste, strikes, declining real wages, and an explosion in the national debt, while making Britain a less conservative nation than it was in 2010 and promoting dependence on the state. The party has undermined capitalism, trashed competitiveness, introduced myriad regulations, waged war on enterprise, fuelled envy and jealousy, squeezed the City and normalised anti-free market prejudice. The Government has failed to take on the woke revolutionary culture, even passing laws that make this worse. The Tories are being destroyed by absurd support for totemic Labour policies: Clement Attlee’s archaic NHS model, his socialist housing planning system, Tony Blair’s high-migration economic model. Unless the party gets its act together, barring a major black swan event, it is overwhelmingly likely that Starmer will be prime minister next year.
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, who served from September to October 2022, has embarked on a globe-trotting tour, using her status to call on Western leaders to face up to China. Truss is calling for an “economic NATO” to form, one that would focus on countries facing resistance from Chinese interests. The former prime minister has recently appeared at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit and, days later, as a guest of the Taiwanese government. Her policy proposals have met with approval from foreign policy hawks. However, Truss' vision of low taxes may not sit well with others in her Conservative Party. She is emblematic of the challenges of politics without policy, with her approach still too common in the Tory Party. There are also concerns that the former prime minister may be viewed by China as representing the UK government. Thatcher was the last to visit Taiwan in 1996.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has expressed his desire to cut taxes before the next election as he claimed that the nation’s economy was bouncing back more quickly than analysts had anticipated. Sunak argued it was important to drive down inflation first before cutting taxes, but added that he was a “low tax Conservative" and wanted to cut people’s taxes. Sunak’s comments come after the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claimed that one in five British workers would be paying the higher rate of income tax by 2027. The IFS also argued the tax burden is unlikely to return to 2020 levels for many years.
Republican senators have argued with a federal judge over the transparency of a 2011 ethics review of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. It was revealed that Judge Mark L Wolf expressed concerns over a decade ago about a committee of federal judges handling reviews of complaints against Thomas’ financial reporting. The complaint focused on Thomas reportedly omitting information about his wife’s employer and travel paid for by a billionaire. The committee cleared him of committing any wrongdoing, prompting calls for more transparency in financial disclosure reviews and ensuring complaints of wrongdoing are dealt with robustly.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has distanced himself from the pledge his Conservative party made in its 2019 manifesto to lower net migration, implicitly blaming predecessor Boris Johnson for the high levels of immigration. With net migration rising after record levels and analysts predicting it could exceed over 700,000 in the Office for National Statistics' next figures, senior Tories are raising alarm that the party will pay a political price should the government fail in its attempts to reduce it. However, businesses argue that increased access to foreign labour is needed to sustain several sectors.
Three former UK business secretaries from different parties, Lord Mandelson, Sir Vince Cable and Greg Clark, have accused Chancellor Rishi Sunak of having neither an effective nor visible industrial strategy. Clark said Sunak had never even referred to the subject. Mandelson said the lack of enthusiasm had resulted in a confused policy, while Cable said it had been discontinued due to "ideological zealotry". Senior government insiders admitted the policy was not contained within a single document and was a "comms issue". The role of the state in economies recently has highlighted a difference between European and US approaches.
The Conservatives in Canada have criticised the federal government's strategy for dealing with the opioid crisis, calling for the policy of providing a safe supply of illicit drugs to people at high risk of overdose to be reversed. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for the government to redirect taxpayer-funded drug programs towards addiction, treatment and recovery programs. Poilievre has put forward a motion for debate this Thursday, which will be voted on next week. The health ministry has defended the policy, arguing that safe consumption sites have saved an estimated 46,000 lives to date.
Former UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss's trip to Taiwan and her hardline stance against China's communist rulers is consistent with her previous stance on China being a threat to Britain’s national security. Truss's assessment of the threat Beijing poses to Taiwan's future independence, as well as the wider world, deserves serious consideration. Concerns are raised about the pace of submarine construction, with the UK on average building only one nuclear submarine every five years. Even with Aukus, a UK-US-Australia alliance to build new capabilities and alliances to counter the Chinese threat, the alliance has a lot of catching up to do if it is to pose a credible counter-balance to China’s military expansion.
A trial four-day week in South Cambridgeshire for office workers received a substantial boost when the idea was extended to a full year. The council hopes to extend the scheme to refuse workers this summer, citing the need to address recruitment and reduce the amount spent on agency staff as reasons. However, the trial has been criticised by conservative councillors, who suggested that taxpayers' money has been used to fund council workers taking an extra day’s holiday every week. The daily attendance rate of South Cambridgeshire council workers has dropped to around 6% with the implementation of remote working patterns.
