Who are the runners and riders to replace Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative Party chair?
Rishi Sunak will reshuffle his cabinet this morning with Nadhim Zahawi set to be replaced as Conservative Party chair after he was sacked over his tax affairs, Sky News understands.
The prime minister has been under pressure to pick the right candidate as he struggles to draw a line under ‘Tory sleaze’ allegations – despite vowing to turn over a new leaf when he entered Number 10.
Allies of Boris Johnson have been touting him as a potential successor, but others have been calling for someone who can create a “positive headline” to help turn around the party’s fortunes in the polls.
The party chair is responsible for party administration and overseeing the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).
Here, Sky News looks at the potential runners and riders.
Boris Johnson
There has been speculation of a Johnson comeback after Jacob Rees-Mogg said he has “all the right attributes” to be party chairman.
The senior Tory MP and close ally of the former PM told GB News on Sunday: “He is charismatic, he rallies the troops. He’s a sort of fully-loaded Conservative. So I think that type of personality would be a very good one for a party chairman.”
However, others have warned such a move would be divisive, while Mr Rees-Mogg on Tuesday conceded the former prime minister’s return to the front bench is unlikely.
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Mr Rees-Mogg supported Boris Johnson right to the end of his tenure as prime minister
“I think he would be a brilliant chairman, but he’s not going to be chairman”, he told Sky News.
“The person who is going to be chairman needs to be someone who is close to the prime minister and also very charismatic.”
Paul Scully
The Tory vice chair under Theresa May and deputy chair under Boris Johnson, minister for London Paul Scully is seen as someone with the right skills and experience to replace Mr Zahawi.
Ex-cabinet minister Theresa Villiers is among those endorsing him, telling Sky News: “Paul is a top campaigner. He has done brilliant work in this constituency and did very well when he was Deputy Chair at CCHQ.
“He knows how important it is to engage with minority ethnic groups and he also understands London which is a key electoral battleground.”
Justin Tomlinson
Justin Tomlinson is the Conservative MP for North Swindon, and has been an MP continuously since 6 May 2010.
Pic:Uk Parliament
A relative outsider is the Conservative MP for North Swindon, Justin Tomlinson.
He was deputy chair during the successful Bexley by-election in December 2021 – the last by-election the Conservatives won.
Mr Tomlinson quit his position in July 2022 to help Kemi Badenoch launch her failed leadership bid, but prior to being an MP he ran a business supplying Conservative associations with their campaigning materials and is known to be something of a “campaigning geek” among colleagues.
One MP told Sky News: “With a general election looming, we need someone with a strong track record of campaigning and fundraising. Justin Tomlinson is probably the strongest campaigner we have.”
Another did not go as far as naming him but said he would do a “brilliant job” if picked as chairman.
Gillian Keegan
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‘No way to stop teacher strike’, says Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.
The current education secretary has also been tipped for the role.
In an article looking at Mr Zahawi’s potential successors, Paul Goodman, the editor of Conservative Home website, said: “Downing Street will want an appointment that creates a positive headline. It may take the view that the appointment of a woman will suit.”
The women in cabinet are Suella Braverman, Penny Mordaunt, Therese Coffey, Gillian Keegan, Kemi Badenoch, and Michelle Donelan.
Mr Goodman said: “The first is too senior, the second too ambitious, the third associated with Liz Truss and the fourth difficult though not impossible to move, given her pivotal role at education. Such an appointment would undoubtedly create a splash.”
Penny Mordaunt
Penny Mourdant dropped out of the race to allow Rishi Sunak to become PM last year Pic:AP
Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is reportedly keen on replacing Mr Zahawi at CCHQ and is said to have pitched her credentials alongside Business Secretary Grant Shapps during last week’s cabinet away day.
Gavin Barwell, a Conservative peer and former chief of staff to Mrs May, said that while Mr Shapps has done the job before, Ms Mordaunt “is probably the best choice”.
He said in the run-up to the election the party chair needs to be an important figure who can communicate with media and has experience campaigning in marginal seats.
He told Times Radio: “When you look back at Rishi Sunak’s cabinet when he put it together, I felt Penny didn’t really get a role big enough to suit her talents, so this would give her a front and centre role in the run-up to the election.”
Priti Patel
Priti Patel is currently on the backbenches
A popular figure on the right of the party and well-liked among the Tory grassroots, Priti Patel is among the high-profile names tipped to replace Mr Zahawi.
While she has previously turned down the role, sources close to the former home secretary have not ruled out her return to the cabinet, according to the Telegraph.
Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson was part of the Red Wall intake in the 2019 election
Red Wall MP Lee Anderson has also been named as someone who could replace Mr Zahawi.
Marco Longhi, the Conservative MP for Dudley North, put a poll on Twitter asking who agrees with him that Mr Anderson “would make a great chairman of the Conservative Party”.
While more than 72% of those who responded voted no, Mr Longhi suggested the hard left had got hold of the poll and the results show “how worried they would be”.
However, it is unlikely Mr Anderson would be given the role.
The Ashfield MP has been outspoken on issues like foodbank usage and Channel crossings and last week compared the government to “the band on the Titanic”, according to leaked WhatsApp messages seen by Sky News.
William Hague
William Hague has distanced himself from becoming party chair
After Mr Zahawi’s sacking, rumours swirled that former Tory leader William Hague could make a return to frontline politics by filling the vacancy.
But Lord Hague, who is a close ally of Mr Sunak, quickly shut down that speculation.
“Since I’ve seen reports of people placing bets on me being the new party chairman, please be aware that I will absolutely not be returning to politics in any shape or form, including that one,” he said.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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