Conservative Party has ‘great opportunity’ despite local election losses and infighting, says Grant Shapps
The Tories have a “great opportunity” with a mood of “steely determination”, cabinet minister Grant Shapps has told Sky News, despite a local election drubbing and party infighting.
Speaking on the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, the energy secretary also said he “completely and fundamentally” disagreed that the Conservatives cannot come back and win.
Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg also played down the recent council losses and said local elections results were often bad for the incumbent government, arguing people should “not read too much” into them.
Meanwhile, Labour has branded the ruling party as “demoralised” and “full of internal conflicts and battles”.
It comes after former home secretary Priti Patel led criticism of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a conference over the weekend, blaming the “centre of the party” for the recent local elections defeats.
She said the Tories “would not have seen over 1,000 of our friends and colleagues lose their seats” if centrists had “spent more time with us, listening, engaging”.
Anger at the council losses has been further fuelled by the decision to scale back post-Brexit plans to scrap EU laws.
Pressed over the feeling in the party over its current woes, Mr Shapps said: “Of course we have a great opportunity because we know that we’re buzzing with ideas, we’ve got a lot of energy to get things done still, but of course there are many, many challenges facing the country – and by the way they’d be facing whoever, whomever was in power at this point in time.
“I think we’ve got the ideas, but also the practical solutions – not to say, there aren’t many challenges along the way.
“I think that the mood is one of steely determination, I think… we know that there’s a job to do, that we’re on the side of the British people.”
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Tory election losses ‘moment of reflection’
Brushing aside criticism levelled by Ms Patel, Mr Shapps said: “I simply don’t agree… we still have more councillors in place than they [Labour’s Blair/Brown] would have done during the same point of the electoral cycle.
“So this idea that there’s something written in the stars, that somehow we cannot come back and win from our particular position at the moment, I completely and fundamentally disagree with.
“Actually people realise this country has gone through some pretty difficult times and of course we won’t have got everything right, but we have managed to steer the country through it, roll out vaccines or provide up to half of people’s typical energy bill this winter… Rishi Sunak actually has stabilised the party.”
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Conservatives seem ‘demoralised’
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “It’s obviously difficult when a party has been in office for 13 years, but Rishi Sunak has been getting on with business.
“Local election results are often bad for incumbent governments.
“They were bad for Tony Blair and he then went on to win majorities. They were terrible for Margaret Thatcher, who then went on to win very big majorities.
“So I wouldn’t read too much into local elections.”
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Johnson considered sending Sunak ‘foul-mouthed video’
Is this a new dawn for Labour?
He also said it was a mistake to get rid of Mr Johnson, but deposing Mr Sunak would be an “even bigger mistake”.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “The Tory party would be toast if we change leader again… but that doesn’t mean we agree with him on every policy.”
Labour frontbencher Jonathan Reynolds told Ridge: “I am not an objective observer of the Conservative Party, but I think it seems quite demoralised and as ever, you know, full of internal conflicts and battles.
“I look at Conservative MPs and I think to be honest, many of them are looking perhaps to a post-election period in the succession and who might take over. But look, we can’t be distracted by that.”
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He added: “The scale of the challenge therefore for Labour, it’s not just turning around an economy that hasn’t functioned very well for 13 years, it’s the complete reform and delivery of public services in a way where the need, the scale, of that, I don’t think has ever been greater.
“What we saw in those local elections was the Conservative Party rejected and people choosing Labour over the Conservatives, but we know we’ve got more to do.
“None of us are complacent, we’ve got to get that message across of our ambition, of the hope, we want to deliver back to the country, and why these specific policies that we’ve got deserve a hearing and that they are the answers to the problems.
“We know we’ve got more to do, but I don’t accept the case that we’re not putting forward specific policies.”
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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