Minister tries to quash rumours of plot to oust Rishi Sunak

Published

1 year ago

March 17, 2024

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Rishi Sunak will lead the Tories into the next general election, the transport secretary insisted, amid reports of a plot to oust the prime minister.

Mark Harper dismissed speculation some Conservative rebels want the prime minister to be replaced with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.

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Asked on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips if Mr Sunak will still be leader at the next election, Mr Harper said: “Yes he will.

“And he’ll take us into that election and he’ll set out very clearly that we’re a government with a plan.”

Asked on the rumours about Ms Mordaunt, he said his colleagues should focus on what is “right for the country”.

“That is the approach that the prime minister takes as well,” he added.

“He focuses on making the right decisions, even if in the short term they’re not necessarily popular…. I’m confident those decisions will pay off.”

Replacing Mr Sunak would involve imposing a sixth prime minister on the country since the 2010 general election, and the third without going to the polls.

Ms Mordaunt has herself shot down speculation she is involved in a plot to become the next Tory leader, telling Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby the idea is “nonsense” and “the public are rather tired of these stories”.

One of her backers also called the reports a “made up briefing”.

With the Tories languishing behind Labour by around 20 points in the polls – and many senior MPs at risk of losing their seats – there has long been speculation about Mr Sunak’s position.

Reports in the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph over the weekend had suggested MPs on the right of the party met moderates this week to discuss uniting behind Ms Mordaunt if the prime minister faces a no confidence vote.

It followed a difficult fortnight for Mr Sunak, in which he came under fire over his handling of racist comments reportedly made by a major party donor, and the defection of Lee Anderson – who Mr Sunak had promoted to Tory deputy chairman – to the right-wing populist Reform UK party.

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Some Tories were also angry at the perceived lack of giveaways in Jeremy Hunt’s budget, saying he should have cut income tax rather than national insurance.

May election rumours ‘nonsense’

Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said Mr Sunak could put the rumours of a leadership change to bed himself if he named the date of the general election.

He told Sky News: “There’s Tory MPs who are in the papers today saying Rishi Sunak can’t continue.

“This is not in the national interest anymore. It is irresponsible. We need stability in this country.

“He could stabilise this by calling, naming the date of a general election. Otherwise, I fear we may have a Tory leadership election ahead of a general election.”

The latest date the next election can be held is January 2025, though Mr Sunak has said his “working assumption” is that he will call it in the second half of this year.

Labour MPs have called the prime minister a “chicken” for ruling out an election on 2 May, to coincide with local elections.

Some pundits had speculated Mr Sunak could go early to stave off plans to overthrow him, reap any benefits from the spring budget and avoid a rise in Channel crossings over the summer.

However Mr Harper said reports there could have been a snap election in May were “nonsense”.

“The prime minister made it quite clear at the beginning of the year that his working assumption was the election was going to be at the end of the year.

“So all this sort of froth we’ve had about an election being in May was always nonsense frankly, and he made that clear at the beginning of the year.”

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‘No doubt’ UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

Published

3 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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'No doubt' UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.

This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.

Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”

A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.

This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.

The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.

While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.

The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.

“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”

Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.

The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.

On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.

Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.

He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.

“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.

“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”