An ally of Priti Patel has admitted that he has shared a “dirty dossier” sent to conservative WhatsApp groups calling Rishi Sunak a liar who cannot be trusted with taxes.
Patrick Robertson, a lobbyist who has worked in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, is believed to be helping lead Patel’s campaign to become a conservative leader.
His previous work includes lobbying to prevent the extradition of Augusto Pinochet to Spain to stand trial for human rights violations, and acting as an adviser to Imran Khan, Pakistan’s recently ousted prime minister.
The note, which boiled conservative WhatsApp groups over the weekend, accuses Sunak of “wasting” money during the pandemic, breaching the Conservative manifesto’s commitments not to raise taxes and “lying publicly” about tax status of his non-national wife.
He raises questions about his loyalty to Boris Johnson saying the former chancellor’s resignation came “within minutes” of Savid Javid’s resignation, and asks if this should be seen as “an unplanned coincidence.”
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He also notes that Sunak “launched his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party with a web domain registered in December 2021.”
“Preparing for Rishi” means supporting a candidate who, like Boris, received a fine from Partygate police for violating the blocking rules, ”the note says.
The author of the note is listed as Robertson and was created Saturday night, according to the properties of the document. However, he denied having written the text.
“You won’t find my properties or my name there because it wasn’t mine,” he said The times. “I received it myself and sent it to other people. It has nothing to do with me. “
Patel is expected to launch his leadership candidacy imminently after polling the support of the European Research Group, the Brexiteer caucus of conservative parliamentarians at the back bank. The interior minister already has the support of 12 Conservative MPs although she has not officially declared her intention to run.
A source close to Patel said: “We hope that all candidates will run a clean campaign to be party leaders and prevent these elections from providing the Labor Party with pamphlet fodder. We have no knowledge or involvement in the production of this document.”
The proper and correct state of no-dom, says Javid
Sajid Javid has refused to say where he was tax resident while he was non-Sunday and has repeatedly refused to deny having benefited from a tax haven.
The former Health Secretary began his campaign by warning that Conservatives were risking “electoral oblivion”, making comparisons in the 1990s with Labor’s most confident in the economy. “Sony, scandal, civil war: we’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends,” Javid said at a launch event in Westminster.
Sajid Javid has today launched his leadership campaign at the Cinammon Club in London
STEFAN ROUSSEAU / PA
Javid, who is also a former Housing Secretary, promised a “massive” housing construction program, arguing that “like anything else, the price is going up because there is not enough housing.”
In an argument that could spark friction with Conservative MPs who thwarted Boris Johnson’s attempt to ease planning laws, Javid argued there is no alternative to building more houses. In defense of public development corporations to build new cities, he said “there is a lot of land that is not protected land” and added: “In some of the cities like London, I think we can also build above sensible way “. .
Javid noted his experience leading six government departments and his willingness to leave Johnson’s cabinet because of the Downing Street party scandal, saying, “I didn’t say one thing and then I went to do another.” In an excavation at Rishi Sunak, he said he did not “have a logo ready or an elegant video ready to go.”
However, Javid had problems with his personal tax affairs, having revealed earlier this year that he had non-dom status while working in banking in the 2000s before entering politics.
But he repeatedly refused to say where he had been resident for tax purposes, saying, “I had a tax advisor, like an accountant, who would help me with my international taxes.” He said that “he worked in different countries as part of my job. It had an impact on my condition, that’s not strange. “
When asked if he would deny the use of a tax haven or reveal where he had paid taxes, Javid said, “I have moved to different jurisdictions, I have lived in different jurisdictions and I have been very clear about the reasons for this in “I don’t go into more detail about my personal tax affairs that had to do with a time when I wasn’t in public life.”
He insisted: “Everything I have done in my personal tax matters has always been appropriate and correct.”
Patel is running as a right-wing candidate
Priti Patel has just made an eleven-hour throw to be the right-wing candidate for the Conservative leadership race at a private meeting of hardline brexiteers.
The interior minister is expected to announce his candidacy tonight if he gets the support of the leadership of the European Research Group (ERG).
In his presentation, he warned the party that the country would risk going back to the 1970s if the government did not “catch” the cost-of-living crisis.
“Everyone will remember what the 1970s were like,” he warned a group of ERG members in parliament. “No one in the party has clung to that and it should be our party’s priority.”
He said he would advocate tax cuts, but investigated other candidates to adopt “trendy” tax cuts, but said he had a long track record and needed to be effective.
“We need to make sure that the tax cuts have hit people’s pockets for the next election,” he told the ERG. “When it comes to the trend-cutting line of taxes, we’re all conservative and we believe in reducing taxes.”
The Home Secretary pledged to “decompress” green rates on the energy bill, insisting the party must be “bold” when it comes to future energy sources, saying, “We have absolutely failed with fracking. and shale gas “.
Patel claimed he was the only cabinet member who pledged to break the Northern Ireland bill months before it became government policy. He said the party must “have the courage of its convictions” and not “give in” to the EU.
He told the ERG that she was the best candidate to win the “hearts and minds of the party” and help bring back activists who had refused to run in the by-elections. He said he could mobilize the base and make the necessary changes to make the party a success.
Reheated Thatcherism is not enough, Braverman says
“Reheated Thatcherism” will not be enough to turn around the crises Britain is facing, said Suella Braverman (writes Geraldine Scott).
Exposing her argument for being a Conservative leader, the Attorney General said in the relaunch of the Conservative Way Forward campaign group that she was committed to reducing taxes, rejecting suggestions that she was not “the most serious.”
He said the drivers of a high-tax economy were “an aging population that was putting pressure on the NHS and the social care sector, long-term unemployment. [and] overflowing prisons ”.
He said: “These are the challenges we can’t afford. We can’t cut utilities like that when so many people depend on them.
“No, we need a more ingrained approach. Instead of reducing only government supply, we need to reduce demand.”
But he said: “If we believe something as conservatives, we believe in low taxes. But we need a plan for this decade, not for the 1980s. Reheated Thatcherism will not be enough.”
Braverman suggested reforming public services, for example by emphasizing primary care in the NHS to reduce pressure on hospitals and training prisoners for a trade.
He said: “The way to build a dynamic, low-tax economy is not just about taxes, or the economic supply side, while vital, it’s also about the social supply side. We need a more resilient society “.
She said, “Don’t vote for me because I’m a woman, don’t vote for me because I’m brown. Vote for me because I love this country and because I will do anything for it.
Westminster escapes
Westminster has always had a problem with leaks, and now it looks like it’s tearing down the whole broken building.
A debate in the House of Commons has been delayed this afternoon after water began to seep into the House.
A video shared on Twitter showed the leak entering through the ceiling
CLAIREELLICOTT / TWITTER
Thérèse Coffey, the secretary of labor and pensions, was due to appear at 2:30 p.m. But the doors were locked when the plumbing problem was discovered, which delayed the agenda.
Deputies have been unable to agree on a plan to address the myriad of problems affecting the Houses of Parliament, including the dangers of asbestos and leaking roofs.
A recent report estimates repair works would take up to 76 years and cost £ 22 billion if politicians refuse to leave.
Even if MPs moved for 19 to 28 years, construction costs are expected to rise to £ 13bn.
Michael Fabricant, Lichfield ‘s Conservative MP, said the leak meant “democracy [had been] suspended until further notice ”. He said, “Only in a heat wave can the House of Commons be suspended due to a flood in the House!”
The leak from the ceiling has left wet stains on the carpet of the Commons
FIL PA
Rees-Mogg said he would not enter the leadership race
Jacob Rees-Mogg has been urged not to take part in the Conservative leadership race in a public attack by a former minister who was his closest ally (writes Patrick Maguire).
Amid growing divisions on the Conservative right, Steve Baker, the influential Eurosceptic organizer, said Rees-Mogg, who is considering a late candidacy for leadership, risked splitting the Brexiteer vote.
Baker, who left his own leadership to lead the …