Braverman says Tories were ‘too squeamish’ in past to deal with immigration from fear of being called racist – UK politics live

Braverman says Labour would open the UK’s borders. It does not believe in keeping people out, she says.

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And she criticises Labour for introducing the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the European convention on human rights into UK law.

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n

Our country has become enmeshed in a dense net of international rules that were designed for another era.

n

And it is Labour that turbocharged their impact by passing the misnamed Human Rights Act.

n

I am surprised they didn’t call it the Criminal Rights Act.

n

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Braverman says in the past politicians have not dealt with immigration properly.

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n

We were too slow to recognise the scale of the problem.

n

Too unwilling to accept that our legal framework needed to be updated.

n

And, let’s be honest, far too squeamish about being smeared as racist to properly bring order to the chaos.

n

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But that is now changing, she says.

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Suella Braverman, the home secretary, is addressing the conference today.

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She is the main platform speaker today, and she starts by saying she receives “a modicum of criticism” in her job.

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She is willing to wade through the abuse, she says, because she thinks we should all strive for improvement.

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She says the people should be willing to admit mistakes.

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The Tories are raising their game, she says. Who do people trust to deliver the changes the country needs?

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She claims the voters will realise that they are more likely to get the change they want from Rishi Sunak than from the opposition.

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Rishi Sunak has refused to deny a Guardian report saying he has not disclosed WhatsApp messages from his time as chancellor to the Covid inquiry because he has changed his phone several times and no longer has access to them. Here is Pippa Crerar’s story.

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But Sunak has claimed that he is cooperating with the inquiry “very, very expansively”.

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In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, when asked if it was true that he told the inquiry he no longer had access to the messages, Sunak replied:

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n

What I can tell you because obviously this is a legal process which is going on, is that I’m helping the Covid inquiry fully and very, very expansively with everything …

n

I think as people will know that this is the legal inquiry, there’s a full process, I submit a lot of different evidence and documentation. I will be interviewed, all of that will be transparent and public.

n

And of course I’m helping with all of that, as people would expect. We want to learn the lessons from Covid.

n

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Rishi Sunak has suggested he would allow Nigel Farage to rejoin the Conservative party.

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Farage was a member until he left over the Maastricht Treaty. He subsequently was a founder member of Ukip, which he went on to lead, before he left that to lead the Brexit party.

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Asked if he would let Farage rejoin, Sunak would not rule it out. He told GB News in an interview:

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n

Look, the Tory party is a broad church.

n

I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values.

n

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Asked if that would extend to Farage, Sunak avoided the question and just said he cared about “delivering for the country”.

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When told what Sunak had said, Farage said he would not want to join the party anyway. He told GB News:

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n

Would I want to join a party that’s put the tax rate up to the highest in over 70 years, that has allowed net migration to run at over half a million a year, that has not used Brexit to deregulate to help small businesses? No, no and no.

n

I achieved a lot more outside of the Tory party than I ever could have done from within it.

n

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Mark Spencer, the farming minister, has defended Claire Coutinho over her much-criticised comment about Labour favouring a beef tax.

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In her speech yesterday, Coutinho, the energy security and net zero secretary, said:

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n

It’s no wonder Labour seems so relaxed about taxing meat.

n

Sir Keir Starmer doesn’t eat it.

n

And Ed Miliband is clearly scarred by his encounter with a bacon sandwich.

n

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But Labour has not proposed taxing meat, and yesterday Coutinho had a dismal time in an interview when she repeatedly failed to justify what she had told the conference.

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Sky's Sophy Ridge reads out part of the Energy Secretary's speech where she says, 'there's no wonder Labour seem so relaxed about taxing meat…' – and asks: “You didn't write that, did you? They're not proposing a meat tax?”#PoliticsHub 👉 https://t.co/GlTNastFii

📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/u1uMX0kUPd

— Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (@SkyPoliticsHub) October 2, 2023

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Today Spencer defended Coutinho – arguing not that Labour does favour a meat tax, but that it is the sort of thing it might do. He said:

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n

I think there’s been a lot of discussion, particularly on the left of politics, about a meat tax. Lefties love regulation, and they love to regulate, they love to put in extra rules and I just – I rub against that sort of stuff.

n

I believe in my constituents and their ability to make informed decisions and logical decisions. And I don’t like to over regulate, I’d rather over educate.

n

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Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has criticised the Treasury for blocking welfare reforms he designed when he was work and pensions minister in the coalition government.

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Duncan Smith said the Treasury was denying the DWP the funds needed to transfer households that claim tax credits to the more generously funded universal credit, arguing that this move would help thousands of people back into work at a time when job vacancies remained high.

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Speaking at a fringe event with Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, Duncan Smith said:

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n

There are two things I blame the Treasury for.

n

Not all the tax credit group are in universal credit (UC). What is the point of having an all encompassing benefit system when you still leave a group of people outside. And that is only down to Treasury money. They should be moved across immediately into UC, because UC gives you an adviser the whole time. Tax credits: you never see anybody at all.

n

The second group that was supposed to be in UC is on employment support allowance (ESA). Again, nobody sees you unless you are on UC. So the point of UC is being [undermined].

n

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Duncan Smith said there should also be support for people who are signed off on sickness benefits, who need access to mental health treatment or an occupational therapist to overcome problems that prevent them going back into the labour market. He said:

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n

The Treasury has got to understand that if you invest in this and get people back to work, the savings are way more than the initial costs.

n

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Stride said he has £3.5bn of extra funds from the Treasury and £2bn to fund the introduction of greater support for jobseekers.

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Stride added:

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n

If you cannot work and you are sick and you are disabled, we are here to support you. And that is why we are compassionate Conservatives. But at the end of the day, if you are not prepared to engage. If you are not prepared to put in that kind of effort [to find a job] then sanctions are an acceptable approach, subject to the usual appeals processes.

n

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Susan Hall, the Tory candidate for London mayor, has refused to apologise for saying that Jewish people in particular were not safe with Sadiq Khan (who is a Muslim) as mayor. (See 10.57am.) In an interview with GB News, she defended what she said and claimed that figures for attacks on Jewish people in London justified it.

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Asked what she meant when she said some in the Jewish community were frightened because of the divisive attitude of Khan, she replied:

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n

Going back to policing, the way the policing is in London, so many Jewish people do not feel safe. That’s wrong, and I will never apologise for defending the Jewish community.

n

I’ve got so many friends that are literally talking of leaving the country because they don’t feel safe. That is unacceptable in London …

n

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She also claimed that attacks on Jewish people in London have “doubled, literally doubled” since Khan became mayor. There had been 1,000 this year, she said.

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Data from the Community Safety Trust, which records information about antisemitic attacks incidents, suggests this is wrong. According to the CST’s report on antisemitic incidents in 2022, the number of antisemitic incidents in Greater London last year was 920, down 27% on the number for the previous year (1,259).

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The CST’s report for 2017 (the first full year Khan was mayor) says that 773 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Greater London that year.

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And the CST report for the first six months of 2023 says there were 447 antisemitic incidents in London during the first half of the year, down 4% for the total over the same period last year.

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Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether or not he will include an announcement about HS2 in his conference speech tomorrow. No 10 sources say he will (see 8.32am). In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, he would not confirm that – but would not deny it either. He just said:

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n

I know there’s a lot of speculation on this. But what I can say is I’m going to approach this the same way I approach everything: thoughtfully, carefully, across the detail and making what I believe is the right decision in the long term for our country.

n

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No “formal decision” has yet been taken on HS2, according to the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, who said that it was “unacceptable” that it cost so much to build high-speed rail in Britain in comparison with other countries.

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Hunt was asked at a fringe event at the Conservative conference about concerns voiced by the Tory mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, and others that the delay in providing clarity on whether the project would be partially axed was creating uncertainty.

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After paying tribute to Street, Hunt added:

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n

But he is speculating on what he thinks a decision might be rather than talking about what the actual decision is. No formal decision has been made.

n

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Hunt went on to say:

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n

If we are going to be solving the big problems the country faces we have to have an answer as to why it costs ten time more to build high speed rail in this country than in France. That is unacceptable.

n

In a different environment where you have lots of money sloshing around maybe you can absorb that.

n

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But went on to tell the event, organised by the Centre for Policy Studies, that the practical impact was that spending on other elements of rail infrastructure suffered.

“,”elementId”:”b467e990-cfdd-4d5f-b7dc-90a16fbcb7c5″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement”,”media”:{“allImages”:[{“index”:0,”fields”:{“height”:”4663″,”width”:”6994″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”http://londonpress.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/echo/140.jpg”}]},”data”:{“alt”:”Jeremy Hunt at the conference today.”,”caption”:”Jeremy Hunt at the conference today.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images”},”displayCredit”:true,”role”:”inline”,”imageSources”:[{“weighting”:”inline”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”http://londonpress.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/echo/6994.jpg?width=480&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=fff5441d2fd1e869f292f830f3ee0d76″,”width”:960}]}],”elementId”:”20b5a217-6ddd-42ab-92d9-45d4fb8edcb6″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1696334139000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”13.55 CEST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1696340938000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”15.48 CEST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1696334290000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”13.58 CEST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”13.58″,”title”:”Hunt claims no ‘formal decision’ has yet been taken about future of HS2″,”contributors”:[{“name”:”Ben Quinn”,”imageUrl”:”http://londonpress.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/echo/Ben_Quinn.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=297a1d09bee05d7004e7a46737ffc547″}],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 3 Oct 2023 16.41 CEST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Tue 3 Oct 2023 09.08 CEST”},{“id”:”651bf4d68f0880e74add40fd”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

The Conservative party has now released more details of what Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said in his speech this morning about new guidance intended to stop trans women being allowed on female-only wards in English hospitals. The party says it is “responding to concerns raised by patients and staff about biological men being allowed onto women’s hospital wards”.

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In a news release it says:

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n

Today, the health secretary announced a consultation will be launched this year to change the NHS Constitution for England to address growing concerns raised by both patients and staff about biological men being allowed onto women’s hospital wards.

n

The move will look to ensure that female- or male-only wards, are protected and that requests to have intimate care provided by someone of the same sex are respected.

n

The proposals will seek to enshrine rights and responsibilities in the key documents to better protect the privacy, dignity and safety of all patients, making clear that women’s concerns about where they receive care, and from who, must be respected.

n

In a further move to address patient concerns, the health secretary today confirmed sex-specific language has now been fully restored to online NHS advice pages about cervical and ovarian cancer and the menopause.

n

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The Telegraph reported this initiative this morning as meaning trans women will definitely be banned from female-only wards. But Barclay was not as explicit as that in his speech, and he has just announced a consultation.

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Mark Spencer, the farming minister, has denounced Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg as an attention seeker whose views on imported beef are wrong.

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Yesterday Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said he wanted to see hormone-injected beef imported from Australia.

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Speaking at a Countryside Alliance event today, Spencer said:

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n

So it helps Jacob’s profile doesn’t it. Jacob is the master of grabbing the headlines. But it doesn’t really add much to the debate and I think, it’s probably my job as a minister to explain to Jacob why that is wrong.

n

And actually backing UK farmers is better for the planet. It’s better for our economy. It’s actually better for our consumers as well, because we’re producing the top quality products here and we’re not going to allow the imports of hormone-fed beef from anywhere in the world.

n

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Minette Batters, the president of the NFU, denounced the comments yesterday, saying Rees-Mogg was “morally bankrupt” because his policies would destroy British farming.

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Unbelievable from @Jacob_Rees_Mogg – an absolute desire to annihilate British Ag – totally & utterly morally bankrupt. One thing’s for certain the Aussies would have deported him if he were representing them. https://t.co/WFG2L5DvbR

— minette batters (@Minette_Batters) October 2, 2023

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UPDATE: In response, Rees-Mogg described the NFU as a “pure protectionist organisation”.

“,”elementId”:”4306cfc1-7820-4c3d-8fcd-2cdf03d4fbb3″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

“She doesn’t represent farmers well”

Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg says “the NFU is a pure protectionist organisation” in response to criticism from its president Minette Batters

n

“,”elementId”:”517bf923-147c-43fc-8dd3-2a8630ff0ed4″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”

“She doesn't represent farmers well”

Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg says “the NFU is a pure protectionist organisation” in response to criticism from its president Minette Batters#PoliticsLive https://t.co/Y3zGwpAQeG pic.twitter.com/h89bLyKX7M

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 3, 2023

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Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has said that comments from her in a speech last week criticising multiculturalism were “mischaracterised”.

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Many Tories, including Rishi Sunak, have strongly defended multiculturalism since Braverman delivered her speech last week, and implicitly rejected her claim that it has failed.

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But on a visit this morning Braverman said she was not claiming it had gone wrong everywhere. She was making a point about the need for integration, and explaining that in some places it was not happening, she said.

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She said:

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n

It’s my job, first and foremost, to be honest and speak for the majority of the British people.

n

And my comments have been somewhat mischaracterised.

n

We have so much to be proud of. We have a great multi-ethnic society and in many parts of our country integration has worked.

n

But there are also many towns and cities around the United Kingdom where it hasn’t and communities are living parallel lives.

n

They are coming from abroad, they are not learning the language. They’re not embracing British values, and they’re not taking part in British life. And that needs to be identified, we must be fearless in calling that out and that’s my job.

n

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In her speech last week, which was interpreted in part as a move to boost her standing in a possible future leadership contest, Braverman did not include any of these qualifications, and instead described multiculturalism as “misguided” and “failed”. She said:

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n

Uncontrolled immigration, inadequate integration, and a misguided dogma of multiculturalism have proven a toxic combination for Europe over the last few decades.

n

I’m not the first to point this out. In 2010 Angela Merkel gave a speech in which she acknowledged that multi-culturalism “had utterly failed”.

n

The then French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and British prime minister, David Cameron, echoed similar sentiments shortly thereafter.

n

Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate. It has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it. They could be in the society but not of the society.

n

And in extreme cases they could pursue lives aimed at undermining the stability and threatening the security of society.

n

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This is not the first time Braverman has made far-reaching comments on race issues which have subsequently had to be qualified. After Braverman wrote an article for the Mail on Sunday claiming that child grooming gangs in the UK were “almost all British-Pakistani”, the paper was ordered by the press regulator, Ipso, to publish a correction saying that was not true.

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Nigel Farage has said that parts of the Conservative party are now like Ukip.

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The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party is attending the conference partly in his capacity as a GB News presenter. But he is also a popular figure with some Tories, and yesterday he was a prominent supporter in the audience as Liz Truss called for tax cuts at a rally.

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In an interview with the Today programme broadcast this morning, Farage said the Conservative party was increasingly aligned with his views.

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n

I’ve been very consistent with the things that I’ve said over quite a long time. I’ve never really shifted from those views, whether it’s regards borders, increasing population, attitudes below small business, net zero, taxes. What’s interesting is there’s now a wing of the Conservative party that has woken up to these things and they’re now saying them.

n

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Asked if he could see himself joining the Conservative party, Farage replied:

“,”elementId”:”372c53db-da92-4040-b9dd-2d3d80a9e8d3″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

Well, if you asked the delegates here, you might be surprised by the answer.

n

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Farage also said he thought GB News would be influential in determining who gets to be the next leader of the Conservative party. Asked if the rightwing, populist channel might shape the next leadership contest, he replied: “I think that’s already beginning to happen.”

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Last night Priti Patel, the former home secretary, paid lavish tribute to GB News at a party it was hosting. She said the country “needed a new disruptor when it came to the broadcast media, to take on the establishment, the Tory-hating, Brexit-bashing, free speech deniers at the BBC and the so-called mainstream media”.

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Patel and Farage were later filmed dancing at the party to the tune of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (probably not a sentiment Guardian readers will feel as they ponder the footage).

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Rishi Sunak is recording further interviews with broadcasters today. At some point he is bound to be asked to disown the Conservative candidate for London mayor, Susan Hall, who yesterday claimed that Jews in London were particularly afraid of Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim.

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As Rachel Wearmouth reports for the New Statesman, Hall, a rightwinger who has supported Donald Trump in the past, said:

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n

I live in north London and I know the wealth and joy of the [Jewish] community. But I tell you something else, I know how frightened some of the community is because of the divisive attitudes of Sadiq Khan.

n

One of the most important things we can do when I become mayor of London is make it safer for everybody, but particularly for our Jewish community, so I will ask for as much help as I can in London because we need to defeat him, particularly for our Jewish community.

n

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Josh Gafson from Sky News has the clip.

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Here’s Susan Hall speaking at CFI event suggesting that Jewish people in London are ‘frightened’ by @SadiqKhan.

‘One of the most important things that we can do when I become Mayor is make [London] safer for everyone, but particularly for Jewish communities.’

Video by @dhaim 👇 pic.twitter.com/RSv0MiTqXB

— Josh Gafson (@JoshGafson1) October 2, 2023

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The Board of Deputies of British Jews says this is a slur against Khan.

“,”elementId”:”d68312de-fc48-4e59-b0a3-2efa0cc68636″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

Throughout his tenure as Mayor,@SadiqKhan has treated our community with friendship & respect.

We hope to co-host the key Mayoral candidates at a 2024 Jewish hustings, where it will be clear that while London Jews may have varying political views, there is no fear present at all

n

“,”elementId”:”9b4ed6bc-9e2a-4453-bf38-3066906d14a2″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”

Throughout his tenure as Mayor,@SadiqKhan has treated our community with friendship & respect.

We hope to co-host the key Mayoral candidates at a 2024 Jewish hustings, where it will be clear that while London Jews may have varying political views, there is no fear present at all https://t.co/m7kWH0D4vb

— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) October 2, 2023

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And Labour politicians have strongly condemned the implicit Islamophobia in what Hall said. This is from David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary.

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n

This is an ugly dog whistle, from a Tory politician who’s only strategy is to spread fear.

Sadiq Khan stands for all Londoners and has repeatedly fought antisemitism. Susan Hall should withdraw her statement immediately and apologise unreservedly

n

“,”elementId”:”b154260a-fd9a-4f72-9dec-cf1438725b48″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”

This is an ugly dog whistle, from a Tory politician who’s only strategy is to spread fear.

Sadiq Khan stands for all Londoners and has repeatedly fought antisemitism. Susan Hall should withdraw her statement immediately and apologise unreservedly.https://t.co/brOFzyDGdw

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 3, 2023

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This is from Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary.

“,”elementId”:”cf46cbf6-212b-4e49-aa8e-1a7734d76ba9″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

This is divisive and disgusting.

Sadiq Khan has repeatedly stood by London’s Jewish communities in the fight against antisemitism.

Susan Hall’s dog whistle politics have no place in London.

Will decent Conservatives ever call this out?

n

“,”elementId”:”65eb3683-d5ee-4f1f-8d28-cd77fcec9e95″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”

This is divisive and disgusting.

Sadiq Khan has repeatedly stood by London’s Jewish communities in the fight against antisemitism.

Susan Hall’s dog whistle politics have no place in London.

Will decent Conservatives ever call this out? https://t.co/mgiQkIDeEe

— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) October 2, 2023

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And this is from Margaret Hodge.

“,”elementId”:”6432e30e-6d3e-4a8f-9c82-82eafa974937″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

This dog-whistle politics is beneath us all.

Sadiq has been a loyal friend to the Jewish community, Jewish Labour MPs & @JewishLabour. He has always called out antisemitism, wherever it has reared.

If she had any integrity, Susan Hall would immediately retract her remarks

n

“,”elementId”:”6ad367be-17c8-4cb5-9f96-0bd0bf435382″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”

This dog-whistle politics is beneath us all.

Sadiq has been a loyal friend to the Jewish community, Jewish Labour MPs & @JewishLabour. He has always called out antisemitism, wherever it has reared.

If she had any integrity, Susan Hall would immediately retract her remarks. https://t.co/bDSi2U4k7K

— Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge) October 2, 2023

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The Conservative peer and newspaper columnist Daniel Finkelstein has also criticised Hall.

“,”elementId”:”cc913cc9-9bee-4a1e-8d66-9b0cb08f669e”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

I think Sunder is right. This claim about the Mayor is unfounded and a flatly wrong thing to say.

n

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I think Sunder is right. This claim about the Mayor is unfounded and a flatly wrong thing to say. https://t.co/tzAOO4C1sJ

— Daniel Finkelstein (@Dannythefink) October 3, 2023

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Nigel Farage has said that parts of the Conservative party are now like Ukip.

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The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party is attending the conference partly in his capacity as a GB News presenter. But he is also a popular figure with some Tories, and yesterday he was a prominent supporter in the audience as Liz Truss called for tax cuts at a rally.

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In an interview with the Today programme broadcast this morning, Farage said the Conservative party was increasingly aligned with his views.

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n

I’ve been very consistent with the things that I’ve said over quite a long time. I’ve never really shifted from those views, whether it’s regards borders, increasing population, attitudes towards below small business, net zero, taxes. What’s interesting is there’s now a wing of the Conservative party that has woken up to these things and they’re now saying them.

n

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Asked if he could see himself joining the Conservative party, Farage replied:

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n

Well, if you asked the delegates here, you might be surprised by the answer.

n

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Farage also said he thought GB News would be influential in determining who gets to be the next leader of the Conservative party. Asked if the rightwing, populist channel might shape the next leadership contest, he replied: “I think that’s already beginning to happen.”

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Last night Priti Patel, the former home secretary, paid lavish tribute to GB News at a party it was hosting. She said the country “needed a new disruptor when it came to the broadcast media, to take on the establishment, the Tory-hating, Brexit-bashing, free speech deniers at the BBC and the so-called mainstream media”.

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Patel and Farage were later filmed dancing at the party to the tune of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (probably not a sentiment Guardian readers will feel as they ponder the footage).

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When it comes to summing up what’s going on at the Conservative Party conference, phone footage of Priti Patel and Nigel Farage dancing and singing along to ‘Can't Take My Eyes Off You’ could hardly be more on point.pic.twitter.com/mSDiau2gGt

— Nicholas Pegg (@NicholasPegg) October 3, 2023

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Rishi Sunak is not particularly good at doing the personal stuff in interviews. On Sunday Laura Kuenssberg invited him to say something he admired about Keir Starmer, which was an invitation to him to say something generous (people like it when politicians are nice about their opponents), but instead Sunak just reverted to talking about himself and his leadership.

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And this morning, in his Times Radio morning, Sunak was invited to say something about himself that people might not know but that might help people relate to him. Sunak could have talked about his dog, or playing cricket, but instead he assumed it was a question about being rich, and claimed that did not matter. He replied:

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n

I think what people want from their prime ministers and their leaders is to do things that are going to make a difference to their lives.

n

I don’t think people are as interested in how much money is in my bank account. They’re interested in what I’m doing for them.

n

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Yesterday Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak’s predecessor, staged a packed rally at the Tory conference, where she and three colleagues – Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Dame Priti Patel and Ranil Jayawardena – made the case for immediate tax cuts.

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At the event the host, the GB News presenter Liam Halligan, pointed out that there are now 60 Conservative MPs who back these ideas because they are members of her Conservative Growth Group. That was about the size of Rishi Sunak’s majority, he pointed out (the Commons says Sunak currently has a working majority of 60), and it meant that potentially they could vote down budget measures if they allied with the opposition. Aubrey Allegretti writes about that here.

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In an interview with Times Radio this morning, Sunak was asked if he was worried about Truss having so much support. He replied:

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n

No, not at all. Lots of Conservatives here. I think the mood is great. People are excited about the things we’re doing.

n

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And then he claimed people were excited about announcements like his net zero changes, the new money for towns, the living wage increase and Jade’s law.

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In an interview with Times Radio, in which he also refused to say what he would do about HS2, Rishi Sunak said that he had to reconsider the project because the costs had escalated “far beyond what anyone thought at the beginning”.

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He said:

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n

It’s clear that the costs of this programme has escalated far beyond what anyone thought at the beginning.

n

I know there’s lots of speculation on it, but what I would say is I’ll approach this in the same way I approach everything in this job, I will take the time to look at it properly, get across the detail and then decide what’s right for the country.

n

The sums involved are enormous and it’s right that the Prime Minister takes proper care over it.

n

It’s obviously not my money – it’s taxpayers’ money and we should make the right decisions on these things.

n

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In his interview with BBC Breakfast this morning Rishi Sunak rejected claims that his handling of the HS2 decision had been poor. When it was put to him that delaying the decision meant this had been a “huge distraction” at conference, Sunak replied:

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n

No, I don’t think that. Actually we’re having a great conference. The mood here is great.

n

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And when it was put to him, again, that the HS2 story was overshadowing everything else at conference, and that this was a “mess” because all people were talking about at Manchester was the HS2 dithering, he replied:

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n

I can tell you, because I’m at the conference, talking to all my MPs and everyone else, that’s not what they’re talking about.

n

What they’re talking about is our approach to net zero, which is saving their constituents £5,000, £10,000, £15,000 – an example of me making a long-term decision for the country, even when it’s not easy, even when I’m getting criticism, but because I believe it’s the right thing to do.

n

They’re talking about our backing of 55 towns across the country with long-term funding to help them change the destination of what’s happening around them.

n

They’re talking about what we’re doing today on Jade’s law. These are the things that people are talking about.

n

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The Times this morning reports that Rishi Sunak is likely to announce his decision about HS2 in his conference speech tomorrow. The paper says that the Birmingham to Manchester leg will be axed, but that Sunak will go ahead with the six-mile link from Old Oak Common to Euston, in central London. At one point he was reportedly planning to axe this spur too, which would have resulted in HS2 terminating in north-west London, and the Birmingham to central London journey time being just as long as it is now.

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Mhari Aurora from Sky News says No 10 sources have confirmed that the HS2 announcement will come in the speech tomorrow.

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NEW: As revealed in The Times, Downing St sources confirm to me there will be no HS2 announcement from the PM today – it will come tomorrow and the speech will be “worth waiting for”

— Mhari Aurora (@MhariAurora) October 3, 2023

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Good morning. Rishi Sunak has been doing a mini-interview round this morning, and not for the first time it has been dominated by him dodging questions about the future of HS2. For years to come this conference will serve as a case study for students of political spin who will try to work out why Sunak and his team went into this conference with this issue still lingering over it – neither resolved, nor decisively shelved until the autumn statement. No one in the press centre has a particularly good answer. Maybe some counter-intuitive, genius PR strategy is in play, but it feels more like old-fashioned cock-up.

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In an interview with BBC Breakfast this morning, Sunak said he did not want to be “rushed” into a decision. Asked about HS2, he replied:

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n

I know you want to keep asking, I know there’s lots of speculation, but all I can say is I’m not going to be forced into a premature decision because it’s good for someone’s TV programme. What I want to do is make the right decision for the country.

n

This is an enormous amount of people’s money, taxpayers’ money, billions and billions of pounds. We shouldn’t be rushed into things like that.

n

What people would expect from me is to take the time, go into it properly and make sure we make the right long term decision for the country. That’s what I’m interested in doing.

n

I think that’s what politicians should be doing. I think that’s what the country wants to see – people who make the right long-term decision, don’t take the easy way out, don’t chase the headlines. And that’s what I did with net zero.

n

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The problem with Sunak saying that he should not be rushed is that all the reporting says the decision to scrap the link from Birmingham to Manchester has, in effect, already been taken.

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I will post more from his interviews shortly.

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Here is our overnight story on HS2.

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And here is the agenda for the day.

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11am: Steve Barclay, the health secretary, opens conference proceedings in the main hall. Other ministers speaking are Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, at 11.15am and Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, at 11.30am.

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12.30pm: Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, speaks at a Centre for Policy Studies fringe event.

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2pm: Theresa May, the former prime minister, speaks at a fringe event.

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3pm: Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, opens afternoon proceedings in the hall. He is followed by Suella Braverman, the home secretary, at 3.15pm.

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4.15pm: Gove and Lord Frost speak at a fringe event on the future of Conservatism.

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If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

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Key events