But first we start with the news that Liz Truss has been accused of ‘running scared’ of scrutiny after pulling out of a BBC interview scheduled for Tuesday, meaning she is likely to become prime minister without undergoing a no quiz show. Earlier this month, the Foreign Secretary agreed to an interview with veteran political journalist Nick Robinson on BBC One, something Rishi Sunak, her rival to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, has already done. However, a BBC spokesman said Truss had canceled the interview. “Ms Truss’ team say she can no longer spare time to appear on Our Next Prime Minister,” they said. “We regret that it was not possible to conduct an in-depth interview with both candidates, despite the fact that we have agreed to do so.” In a tweet, Robinson said he was delighted Truss had agreed to the interview and was “disappointed and disappointed it was cancelled”. A source in Sunak’s campaign said their tally showed Truss had done just two broadcast interviews of any kind during the campaign, while Sunak had undertaken nine, including three spots on BBC Radio 4’s Today program and an appearance on This ITV’s Morning. The source said: It is important that candidates face appropriate scrutiny so that members and the public know what they have to offer. Avoiding this scrutiny suggests that Truss has no plan at all, or the plan it does have falls far short of the challenges we face this winter. Britain’s leadership candidates take part in the Conservative Party’s rally in Norwich. Photo: John Sibley/Reuters Wendy Chamberlain, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: Liz Truss is running scared of the media and proper public scrutiny. How can he lead our country into an economic crisis when he can’t even handle a basic media interview? She wants to follow in Margaret Thatcher’s footsteps, but she’s hit the first hurdle. He competes for the highest position by answering the least number of difficult questions. Labor also criticized Truss for backing down. Conor McGinn, the shadow minister without portfolio, said: The British public have no say in choosing the next Tory prime minister and now it seems Liz Truss wants to avoid any public scrutiny. People will rightly conclude that she does not want to answer questions about her plans for the country because she simply has not received serious answers to the major challenges facing our country. For more on the story, see my colleague Peter Walker’s write-up here. Important events BETA filters Key Events (2) Meanwhile, Andy Burnham has once again said he would “one day” consider running for prime minister as Labor leader. The Greater Manchester mayor said his focus was still on his current job and that he supported Keir Starmer, but would not rule out standing in the future. He said: Maybe one day if that was something people would support, but not now because we have a Labor leader who is providing leadership during the cost of living crisis and I am happy to give my full support to Keir. And I have a job to do in Greater Manchester … and I’m making big changes to public transport, which I hope will help people deal with that, and that’s where my full focus is at the moment. He added that he would join Mick Lynch and the RMT strikers on a picket line, adding that he saw nothing “controversial” about workers fighting for their wages. Asked on Sky News if he would share a picket line with the union leader, he said: I would, you know. I don’t see it as controversial. People are struggling for their incomes in a cost of living crisis. Of course you have to recognize the point they make.
Many households will be plunged into “financial hardship”, says Labor
Labor leader Anneliese Dodds warned that the “massive increase” in the cap on energy bills would “plunge many, many households into financial hardship”. Asked about reports that Liz Truss would back licenses to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea and whether that was the answer, Dodds told Times Radio: No, it’s not and the answer really is to take action to reduce the cost of these bills. Labor has been very consistent on this, we have a fully costed plan that would allow the Government not to go ahead with this massive increase in the cap on energy bills which is set to be completed very, very soon, which will cause – Well, it causes concern in households right now, but this will plunge many, many households into financial hardship. On energy security, he added: We have drawn up plans to make sure that we have no further obstacles to the delivery of domestic nuclear, we will move quickly with renewables, for example, onshore wind. Dodds also accused the government of “fantasy economics” about the cost of living. He told Times Radio: We will only produce plans that we have fully costed and I’m afraid that at the moment from the Conservatives we just have fantastic economy. They don’t say how they’re going to deliver anything, they keep changing their plans every five minutes. this is not the case with Labour. Matt Warman, the Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport who is backing Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign, said “Rishi is still absolutely fighting for every vote” adding that the “subversive” nature of the leadership contest “is deeply regrettable”. . He told Sky News: You see him going out and meeting huge numbers of party members up until now, and I think if you’re going to have a contest, it makes sense to have a contest. It was widely pointed out before Boris Johnson resigned how disruptive this process would be. That’s deeply sad and it’s more true now than ever, but I think, as I say, less than a week to go, it is what it is. Asked about the length of the leadership contest, Warman added: I don’t make the rules for how long it takes to get through this contest, but I think I personally would have preferred it if it had taken somewhat less time yes. I think when the party thinks about what the rules might look like in the future, that will be something that a lot of people will be interested in, but that’s not a problem we can deal with now, we’ve got less than a week until the new prime minister . Updated at 09.47 BST
Liz Truss accused of ‘running scared’ after walking out of BBC interview
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics blog. We’ll bring you all the latest as Westminster continues to react and debate how best to handle the spiraling cost of living crisis. But first we start with the news that Liz Truss has been accused of ‘running scared’ of scrutiny after pulling out of a BBC interview scheduled for Tuesday, meaning she is likely to become prime minister without undergoing a no quiz show. Earlier this month, the Foreign Secretary agreed to an interview with veteran political journalist Nick Robinson on BBC One, something Rishi Sunak, her rival to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, has already done. However, a BBC spokesman said Truss had canceled the interview. “Ms Truss’ team say she can no longer spare time to appear on Our Next Prime Minister,” they said. “We regret that it was not possible to conduct an in-depth interview with both candidates, despite the fact that we have agreed to do so.” In a tweet, Robinson said he was delighted Truss had agreed to the interview and was “disappointed and disappointed it was cancelled”. A source in Sunak’s campaign said their tally showed Truss had done just two broadcast interviews of any kind during the campaign, while Sunak had undertaken nine, including three spots on BBC Radio 4’s Today program and an appearance on This ITV’s Morning. The source said: It is important that candidates face appropriate scrutiny so that members and the public know what they have to offer. Avoiding this scrutiny suggests that Truss has no plan at all, or the plan it does have falls far short of the challenges we face this winter. Britain’s leadership candidates take part in the Conservative Party’s rally in Norwich. Photo: John Sibley/Reuters Wendy Chamberlain, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: Liz Truss is running scared of the media and proper public scrutiny. How can he lead our country into an economic crisis when he can’t even handle a basic media interview? She wants to follow in Margaret Thatcher’s footsteps, but she’s hit the first hurdle. He competes for the highest position by answering the least number of difficult questions. Labor also criticized Truss for backing down. Conor McGinn, the shadow minister without portfolio, said: The British public have no say in choosing the next Tory prime minister and now it seems Liz Truss wants to avoid any public scrutiny. People will rightly conclude that she does not want to answer questions about her plans for the country because she simply has not received serious answers to the major challenges facing our country. For more on the story, see my colleague Peter Walker’s write-up here.
