Rishi Sunak news latest: Sir John Major says Boris Johnson’s Tories ‘damaged’ UK

Tom Tugendhat has said the UK must not “retreat” economically and politically as he promised tax cuts to help ease the cost-of-living crisis and a “clean start” following the scandal-hit Boris Johnson years.

The former military officer said the British people wanted a government to “not only hold the line but to advance their aspirations”, and warned of a “creeping sense of despair about our collective future” – with a debt-ridden economy, political division at home and danger abroad.

“They have asked us to advance, and yet we have retreated,” he said at the formal launch of his campaign. “In a moment that is so desperate for so many – and when our service is most needed – we have retreated.

“We have retreated into the pettiness of a politics that is more about personality than principle. We have retreated into division when we desperately need unity. When our nation needed our party to function, we retreated into faction. When the moment demanded service, we delivered scandal.”

He added: “I cannot accept retreat.”

Former Cabinet minister David Davis has announced his support for Penny Mordaunt, saying she is the most likely Tory leadership candidate to “beat Rishi Sunak”.

“We need high integrity, we can’t afford any extra scandals after the final two years. She’s a lady of unbelievable integrity,” the senior MP informed Sky News.

“But, most of all, she’s got a vision for Britain, she’s a patriot, she knows what she wants to put across, she knows what sort of Conservatism she stands for.

“As a result, she’s popular in Scotland, she’s popular in Red Wall seats, she’s popular with the younger voters and, actually, she’s the person who’s most likely within the party to actually beat Rishi Sunak.”

Attorney normal Suella Braverman has revealed a brand new marketing campaign video, during which she says Brexit provided the possibility to “liberate Britain” and finish “absurd regulations”.

Sir John Major has laid the blame on Boris Johnson for the federal government having “damaged” the nation and the “reputation of Parliament”.

The present authorities has “broken the law” and “ignored” conventions, and Mr Johnson is “principally” chargeable for the decline in requirements, he stated.

The former prime minister stated: “Democracy is not inevitable. It can be undone step by step, action by action, falsehood by falsehood.

“It needs to be protected at all times and it seems to me that if our law and our accepted conventions are ignored then we are on a very slippery slope that ends with pulling our constitution into shreds.”

He added: “What has been done in the last three years has damaged our country at home and overseas, and I think has damaged the reputation of Parliament as well.”

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak has defended Boris Johnson by saying that he’s “flawed” however “has a good heart”.

During a speech to launch his management marketing campaign to interchange the prime minister, Mr Sunak stated: “Boris Johnson is one of the most remarkable people I have ever met and, whatever some commentators may say, he has a good heart.

“Did I disagree with him? Frequently. Is he flawed? Yes, and so are the rest of us.

“Was it no longer working? Yes, and that’s why I resigned. But let me be clear, I will have no part in the rewriting of history that seeks to demonise Boris, exaggerates his faults, and deny his efforts.”

Tom Tugendhat has stated the 2 candidates who make it via to the ultimate stage of the management contest have to be ready to go the gap.

In 2016, Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the race, permitting Theresa May to be elected unopposed.

At his management launch, Mr Tugendhat stated: “There is no way that anyone who makes it to the last two should either offer or accept a compromise that goes behind the back of Conservative party members.”

The authorities ought to present MPs “unexpurgated” recommendation from the Attorney General on the legality of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Sir John Major has stated.

Asked how parliament ought to cope with the Bill, the previous prime minister stated: “Parliament ought to see, unexpurgated, the advice from the law officers to whether or not it does break the law at home or internationally, and if it doesn’t then it’s a matter for Parliament.

“If it does break the law, then it is a Bill that ought not to be laid before parliament.”

Sir John Major has accused Cabinet ministers of talking out in opposition to Boris Johnson “only when their silence became self-damaging”.

The Tory former prime minister informed the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that the blame for “lapses” in requirements lay “principally but not only with the prime minister”.

He added: “Many in the Cabinet are culpable too and so are many outside the Cabinet who cheered him on. They were silent when they should have spoken out and then spoke out only when their silence became self-damaging.”

Rishi Sunak has stated Dominic Cummings could have “absolutely nothing” to do with any authorities the ex-chancellor might lead and insisted they haven’t spoken because the former aide left No 10.

At his marketing campaign launch, Mr Sunak stated: “Dominic Cummings has had absolutely nothing to do with this campaign and will have absolutely nothing to do with any government that I’m privileged to lead.

“For the record, I’ve not communicated with Dominic Cummings since the day he left Downing Street.”