Liz Truss, the former PM, and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, have committed themselves to an unadulterated form of rightwing, anti-establishment populism at the launch of a new group, Popular Conservatism. In speeches at the launch, Truss claimed British institutions were riddled with “wokeism”, while Rees-Mogg named the ECHR, World Health Organization and Cop as he attacked “international cabals and quangos telling hundreds of millions of people how to lead their lives”. (See 12.18pm and 12.29pm.) It is not clear how much public support there is for this agenda, but it is likely to be popular with the party members who will choose the next leader. However, it is quite different from traditional Conservatism, as William Hague, a former party leader, made clear in his Times column today. Identifying five “rules” needed for Tory success, he said: A second rule is to mobilise elites and the wider nation in partnership, not turn one against the other. There is no case in history of conservatives being popular while attacking the country’s institutions, or its business community. So many aspects of government in Britain need kick-starting, or speeding up, or new expertise, or more accountability, but Churchill or Thatcher picked the people to do that and made the system work for them. Paranoia about “anti-growth coalitions” is for the populists. Popular conservatives have always learnt from expert advice, while running governments with high standards of conduct and integrity. Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has described the government’s dental recovery plan as “remarkably similar to Labour’s”. He was responding to a BBC report saying the plan involves dentists cash incentives to take on NHS patients and send teams to schools to treat children’s teeth. According to the BBC, the government plan was due to be published tomorrow, but was inadvertently emailed to MPs. Earlier, in response to a story about hundreds of people queuing outside a dental surgery in Bristol because it was willing to see NHS patients, Labour used the incident as an opportunity to deploy a famous Conservative election poster image against the party.
Keir Starmer has said Labour’s policy pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investment is “desperately needed,” as he re-opened an issue that has become a source of tension in the party. Rishi Sunak has rowed back on a £1,000 bet with the broadcaster Piers Morgan on whether deportation flights to Rwanda would take off before the general election, saying he was “not a betting person”. Kwasi Kwarteng, the former chancellor who oversaw the ill-fated “mini-budget” under the short-lived government of Liz Truss, has said he will not stand again as an MP at the next election.