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Welsh Secretary agrees that Conservative colleagues should ‘shut up’ as conference descends into open warfare

05 Oct 2022 7 minute read
Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland. Photo Jonathan Brady PA Images

The Welsh Secretary has said that he agrees that some of his Tory colleagues should “shut up” as criticism of the UK Government threatened to engulf the Conservative party conference.

In an interview with Jon Sopel, host of daily podcast The News Agents, Robert Buckland said that “I think it would be better for many colleagues to keep their own counsel.” Asked if that meant that they should “shut up,” he agreed “Yes.”

The Welsh Secretary himself, however, suggested that he did not agree with Liz Truss’ plan not to uprate benefits in line with inflation.

“I’ve always had the back of people in need,” he said, backing Universal Credit as a “pretty useful delivery mechanism” for helping the poorest.

“I know that our opponents like to cast us as some sort of, you know, morally dubious party that only cares about the wealthy. That’s not true,” he told Times Radio.

“My experience of Conservatism is that we’re at our best when we encourage people to succeed but also help those genuinely in need. The safety net is an important part of what a one nation Conservative is all about.”

‘Inflammatory’

His comments came after the Conservative Party descended into open warfare, with cabinet ministers and recently demoted backbenchers openly criticising UK Government policy and each other.

Some members of the Cabinet were publicly urging the Prime Minister to raise benefits in line with inflation and questioning her climbdown on the 45% rate for earnings over £150,000.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she was “disappointed” by Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss’s mid-conference tax U-turn, and accused Tory rebels like Michael Gove of staging a “coup”.

Kemi Badenoch criticised her Cabinet colleague, saying: “I think that sort of a language is just too inflammatory.”

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, another former leadership contender, said it “makes sense” to increase benefits in line with soaring inflation rather than deliver a real-terms cut.

Ms Truss is instead considering a raise in line with the far lower figure of earnings, but said she would not be sacking Ms Mordaunt for publicly stating her firm stance.

The Prime Minister scrapped her plans for a tax cut for the wealthiest on Monday, saying it had become a “distraction” as senior Tories threatened to vote against it in the Commons.

However, on Tuesday she revealed in an interview at the Birmingham conference that she harbours a possible ambition to bring back the controversial tax cut in the future.

“I would like to see the higher rate lower. I want us to be a competitive country but I have listened to feedback, I want to take people with me,” she told the BBC.

“I’m not contemplating that now, I’m very, very clear that we’ve listened to people about what their priorities are.”

‘Change minds’

At the same time, her Home Secretary vented her frustration at the U-turn, hitting out at former Cabinet ministers Mr Gove, Grant Shapps and Damian Green for having “staged a coup, effectively, against the Prime Minister”.

“I’m disappointed about the subsequent reversal but I accept their reasons,” Ms Braverman added, during the recording of a Telegraph podcast.

Levelling-Up Secretary Simon Clarke, one of Ms Truss’s closest allies, said she “speaks a lot of good sense, as usual”.

Ms Badenoch, the Trade Secretary, said the conference has been “marred” by Tory critics “trying to lob grenades” at the Prime Minister, but chose to criticise Ms Braverman’s use of language.

“I don’t think we should be talking about coups. I think that sort of a language is just too inflammatory,” she told an event for the ConservativeHome website.

“People should be able to change their minds without the world coming to an end.”

‘Critical’

Meanwhile, there was confusion over another apparent reversal from Mr Kwarteng after he told the conference he would publish his fiscal plan and Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts “shortly”.

His allies had been hinting this meant bringing the publications forward from November 23 to this month.

But Ms Truss told GB News that the originally planned date is “when we’re going to set out the OBR forecasts but also our medium-term fiscal plan”.

Downing Street aides said only that the PM may consider bringing the date forward, downgrading the likelihood of the move.

Then, in a separate GB News interview, Mr Kwarteng denied he was changing his plan, saying “shortly is the 23rd” and suggesting people had been “reading the runes” incorrectly.

The scale of the problems facing Ms Truss led Mr Shapps to effectively declare she had 10 days to save her premiership, starting with a crunch conference speech on Wednesday.

He told The News Agents podcast: “The next 10 days is a critical period of time, she’s got a conference speech to make after a very difficult few days, she’s got the MPs coming back together again for the first time since things became choppy – of course, I mean, it’d be ludicrous to say anything else.

“But is it possible? Yes, it is possible, and I’m cheering her on to do it.”

He suggested some Tory MPs at risk of losing their seats in a general election might consider replacing her with a new leader.

“The question is for Conservative MPs, if they are in any case thinking: ‘Well, I’m going to be out at the next election’, then they might as well roll the dice, as it were, and elect a new leader.”

‘Responsible’

Earlier, Ms Mordaunt joined backbench rebels in calling for welfare payments to be raised in line with inflation, which has been at around 10%, rather than earnings at 5%.

“I’ve always supported, whether it’s pensions, whether it’s our welfare system, keeping pace with inflation. It makes sense to do so. That’s what I voted for before and so have a lot of my colleagues,” she told Times Radio.

Ms Truss faced questions over whether her Commons Leader had to go in order to enforce discipline in her ranks, but she told ITV News: “No, she doesn’t.

“This is about a decision that we are taking later on this year.”

The Prime Minister has instead been stressing she must take a “responsible” approach to the public finances, refusing to rule out benefits cuts or a return to austerity.

Benefits are usually uprated in line with the consumer price index (CPI) rate of inflation from September, with the rise coming into effect the following April.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that each percentage point rise in CPI adds £1.6 billion to welfare spending.

Mel Stride, Tory chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, said he would have to “think long and hard” if asked to vote to increase benefits in line with earnings rather than inflation.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We’re talking here about people with disabilities, people on low incomes, more than half of them in work, who are already struggling with the rising cost of living.

“Why should they be paying the price for the Tories’ failure and the Tories’ lack of grip on our economy?”


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Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
1 year ago

Not ‘some’ Robert. ALL of your Tory colleagues need to ‘shut up’.

Cathy Jones
Cathy Jones
1 year ago
Reply to  Fi yn unig

No, no, no. I am wary of being a contrarian and getting in people’s grills to tell them I disagree. But I think you are mistaken. I want the Tories to talk and talk and talk, because all they are doing is tearing each other and their party apart and showing the electorate that not only are the Tories scum, but they are also divided and unable to act as a unified group.
The electorate should know the truth of those they elect…and that is what we are seeing at the Tory conference….long may they talk, I say!

hdavies15
hdavies15
1 year ago
Reply to  Cathy Jones

Indeed. Poor old Robert is one of those guys who thinks that presenting a unified front matters more than anything else.

“Can’t let the voting public see that we’re a shower of bickering supremacists”

Frank
Frank
1 year ago

No, no, no. Carry on squabbling in public. This way we can see the true colours and state of a broken down party and inept PM.

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
1 year ago

I listened to this guy speak yesterday, there’s more substance in a balloon…

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
1 year ago

They are bickering because they are living in fear. Deep down they know their time is up and Truss, with her extreme and cruel policies, is accelerating that demise. Change is coming to the UK after decades of decline and it may not even involve Westminster. It’s time we built our own future.

Frank
Frank
1 year ago

How did this Useless Eustace become Welsh Secretary?

Quornby
Quornby
1 year ago

No. Wonder they lumbered us with Johnson for so long……. What’s left is totally incompetent. What a rabble. As for Labour the sooner that the deputy leader takes over the better.

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