News about Liz Truss

Earlier today, the Prime Minister suffered the indignity of seeing of seeing a Labour mayor win in his own constituency as the party hemorrhaged councils and seats. The Conservatives lost Gloucester, which they had previously held for 20 years, and Dorset to the Liberal Democrats . Lord Ben Houchen's re-election on Teesside was a crumb of comfort as the party lost more than half of its councillors up for re-election across England, just months away from a general election. Labour's David Skaith became the inaugural elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire this afternoon, a new position that covers the Prime Minister's Richmond constituency. It was one of the final blows in a day of reverses for the ruling party, including in many areas the Tories need to win to have any chance in the general election later this year. All eyes now turn to mayoral contests in London and the West Midlands, the results of which will be declared on Saturday.

Tories are facing a night of turmoil as results pour in from local elections across the country. Labour are boasting of being 'on track' for power at Westminster after making gains in key council contests. Sir Keir Starmer 's party won in Hartlepool and made another gain in Thurrock as they enjoyed early success. They also retained their majority in Sunderland by winning 18 out of the 25 seats being contested. The Tories lost control of North East Lincolnshire in what was shaping up to be a dire set of results for PM Rishi Sunak. As well as the Tory-Labour fight, the performance of insurgent outfit Reform UK is also being keenly scrutinised throughout the night. Reform beat the Tories in 16 out of the 25 seats in Sunderland, with leader Richard Tice crowing they were 'becoming the real opposition to Labour in Red Wall areas'. The results from the 107 local authorities in England who held elections on Thursday could yet decide Mr Sunak's 's political fate. The PM is also braced for dismal results from mayoral contests and a parliamentary by-election.

MSPs gathered at Holyrood yesterday to debate whether they should withdraw confidence in the Scottish Government. Which poses an obvious question: who thought it was a good idea to invest confidence in this mob in the first place? Who looked at Humza Yousaf and thought: 'Aye, the laddie who couldn't operate a scooter; he's the one for me'? Never mind, for Anas Sarwar was on hand to tell the Scottish parliament that we needed an election, by which he meant Labour needed an election. Sarwar delivers his speeches from such a high horse, it's a wonder he doesn't get vertigo.

It is always a struggle to get anyone in a government office to pick up the phone. But members of the public calling the Department of Health switchboard have been lucky enough to be connected to the Health Secretary herself. Callers were put through to Victoria Atkins under a new system designed to auto-divert calls to relevant officials via Microsoft Teams. Several were connected to the minister before officials replaced her laptop to stop this happening, Politico reported.The embarrassing error comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Budget announcement that an extra £3.4billon would be spent on NHS productivity over five years - with the aim of ramping up digitisation and automation in a health service that until recently used fax machines.

Research by YouGov put the Tories on just 18 per cent - the worst the firm has recorded since 2019. Worryingly for Conservatives , as well as trailing Labour by 26 points they are just three points ahead of Reform UK. The findings emerged as the PM faces a moment of truth with rebels gearing up for another coup bid if local elections prove as bad as feared. The Tories are expected to lose hundreds of councillors, while incumbents in Tees Valley and West Mids have been struggling to hang on. There is also a by-election in Blackpool South where some believe Reform could knock them into third place.

The head of the Conservative's parliamentary group has said rank-and-file Tory members should not have the ability to pick the party leader while it is in power. Sir Graham Brady, who heads the 1922 Committee, has said that MPs, rather than grassroots members, should be the ones to pick the successor to Conservative prime ministers who are booted while in office. The 56-year-old reportedly said it is 'crazy' that ordinary members could choose the next Prime Minister when it was MPs themselves who decide whether leaders are kept in place by no-confidence votes. Sir Graham said the current leadership process - which sees MPs reduce the field of leadership candidates down to two before grassroot members make the final choice - is a 'mistake'. The comments were allegedly made by the MP for Altrincham and Sale West while speaking to students at Durham University on Thursday, with a recording being passed to The Telegraph.

The 200-odd residents of the teeny village of Stow Bedon in Breckland, Norfolk are used to living under siege. Every few days or so, they make sure their windows, doors, even cat flaps, are closed tight. Animals are kept inside. Barbecues are out of action. Patios are deserted. They tell me that on 'bad days' they wouldn't dream of hanging their washing out in the spring breeze to dry. Or inviting friends over for a meal, or even to pop by for a coffee. 'We can't risk it. It would be far too embarrassing. You never know when it's going to be off the scale. Easter was a total wash out. We couldn't go outside at all,' says Ann Cuthbert, 66. 'And it gets in the upholstery, the carpets, the curtains - even the dog smells of it,' adds her husband, John, 65. They're talking about the monstrous smell they say has - on and off - blighted their village for the last two years.

The anointed heir to Nicola Sturgeon took power after a fractious leadership campaign in 2023 that almost split the Scottish Nationalist Party in the wake of her shock resignation. But Mr Yousaf, who had already built up a back catalogue of controversies when in her Cabinet - including committing a driving offence when Transport Secretary - showed non of the staying power of his mentor. He took over at the age of 37 he became the youngest FM ever and the first Muslim. But like fellow Scot David Moyes replacing Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United in 2013, he inherited huge boots he could not fill, and an organisation creaking behind the scenes.

Every year, ten ­million people queue for up to two hours to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. And every year, all but a handful come away wondering why they ever bothered. Small wonder that a recent survey found it ranked 'the world's most disappointing masterpiece'. It all goes to show that, as Piers Morgan has discovered to his advantage, fame can be fuelled as much by hatred as by love. In fact, with his broadcasting career in the doldrums, Morgan's thin-lipped smile might give him a profitable secondary career as a Mona Lisa looky-likey.

Andrew Bailey has had little to celebrate of late. He has suffered the slings and arrows of the barbed Bernanke report on Bank of England forecasting and indiscriminate fire from former Prime Minister Liz Truss. Amid the furore surrounding the Bank of England governor, his eyebrows can still work their magic.

Grant Harrold (inset), now based in Gloucestershire, worked for Charles and Camilla between 2004 and 2011. He suggested the royals will raise a simple toast to celebrate what would have been the late Queen Elizabeth's 98th birthday today. (Pictured from left: King Charles with his late mother, the late Queen and Prince Philip)

What is a conservative? All supporters of free speech must, of course, rally to the defence of the strange conference in Brussels which was briefly shut down by the city's Leftist, intolerant local government chiefs last week. But if this was conservatism, then no wonder the cause is lost. Among its planned, or actual, speakers was our own Nigel Farage. What is conservative about him, exactly? He looks to me like a liberal - much as Liz Truss does.

Squashed into a steamy corner of The Spectator's office in Westminster, Liz Truss warned fellow members of the Tory Right that they were losing the battle for the future of the party. The former Prime Minister - hosting the bunfight launch of her book Ten Years To Save The West - argued that the selection of the next generation of Tory MPs was being warped by wokery, with political correctness taking precedence over Conservative political ideology. And according to a whistleblower who has contacted The Mail on Sunday, Ms Truss is right: the source said the process slavishly followed 'The Script' imposed by the party, which was 'a box-ticking exercise more concerned with virtue-signalling than finding appropriate MPs'.

Up to 870,000 chickens and 14,000 pigs will be housed just 400 yards apart at the site, which was once used as a World War II airfield. Cranswick, the giant food firm behind the plans, insist the two developments between Methwold and Feltwell in Norfolk will operate separately as a 'bio-precaution'. But residents say it will amount to a huge 'mega-farm' which will churn out foul odours including ammonia fumes, generate swarms of flies and have thousands of lorries thundering past homes. Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council is yet to rule on the two planning applications for the neighbouring units but has been flooded with objections.

The former Conservative Prime Minister got tearful when she was asked about how she coped with her children Liberty and Frances seeing the criticism she went through. She told Chopper's Political Podcast on GB News: 'I think I find it hardest when it's to do with my children. Everything else I can take.' Ms Truss, 48, revealed that she told her daughters not to read the papers or look at Twitter while she was in office. In her book Ten Years To Save The West, which was serialised in the Mail, she described how 'most children find out about the fallibilities of their parents over a number of years. Mine saw all of mine publicly exposed in very short order'.

So now we know what one of the brains behind Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves believes is responsible for Britain's economic woes. Blame it on the Boomers. Sir Edward Troup, a former HMRC boss, announced last week as a member of Labour's panel of money-raising experts, is on record as saying that those of us born between 1945 and 1964 are an 'under-taxed' generation. He claims we have 'had it ridiculously good' and should be paying even more income tax, national insurance and VAT . And he wants free TV licences stripped from pensioners over 75 and given to young families instead. When Troup was asked how the Government can increase revenue, he replied: 'We should be looking at the codgers.'

Our brilliant advice columnist Bel Mooney has answered thousands of readers' letters over the years. But what if the rich and famous turned to her for peerless advice about their own problems? Each week we invite Bel to look behind the headlines and ponder an imaginary celebrity dilemma that we have made up for her (tongue firmly in cheek). In turn, Bel will take the letter at face value, just as she does with all those that pour into her famous column each week. She will give an honest answer - so celebrities and politicians, listen up! This week, we imagine what former Prime Minister Liz Truss might write in a letter to Bel.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (left) lives with his family in the same flat above No11 that was inhabited by Liz Truss (right) during her brief spell as PM. In her book 10 Years To Save The West, Ms Truss said the accommodation added to her woes because it was 'infested with fleas' and had to be sprayed. She said she 'spent weeks itching', suggesting Boris Johnson 's dog Dilyn (inset) might have been to blame, although 'there was no conclusive evidence'. Speaking at the IMF in Washington overnight, Mr Hunt said he had taken more radical action to address the situation.

Liz Truss, the shortest serving prime minister in British history, appeared on Fox News yesterday to show off her new book, titled Ten Years to Save the West. A clip posted on X shows the MP chatting with host Brian Kilmeade on live TV before she fails twice to hold her book the right way up. 'Great to see you, and here's my new book. I'll just get it up - sorry I'll get it up front, there we are,' she says as she struggles to hold the book up correctly.

Nigel Farage insisted he is on the verge of making up his mind about a comeback, with potentially just months until a general election. But he stressed that he will not be joining the Tories , despite a 'very sweet' suggestion from Liz Truss that he would be welcome, The comments came as Rishi Sunak faces mounting Conservative anxiety about dire polls, with Labour enjoying double-digit leads and Reform UK gaining ground.

Some 59 Tories - including six ministers - went against the PM as the phased block on sales of tobacco products cleared its first hurdle in the Commons last night. A total of 165 Conservative MPs did not support the measures, which were branded 'nanny state' by critics including former premier Liz Truss . The legislation still comfortably passed the second reading stage thanks to backing from Labour and other parties. As it was classed as a conscience issue, there was technically no rebellion as the government did not whip. But Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch - tipped as a potential future leader - was among those who voted against.

Liz Truss (pictured) was smokin'! Not many others will be, though. The former PM, whose government lasted little longer than a box of Montecristo cigars, led criticism of Rishi Sunak's next-generation smoking ban. It 'infantilised people' and was 'emblematic of a technocratic establishment that wants to limit people's freedoms'. As orators go, Ms Truss is a damp panatella. She takes a while to catch light and can leave an acrid taste. Yet her speech was the sparkiest moment as the Commons debated the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. This is the rolling ban whereby someone aged 15 or younger this year will never, in their lives, be allowed to buy fags but someone born a year earlier will be free to do so.

The prospect of a military response by Israel to Iran's sustained, if unsuccessful, drone and rocket attack is already shaking confidence on equity markets, which have slipped several per cent from recent peaks. The big question here at the International Monetary Fund gatherings is: could there be a 'Ukraine effect' which skewers economic policy across the West?

The Business Secretary said she would not support the move for a rolling ban on tobacco products, which is set to be approved by the Commons tonight. Ms Badenoch, who is seen as a leading contender to succeed Mr Sunak as party leader if the Tories lose the election, said that the legislation would 'treat legally competent adults differently' by bringing in an age limit on buying cigarettes that changed every year. Writing on X she also questioned how enforceable it was, and said the burden for doing so would fall 'not on the state but on private businesses'. Because it is a 'conscience vote' Ms Badenoch can defy Mr Sunak without fear of being sacked. She is one of a number of ministers who are expected to vote against the law.