Liz Truss shock talks to 'freeze' energy bills for two years

Liz Truss’ ministers locked in talks with energy bosses over £100billion plan to ‘freeze’ bills for homes and businesses for two years – with newly appointed Prime Minister set to use speech outside No.10 later today to launch ‘100 day policy blitz’

Liz Truss was confirmed as the leader of the Conservative Party yesterday, beating rival Rishi Sunak 57:43
Her ministers were locked in talks last night over energy bills and a potential £100billion two year ‘freeze’
In her acceptance speech the new Prime Minister vowed to ‘deliver, deliver, deliver’ with a ‘bold plan’
The new government will set out details of the energy freeze within a week, possibly as soon as Thursday

Liz Truss’ ministers are locked in talks with energy bosses over a £100billion plan to ‘freeze’ bills for homes and businesses for two years — with newly appointed Prime Minister set to use her speech outside No.10 later today to launch a ‘100 day policy blitz’.

The new Tory leader, who succeeds Boris Johnson as Prime Minister today, will freeze energy bills, slash taxes and shake up the NHS in a ‘shock and awe’ bid to stamp her authority on government.

The quick decisions will be made in the attempt to unite her warring party and decisively dealing with the cost of living crisis.

Her ministers were last night locked in talks with energy bosses to thrash out details of a ‘freeze’ in bills that could last two years and cost £100billion — and could be announced by Thursday.

As part of her energy plan, the incoming Prime Minister is understood to be considering lifting the ban on fracking and expanding North Sea gas extraction to boost home supplies.

Miss Truss was confirmed as leader of the Conservative Party yesterday after defeating Rishi Sunak 57:43 in a vote by members.

In her acceptance speech she vowed to ‘deliver, deliver, deliver’.

She added: ‘I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy bills crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply. And I will deliver on the National Health Service.’

New Tory leader Liz Truss will freeze energy bills, slash taxes and shake up the NHS in a ‘shock and awe’ bid to stamp her authority on government

The new Government will set out details of the energy freeze within a week, possibly as soon as Thursday.

Kwasi Kwarteng, who will be appointed as chancellor today, will then hold an emergency budget in the next fortnight to deliver on Miss Truss’s campaign pledges to reverse the rise in national insurance and cancel a planned hike in corporation tax.

Mr Kwarteng has suggested that plans to help with energy costs could last for two years, after he told the Financial Times that help will last ‘through this winter and the next’.

Yesterday the politician signalled an end to decades of Treasury orthodoxy, saying he was willing to borrow billions more pounds in order to protect households and boost growth.

This help could be extended to all of Britain’s 28 million households, with Truss allies saying that the plan will ‘get money to everyone’, the Times reported.

There has been some debate about how much the plan could cost, with industry experts telling the paper that it could cost £60 billion per year, while former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said a £90 billion cost could be ‘the sort of money that they may well be looking at’.

‘There’s no time now to be small or narrowly targeted,’ he added.

Another government figure aware of the Truss campaign discussions called the intervention ‘huge’ and a ‘simple solution’, the Telegraph reported.

If the planned support continues into 2024, it would surpass Labour’s proposal of capping energy prices at their current state until early 2023. It would also cost billions more.

The plan is expected to see the Government subsidise the cost of gas being bought by suppliers and electricity generators. This would result in the cost being capped for Brits, remaining at £1,971 for the average household instead of soaring to £3,549 next month.

It had been predicted by some analysts that it could exceed £5,000 by the new year.

However it could lead to a levy on household bills after the immediate energy crisis dips, with the cost of subsidising prices now being repaid by the taxpayer later down the line.

It means that household bills may not fall drastically when the crisis ends.

The plan has been called ‘intrinsically challenging’ by energy consultancy boss Ian Barker of BFY, with director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, suggesting a freeze is ‘unavoidable’.

‘It’s really hard to think of something else you can make work this winter,’ he told the Times.

Miss Truss was confirmed as leader of the Conservative Party yesterday after defeating Rishi Sunak 57:43 in a vote by members

Think tank boss Torsten Bell, from the Resolution Foundation, said that the plan would be ‘messy and complex’ but would support businesses as well.

‘By capping wholesale costs the government will be shielding these firms from rising prices while also helping consumers,’ he told the newspaper.

It comes as pubs and restaurants across the country warned they could face closing their doors for good if they have no help to meet soaring energy price rises.

The ‘twin package of measures’ will also focus on boosting Britain’s energy supply from home, with a fracking moratorium expected to be dropped, Truss allies told the Telegraph.

Plans could also see fewer regulations for building offshore wind farms, and drilling oil from the North Sea. It is thought that future revenue from these expansions could help pay back the cost of freezing energy bills.

The incoming Prime Minister said in her speech on Monday that she will deal ‘with the long term issues we have on energy supply’.

Miss Truss is planning a major shake-up of the NHS in the coming weeks aimed at cutting costs and tackling waiting lists. Therese Coffey, who is set to be appointed as health secretary, has been ordered to come up with a plan for slashing NHS red tape and delivering on Miss Truss’s pledge to transfer billions from the health budget to social care to fix the bed-blocking crisis crippling hospitals.

A campaign insider said: ‘Liz will move fast on energy bills, on the economy and the NHS. It is going to be shock and awe.’

TODAY 12:30pm

Liz Truss was declared the new Tory leader by Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster.

TOMORROW 7.30am

Boris Johnson to deliver a farewell address outside No10. He will then go to Balmoral in Scotland to ask the Queen to accept his resignation.

11.20am

Mr Johnson arrives at Balmoral for his audience with the monarch.

12.10pm

Mr Johnson departs and Ms Truss, having travelled to Scotland separately, will be welcomed by the Queen and asked to form a new government.

12.40pm

Ms Truss heads back to London.

TOMORROW 4pm

The new PM arrives at No10 to address the nation for the first time. She will make the last Cabinet appointments and have meetings for updates on matters of national security.

WEDNESDAY 9am

New Cabinet will meet to discuss issues including cost of living crisis.

WEDNESDAY 12pm

Ms Truss takes her first Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

The moves came as:

Mr Johnson led calls for the party to unite behind Miss Truss;
She will fly to Balmoral to be formally appointed as prime minister by the Queen this lunchtime;
Home Secretary Priti Patel announced she would return to the backbenches with Attorney General Suella Braverman set to replace her;
Today’s reshuffle is expected to leave no white men in any of the four ‘great offices of state’ for the first time, with James Cleverly tipped to succeed Miss Truss as foreign secretary;
Miss Truss appeared to rule out an early election, pledging to deliver a ‘great victory’ over Labour in 2024;
Labour called for a snap general election, saying that Miss Truss needed a ‘fresh mandate’;
Jake Berry, head of the Northern Research Group of MPs, was in talks about becoming Tory chairman – a sign of Miss Truss’s determination to hold on to one-time Red Wall seats;
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said it would be ‘over’ for the Conservatives unless they now united behind Miss Truss;
Amid rumours that he is considering a comeback, Mr Johnson was installed as favourite to succeed her if she falters;
Miss Truss was preparing to lift the ban on fracking as early as this week;
Mr Sunak signalled he would not take a job in Miss Truss’s new Cabinet but insisted he would not make trouble from the backbenches;
Tory grandees called for a shake-up of the leadership rules to prevent a repeat of the drawn-out contest.

In her speech yesterday, Miss Truss pledged to hold to the 2019 manifesto pledges that helped Mr Johnson secure an election landslide. ‘During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative,’ she said. ‘We need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.’

She paid tribute to her predecessor –claiming he was ‘admired from Kyiv to Carlisle’ – and celebrated her win at a victory lunch with husband Hugh O’Leary and senior aides ahead of their move to No 10 today.

She has spent the past fortnight at her country retreat, Chevening, drawing up a detailed plan for her first month in office. Penny Mordaunt, who is expected to join the Cabinet today, told Channel 4 News: ‘She’s very humbled. She wants to get cracking straight away. She is one of the best prepared new prime ministers we have ever had.’

In the early stages of the leadership contest Miss Truss had set her face against ‘handouts’ to deal with the cost of living crisis. Sources said she had since been convinced that the scale of the energy emergency was so great it required major government action.

Miss Truss is expected to brief her Cabinet on the plans tomorrow ahead of an announcement on Thursday, although aides said the timetable could slip to the beginning of next week.

Mr Kwarteng said he was ready to ditch the ‘economic managerialism’ that had left the UK with ‘a stagnating economy and anaemic growth’.

But former Tory chancellor Lord Hammond warned that Treasury orthodoxy amounted to ‘the economic facts of life’ and could not be ignored.

Miss Truss’s margin of victory was tighter than polls had suggested and narrower than the 2:1 result Mr Johnson secured over Jeremy Hunt in 2019.

One Sunak-supporting MP warned that she could quickly run into trouble at Westminster if she failed to reach out to her Tory opponents.

The source said the incoming PM – who is expected to shun most of Mr Sunak’s supporters in today’s reshuffle – appeared to have underestimated ‘the power of the parliamentary party to take away very quickly the prize that she has just won’.

Labour’s health spokesman Wes Streeting called for an immediate election, comparing the Tories to a ‘gang of arsonists saying to the country, ‘Trust me to put out the fire’.’

Liz Truss’s Tory leadership victory speech in full

Here is new Conservative leader Liz Truss’s victory speech in full:

‘Well, thank you, Sir Graham (Brady). It’s an honour to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party.

‘I’d like to thank the 1922 Committee, the party chairman, and the Conservative Party for organising one of the longest job interviews in history.

‘Thank you very much. I’d also like to thank my family, my friends, my political colleagues, and all of those who helped on this campaign. I’m incredibly grateful for all of your support.

‘I’d like to pay tribute to my fellow candidates, particularly Rishi Sunak. It’s been a hard-fought campaign. I think we have shown the depth and breadth of talent in our Conservative Party.

‘And I also want to thank our outgoing leader, my friend, Boris Johnson. Boris, you got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn. You rolled out the vaccine, and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.

‘Friends and colleagues, thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party, the greatest political party on earth.

‘I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people – our beliefs in freedom, in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes, in personal responsibility, and I know that’s why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019. And as your party leader, I intend to deliver what we promised those voters right across our great country.

‘During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservative.

‘My friends, we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years. I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.

‘And I will deliver on the National Health Service, we will deliver for all for our country, and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party, our brilliant Members of Parliament, and peers, our fantastic councillors, our MSs, our MSPs, all of our councillors and activists and members right across our country, because, my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver.

‘And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024, thank you.’

No place for white men in great offices of state as PM-in-waiting rewards allies and axes Rishi Sunak and his supporters – and plots No10 adviser cull

Liz Truss will become prime minister tomorrow and appoint a Cabinet featuring no white men in the great offices of state for the first time.

Ms Truss is expected to make long-term ally Kwasi Kwarteng chancellor, with Suella Braverman moving to the Home Office and James Cleverly to the Foreign Office.

If selected, Mr Kwarteng would be the fourth non-white chancellor in a row, directly following Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak and Nadhim Zahawi.

And Ms Braverman would become the third minority home secretary, after Priti Patel and Mr Javid.

Mr Cleverly, currently the Education Secretary, would become the first ever non-white foreign Secretary.

But equally as interesting as who will be in the new Government is who will not be in it.

There is expected to be a clear out of Rishi Sunak and his supporters after a bitter blue-on-blue campaign in which he seems almost certain to be defeated.

Into the political wilderness too will go Michael Gove, after serving under the three previous PMs. Dominic Raab, the First Secretary of State, and Boris Johnson himself, are expected to return to the backbenches. Both have question marks over whether they can hold on to their seats at the next election.

There is also expected to be a clear out of political advisers within No10. The Times today suggests only a handful of long-serving advisers will be kept on as Truss seeks to slim down the operation.

Here we look as who is likely to be in and out of the first Truss government:

Kwasi Kwarteng – Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Business Secretary, who lives in the same Greenwich street as Ms Truss, is strongly tipped to be promoted to Chancellor and move in next to her in No11

Age: 47

Family: Married to Harriet, a solicitor. They have a young daughter

Education: Eton College

The Business Secretary, who lives in the same Greenwich street as Ms Truss, is strongly tipped to be promoted to Chancellor and move in next to her in No11.

A frontline supporter of her campaign, he will have the huge task of keeping the economy afloat and helping households through the cost of living squeeze.

He will replace Nadhim Zahawi, who could move to the Cabinet Office after just two months at the helm of the Treasury as an interim chancellor following Rishi Sunak’s resignation.

Mr Kwarteng’s first actions will include reversing the national insurance increase and scrapping a planned rise in corporation tax.

In a sign that he expects to take over the Treasury tomorrow he made an intervention today that looked like a pre-emptive attempt to steady the markets.

He used a newspaper article to say a Truss government led can afford to borrow more to give energy bills support to households and businesses but will remain responsible with the public finances.

With newspapers reporting that the new PM is preparing a package worth up to £100billion, between direct support to households and tax cuts, Mr Kwarteng, sought to reassure investors about her plans.

The pound and British government bond prices have fallen heavily in recent weeks with some investors expressing concern about Truss’ plans.

‘Given the severity of the crisis we face, there will need to be some fiscal loosening to help people through the winter,’ Kwarteng wrote in the Financial Times. ‘That is absolutely the right thing to do in these exceptionally difficult times.’

‘We know households are worried, and decisive action is needed to get families and businesses through this winter and the next. They need certainty.’

Kwarteng said Britain’s debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio was lower than any other Group of Seven country except Germany ‘so we do not need excessive fiscal tightening.’

But the cost-of-living support would be done in a fiscally responsible way, he said.

‘Liz is committed to a lean state and, as the immediate shock subsides, we will work to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio over time,’ Kwarteng wrote in the newspaper.

Suella Braverman – Home Secretary

Ms Braverman stood against Miss Truss in the leadership contest but her ‘anti-woke’ stance and opposition to the European Convention on Human Rights is set to see her promoted from Attorney General to Home Secretary.

Age: 42

Family: Two young children with husband Rael

Education: Cambridge University

Her main task will be to crack down on Channel crossings by illegal migrants and to make sure those who do reach England are deported to Rwanda, which current Home Secretary Priti Patel has failed to do.

Braverman’s expected appointment makes it more likely the Government will seek to reset UK’s relationship with Strasbourg.

During her leadership campaign in July, the attorney general said it was ‘unacceptable’ that a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights had scuppered the first attempt at a Rwanda deportation flight.

She said leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – and the Strasbourg court which oversees it – was required to ‘take back control of our borders’.

‘When people voted for Brexit, they expected us to take back control of our borders. It is unacceptable that a foreign court stopped the flight,’ she said.

However, remaining a signatory to the convention is written in to the Good Friday Agreement which underpins peace in Northern Ireland, so it is unclear how this would be achieved.

Leaving the Convention was ruled out by Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab when he outlined human rights reform in the new Bill of Rights earlier this year.

It is thought a final decision on Britain’s membership of the convention will not be made by the new Cabinet until after the Rwanda judicial review, and a similar case next month, are complete.

James Cleverly – Foreign Secretary

An early backer of Miss Truss’s candidacy, the Education Secretary is expected to be handed her current role of Foreign Secretary

Age: 53

Family: Married to Susannah Sparks with two sons

Education: Thames Valley University

An early backer of Miss Truss’s candidacy, the Education Secretary is expected to be handed her current role of Foreign Secretary.

The pair worked together in the Foreign Office in the past year, where he was a junior minister before being moved in Boris Johnson’s emergency reshuffle.

He will keep up her strong support for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

He would also keep up a hardline on China, with a more hawkish attitude to Beijing expected than under Mr Johnson.

But his most immediate priority is likely to be the Brexit saga over Northern Ireland, which is nowhere near being solved despite political paralysis in Ulster.

While the economy is certain to dominate the first months of the new premier’s term, Johnson’s successor will also have to steer the UK on the international stage in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an increasingly assertive China and ongoing tensions with the European Union over the aftermath of Brexit – especially in Northern Ireland.

Truss has talked tough as foreign secretary on all three main issues, though some analysts believe she may tone down her ‘robust’ rhetoric if she becomes leader.

Therese Coffey – Health Secretary

The Work and Pensions Secretary is a fellow member of the 2010 parliamentary intake

Age: 50

Family: Single, no children

Education: Oxford

The karaoke-loving Work and Pensions Secretary is a fellow member of the 2010 parliamentary intake whose Suffolk Coastal constituency neighbours Miss Truss’s South West Norfolk seat, and they have long been allies.

The new Prime Minister is expected to make her cigar-chomping friend Health Secretary, taking over from Steve Barclay who has made little impression during just a few weeks in the role.

She will have to tackle the huge waiting lists that have built up since Covid struck as well as the long delays for ambulances that patients are having to endure.

Sher had previously been tipped to become the first female chief whip in Tory history but has since been linked with a more senior departmental role.

She has managed to have a quietish tenure at the DWP, seen as something of a poisoned chalice in government.

A year ago she was slammed for belting out Time of My Life at a boozy Conservative party Conference karaoke bash hours before cutting benefit payments to six million people.

Coffey enthusiastically belted out the 1987 power ballad from the film Dirty Dancing in a duet with fellow Will Quince – a former welfare minister.

It came as a £20-per-week Covid uplift payment was removed from UC for families across the UK.

Ben Wallace – Defence Secretary

Ben Wallace

Age: 52

Family: Married to Liza with three children

Education: Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst

The Defence Secretary,a former soldier, is one of the few members of Boris Johnson’s final Cabinet expected to stay in their current role.

He had been tipped to run for party leader after Mr Johnson resigned. But he said his focus was ‘my current job and keeping this great country safe’ and later publicly backed Ms Truss.

She has pledged to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The Defence Secretary described the Foreign Secretary as ‘authentic, honest and experienced’ with the ‘integrity’ for the top job, in the Sun.

He also told The Times Ms Truss was ‘a winner not because she’s a slick salesperson but because she is authentic.’

Mr Wallace hit out at the former Chancellor, questioning what would have happened if the markets crashed on the day he quit his role, according to The Sun.

‘I don’t have the luxury as Defence Secretary of just walking out the door – I have roles in keeping this country safe,’ he told the paper.

‘And the guardian of the markets, you know, the guardian of our economy, is the chancellor.’

Jacob Rees-Mogg – Business Secretary

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Age: 53

Family: Six children with Helena

Education: Eton College

The Brexit Opportunities Minister is set to be given a department after backing Liz Truss from the off.

After some reports linking him with a rather interesting move to Levelling-Up, the old-fashioned Old Etonian is now being linked with a move to run Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Founder of the investment fund Somerset Holdings, his experience is expected to be put to use as the new Business Secretary.

His focus in the Cabinet Office has been on making the most of Brexit and getting civil servants back into the office, but his new role will include increasing investment in local energy production and tackling soaring prices.

Last week he announced more than 250 training courses that have been distracting civil servants from work with ‘wokery’ will be axed in a new crackdown.

The Cabinet Office minister claims to have got rid of 60 per cent of ‘wellness, inclusion and diversity’ courses and has written to Tory colleagues in charge of departments urging them to do the same.

Mr Rees-Mogg has been clear that that ‘wokery’ in the Civil Service is wasting employees’ time when departments such as the Passport Office and DVLA face a backlog of work.

His bonfire of events and meetings include sessions called ‘Find Your Mojo’, ‘Give Me Strength’, ‘Buddy to Boss’, ‘Tricky People’, ‘Wood for the Trees’ and ‘De-biasing Decision-making’.

Mr Rees-Mogg has also taken a hammer to course he believes were ‘indoctrinating’ civil servants with ‘divisive ideological agendas’ having led a crusade to get taxpayer-funded staff back in the office.

Brandon Lewis – Justice Secretary

Like Miss Truss, he has been a Norfolk MP since 2010 – but he backed Nadhim Zahawi for the leadership at first

Age: 51

Family: Married to Justine with two children

Education: University of Buckingham, King’s College London

Like Miss Truss, he has been a Norfolk MP since 2010 – but he backed Nadhim Zahawi for the leadership at first.

Mr Lewis, Northern Ireland Secretary for two years, could get his biggest role to date as Justice Secretary.

He would replace Dominic Raab, who is certain to return to the backbenches, and would have to handle the ongoing barristers’ strike.

He was at Northern Ireland throughout one of its trickiest periods, with the country’s political establishment at war over the way Brexit has affected it.

While he would leave without a solution having been achieved, he is seen as having done a good job in difficult circumstances.

Simon Clarke – Levelling-Up Secretary

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he had been expected to back Chancellor Rishi Sunak for the party leadership. But instead Mr Clarke quickly announced his support for Miss Truss and her plans to cut tax.

Age: 37

Family: Divorced, has a son with ex-wife Hannah

Education: Oxford

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he had been expected to back Chancellor Rishi Sunak for the party leadership.

But instead Mr Clarke quickly announced his support for Miss Truss and her plans to cut tax.

He had been linked with a Treasury promotion to Chancellor but appears to have lost out to Mr Kwarteng.

An MP in the North East where he grew up, he is in line to become Levelling-Up Secretary and will have to deliver on the promises made to voters in the ‘red wall’ constituencies at the last election.

These areas will likely bear the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis so what he can do in this new role with have a key role in Tory electoral fortunes at the next election.

Tom Tugendhat – Security Minister

He was seen as the leading moderate One Nation Conservative candidate in the race for the party leadership before being knocked out.

Age: 49

Family: Two children with wife Anissia

Education: St Paul’s, University of Bristol

Tom Tugendhat made a surprise move to back Liz Truss after he was eliminated from the leadership election in the group stage.

He was seen as the leading moderate One Nation Conservative candidate in the race for the party leadership before being knocked out.

His endorsement boosted Ms Truss’s claim she can unite the Conservative Party.

Mr Tugendhat said he supported the frontrunner’s pledge to cut taxes, saying they were ‘founded on true Conservative principles’.

Writing in The Times, Mr Tugendhat argued it was ‘not right’ for the public to shoulder the highest tax burden in 70 years while people look to the winter with ‘dread’ amid rising costs.

A China and general foreign policy hawk, Iraq veteran Mr Tugendhat could be rewarded with his first ministerial post.

He has been linked with Security Minister at the Home Office, or a similar level post at the Foreign Office.

OUT

Boris Johnson

The current PM seems set to spend some time in the political wilderness. Quite how much time remains to be seen.

Conservative MPs who are considering forcing a vote of no confidence in their next leader have been warned the move would be ‘suicidal’ by a fellow MP.

Allies of the outgoing Prime Minister have been working on plans to keep Boris Johnson in No 10, according to The Times.

The news follows Mr Johnson’s former chief of staff hinting yesterday at a shock comeback for the PM saying people should ‘never write him off’.

Mr Johnson’s supporters are rumoured to be plotting an immediate coup once the new Prime Minster has been chosen, eyeing up a no confidence vote before Christmas.

Jake Berry MP, who supported Mr Johnson in his election campaign, suggested that an attempt to return to office is ‘certainly suicidal’ and would destroy the party.

While one supporter reportedly said the party would soon realise they lost a ‘first-rate’ leader.

The outgoing leader is also said to be keen to make some money on the after-dinner speaking scene after struggling by on his £162,000 salary.

Rishi Sunak

The former Chancellor is widely expected to be defeated by Liz Truss when the results of the contest are finally announced tomorrow.

Rishi Sunak last night dismissed rumours he will quit the Commons and head for California if he loses the Tory leadership battle.

The former Chancellor is widely expected to be defeated by Liz Truss when the results of the contest are finally announced tomorrow.

But he shrugged off speculation he could opt to return to the US – where he previously worked – insisting he wants to stay as MP for Richmond in Yorkshire.

Instead he stressed he would continue to ‘support the Conservative government’, even though there are signs Ms Truss will not offer him a job in her Cabinet.

When BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg pointed to clips of him praising California, Mr Sunak – reputed to be one of the richest MPs with a billionaire heiress wife – said: ‘I’m going to stay as a Member of Parliament.’

Revealing he was with activists in his constituency after the campaign formally ended on Friday, Mr Sunak said: ‘It’s been a great privilege to represent them as their Member of Parliament for Richmond in north Yorkshire, I’d love to keep doing that as long as they’ll have me.’

He added: ‘It’s presumptuous for me to say because I have to get selected by my own members. But I was with them on Friday night and it’s been a great privilege to represent them. And I know I can do good work for them.’

Asked if he would run in the leadership again if he does not win this time, Mr Sunak said: ‘Oh gosh. We’ve just finished this campaign. So, I’d say … I need to recover from this one. But I look forward to supporting the Conservative government in whatever capacity.’

Asked if that is a yes, he said: ‘No gosh, no no no, I think my job now is just to support a Conservative government. That’s what I want to see succeed and that’s what I’ll do.’

Michael Gove

Michael Gove announced he was quitting frontline politics last month while formally endorsing Rishi Sunak to be the next prime minister

With one last dig at his old rival Boris Johnson, the former levelling up secretary said the ex-chancellor will ‘put the strength of the state at the service of the weakest’ and give millions of people the help they need to battle the cost-of-living crisis.

In a piece for the Times, he also branded long-standing Boris ally Liz Truss’s campaign as a ‘holiday from reality’, and said her proposed tax cuts will put ‘the stock options of FTSE 100 executives’ before the poorest.

It comes after it was claimed that the former Levelling-up Secretary would be outcast to ‘political Siberia’ if Ms Truss wins the Conservative leadership battle, as punishment for his ‘plotting’ to get her knocked out of the race – a claim an ally of his branded an ‘absurd conspiracy’.

Mr Johnson sacked Mr Gove from his cabinet role over the phone on July 6 for ‘treachery’, after he had privately urged the embattled PM to quit.

It was the latest saga in their decades-long rivalry, which stretches right back to their university days at Oxford, where the slightly younger Gove was described as being in awe of the current Prime Minister and one of the key members of the ‘Boris cult’.

But the relationship turned sour when he famously torpedoed Mr Johnson’s leadership bid in 2016 by withdrawing support for him at the 11th hour and running himself – reportedly having been ‘appalled’ by his rivals decision to play cricket and ‘throw a boozy garden party’ instead of working on delivering Brexit after Vote Leave won the referendum.

He now says he is acting from the heart by backing Sunak – branded a ‘snake’ and ‘back-stabber’ by fierce Boris allies – because he believes his career on the frontbench is over.

‘I do not expect to be in government again. But it was the privilege of my life to spend 11 years in the cabinet under three prime ministers,’ he wrote.

Last week he laughed off claims he could become a newspaper editor as he vowed to stay as an MP.

Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab will be condemned to the political wilderness in punishment for his ‘vicious’ barbs against Liz Truss if she becomes the next Prime Minister, her allies have suggested.

They described the Rishi Sunak-backer’s attack on her plans to cut tax as ‘the saddest moment of the campaign’, as the pair were once close.

But the Deputy Prime Minister’s allies hit back yesterday, saying he had ‘seen it all before’ – and accusing her campaign of lacking charm.

The latest acrimony began after Mr Raab branded Ms Truss’s tax-cutting plans as ‘electoral suicide’. The Foreign Secretary dismissed his intervention as spreading ‘portents of doom’.

Then, rebuffing claims that Mr Sunak had ‘stabbed Boris in the back’, the deputy PM said ‘Liz was doing lots of groundwork with her Fizz for Liz [dinners with MPs] for months.’

Up stepped her most outspoken ally, Nadine Dorries, who on Friday night retorted: ‘Liz may have had drinks with MPs – but she did not resign her job, walk away, furtively campaign with MPs for votes, register a website and was not campaign ready or part of a planned coup. Sunak was. You can’t rewrite the facts.’

In a further escalation, other supporters of Ms Truss went into battle, accusing Mr Raab of being ‘bitter’ over his removal from the Foreign Office following the bungled evacuation from Afghanistan.

Priti Patel

The Home Secretary, who considered her own run for the top job, chose to stay neutral in the race in the hope that whoever succeeded Boris Johnson would keep her in post.

Priti Patel faces the Cabinet axe after failing to back Liz Truss for the Tory leadership.

The Home Secretary, who considered her own run for the top job, chose to stay neutral in the race in the hope that whoever succeeded Boris Johnson would keep her in post.

But she looked set to be replaced by Suella Braverman after several years of failure to deal with migrants crossing the Channel from France.

Ms Patel has told friends she is not interested in taking another job and is expected to return to the backbenches if she is offered a demotion.

When Mr Johnson quit, she was persuaded to stay out of the leadership race to avoid splitting votes on the Tory Right.

Keir Starmer attacks ‘out of touch’ Liz Truss over cost-of-living response as the leaders prepare to square up for the first time at PMQs

Keir Starmer opened hostilities with ‘out of touch’ Liz Truss today as the leaders prepare to square up for the first time.

The Labour leader offered token congratulations to the incoming PM after she was declared the winner of the Tory contest.

But he immediately fired a barrage against Ms Truss’s plans to drop hikes in corporation tax, accusing her of ignoring the cost-of-living crisis.

Teeing up their first PMQs battle on Wednesday, he also demanded to know how the premier would pay for a prospective freeze in energy bills, stressing Labour was proposing a bigger windfall tax on oil and gas firms.

A cost-of-living crisis, record of Channel migrant crossings, a Brexit impasse and war in Ukraine: Liz Truss faces a bulging No10 in-tray AND needs to finds a way to heal the fractured Tory Party after divisive leadership campaign

Liz Truss won the keys to Downing Street today – keys that also open a Pandora’s Box of challenges for the new prime minister.

The new prime minister will have no time for a political honeymoon, getting her feet under the desk and choosing new wallpaper for the No10 flat.

Instead she will be engulfed by a tornado of economic terror, the running sore of Brexit and war in Europe.

Her in-tray is already bulging with crises present and future, which need mitigating or avoiding.

And alongside these national issues, she will have the equally hard task of knitting the Conservative Party back together after a leadership race that saw bitter blue-on-blue infighting in public.

Ms Truss won the backing of just a thirds of Tory MPs before the party membership over-ruled their support for Rishi Sunak to replace Boris Johnson.

While some ambitious MPs have public shifted to support her she will need to move fast to heal the wounds ahead of an election just two years away.

Here we look at the main issued she will have to deal with when she enters No10.

The cost of living crisis

The new prime minister will have no time for a political honeymoon, getting her feet under the desk and choosing new wallpaper for the No10 flat.

Energy bills are set to soar again in October, with fears many families will be unable to pay

Woe for consumers and holidaymakers as pound hits 37-year low against dollar

The pound fell below its pandemic lows against the dollar on Monday morning after weeks of weakening, sending it to the lowest point in decades.

It means that it has been 37 years since British holidaymakers in the US, and importers bringing products into the UK, got so little bang for their pound.

It briefly fell to a low where one pound could buy just 1.1443 dollars, below the 1.14506 it touched on March 19 2020.

The fall will make imports considerably more expensive for Britons, as much global trade is transacted in dollars.

Ms Truss is mulling a £100billion package to freeze energy bills as she braces to be named the UK’s next PM.

She has has vowed ‘immediate’ action to ease the pressure on struggling families – having earlier ruled out ‘handouts’ for families during the leadership campaign.

Millions say that with bills set to rise by 80 percent from October – and even higher from January – they face a painful choice between eating and heating this winter, according to surveys.

Speculation is mounting that she will opt for a bold furlough-style move – possibly by loaning companies money to hold down costs.

The plan emerged as wholesale gas prices soared again this morning, by around 30 per cent, following Russia’s decision to shut down a key gas pipeline.

Chancellor-in-waiting Kwasi Kwarteng has already been scrambling to reassure markets that although government borrowing will be ‘looser’ it will remain ‘responsible’. Ms Truss has also promised a wave of tax cuts aimed at boosting economic growth.

Ms Truss told the BBC yesterday that she will reveal fresh supports for struggling households within a week, but refused to spell out details.

‘Before you have been elected as prime minister, you don’t have all the wherewithal to get the things done,’ she told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

‘This is why it will take a week to sort out the precise plans and make sure we are able to announce them. That is why I cannot go into details at this stage. It would be wrong.’

British energy producers witnessed another huge rise in wholesale prices today, with gas prices surging by 20 to 30 per cent this morning.

The increase comes after a last-minute decision by Russia’s state-backed energy firm Gazprom to block the reopening of the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe.

While the UK receives only 4 per cent of its gas from Nord Stream 1, other countries such as Germany are much more reliant on the pipeline, meaning its closure is causing prices to spike on international energy markets.

The move has raised fears factories could be forced to adopt a four-day working week to conserve energy. No date has yet been set for when Nord Stream 1 will be reopened.

Britain is teetering on the brink of recession after the private sector contracted in August.

The closely-watched S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI survey suggested the all-important services sector only just eked out growth last month, with a worse-than-expected reading of 50.9, down from 52.6 in July and the slowest pace of expansion for a year-and-a-half.

This left the composite reading for private sector activity – taking into account manufacturing and services survey data – at 49.6 in August, down from 52.1 in July and the first drop below the crucial 50 no-change mark in 18 months. A reading below 50 shows contraction.

Channel Migrants

Some 915 were detected on Saturday in 19 small boats, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, taking the provisional total for the year to 25,146

Border Force and the military escort migrant ashore at Dover Docks after they crossed the English Channel in Dover, Britain, 27 August

Liz Truss has vowed to make the issue of Channel migrants and immigration a ‘top priority’ if she becomes Prime Minister.

She aims to ensure the Rwanda policy to deport migrants will get off the ground after being so far thwarted by lawyers.

Her pledge came as hundreds of migrants crossed from France in small boats at the weekend, with this year’s surge in arrivals showed no sign of abating.

At the end of August government figures showed more than 25,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year. It means 2022 is on course to be a record year for crossings in small boats.

It is more than four months since Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.

Since then 19,878 have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

A source said: ‘Liz knows we need to break the cycle of appalling gangs and stop people making the dangerous journey across the Channel.

‘She’s determined to see the Rwanda policy through to full implementation as well as exploring other countries where we can work on similar partnerships.

‘This will be a top priority if she becomes Prime Minister.’

One of those who will play a key role in a Truss government is Suella Braverman, who is expected to be promoted from Attorney-General to Home Secretary.

The former leadership hopeful is understood to have discussed her plans for the brief with Ms Truss over the course of several months, including the controversial Rwanda deportation scheme.

Allies have said that the legal nous of Ms Braverman, who was knocked out of the leadership contest in July, makes her well placed to tackle left-wing lawyers attempting to frustrate the scheme to deport migrants to the African country.

A source said: ‘She needs to absolutely make sure we deliver on Rwanda. It means addressing the ways in which it has been frustrated, which are principally through legal devices using the Human Rights Act.’

Last month, Ms Braverman told a think tank that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was undermining policy set out by democratically-elected governments in relation to illegal immigration.

War in Ukraine

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has stalled thanks to the grit of the country’s armed forces and Western intervention.

Ms Truss is expected to continue the UK’s hawkish backing for Kyiv, which has received supplies of arms and training from the UK.

Boris Johnson could have a final phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom he has struck up a close bromance.

At the weekend, the First Lady of Ukraine pleaded to Brits suffering under soaring energy bills to remember that Ukraine is still counting casualties.

In a powerful interview with the BBC, Olena Zelenska has reminded the world that while the rest of Europe has been suffering under the energy crisis, Ukraine has been at the forefront of Russian attacks.

This comes as Russian energy giant Gazprom indefinitely cuts off all Nord Stream supplies to Europe following three day maintenance.

She said: ‘The prices are going up in Ukraine as well. But in addition our people get killed.

‘So when you start counting pennies on your bank account or in your pocket, we do the same and count our casualties.

In an interview with the BBC, Olena Zelenska (pictured) has reminded the world that while the rest of Europe has been suffering under the energy crisis, Ukraine has been at the forefront of Russian attacks

‘I understand the situation is very tough. But let me recall that at the time of the Covid-19 epidemic, and it’s still with us, when there were price hikes, Ukraine was affected as well.

Speaking on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Mrs Zelenska also said that if support for Ukraine was strong the energy crisis would be shorter.

During his final visit to Kyiv as prime minister last month, Boris Johnson said: ‘If we’re paying in our energy bills for the evils of Vladimir Putin, the people of Ukraine are paying in their blood.’

Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Mr Zelensky paid tribute to UK solidarity with Ukraine following the Russian invasion. He also promised to forge ‘close relations’ with the new prime minister.

The Ukrainian president used the article to thank Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, calling them ‘great leaders and friends of Ukraine’.

Mr Zelensky wrote: ‘At each and every meeting and conversation between us, Boris had one very good question: What else? What else do you need?

From Lib Dem activist to Tory PM: Liz Truss becomes UK’s third female prime minister

Liz Truss’s political journey has taken her from a teenage Lib Dem to a Tory prime minister before she is 50.

She grew up in Paisley, Leeds and Canada, as her academic father moved between teaching posts. John Truss and his nurse wife Priscilla, were both Left-wingers who took their daughter on CND marches.

After a brief flirtation with the Liberal Democrats, Ms Truss moved to the Right after encountering Conservative students at Oxford University, where she read PPE. She was elected MP for South West Norfolk in 2010.

Ms Truss married her husband, Hugh O’Leary, a chartered accountant, in 2000. The couple a very private marriage that would be thrust more centrally into the spotlight if she were to enter No10.

She played up her comprehensive education in the leadership race, saying that her school years in a well-off Leeds suburb made her want to try to give every child ‘the best opportunity to succeed’.

She will enter power tomorrow after meeting to Queen at Balmoral after a bitter and divisive election campaign against ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, who faced fury from Tories who accused him of toppling Boris Johnson.

Alongside the new PM will be her husband, Hugh O’Leary. She and the chartered accountant married in 2000 and until now enjoyed a very private marriage that will now be thrust centrally into the spotlight.

In 2009, it was revealed she had an 18-month affair with MP Mark Field four years previously.

According to Mr Field, the Oxford-educated son of an Army major, the affair ended in June 2005. But the story led to unsuccessful attempts to deselect her as a candidate in Norfolk.

The members of South West Norfolk Conservative Association insisted furiously that they were told nothing about this ‘skeleton in the closet’ before they voted for her.

The marriage survived and the couple went on to have two children.

Like Rishi Sunak, she served for years under Boris Johnson in senior Cabinet posts. Ms Truss also served under her predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron in a ministerial career that stretches back to 2012.

She first attracted public attention in 2014 when she was made environment secretary. That year she made a viral speech to the Conservative Party Conference slamming UK cheese imports and highlighting the importance of ‘pork markets’ in China.

She was moved to justice secretary and lord chancellor by Theresa May after the Brexit referendum before heading to the Treasury as chief secretary.

Under Boris Johnson she was international trade secretary before becoming Foreign Secretary in place of Dominic Raab last year, after he was criticised for staying on a Mediterranean holiday while Kabul fell to the Taliban. She was also equalities minister before Kemi Badenoch.

While international trade secretary she negotiated free trade deals with nations including Australia, Japan and Singapore.

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