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Advantage Truss

Sunak was trailing 62% to 38% in YouGov’s poll of Conservative members, who will begin voting next week and will have time up to September 2 next to do so, reportsAshis Ray…reports Asian Lite News

Liz Truss, the incumbent caretaker Foreign Secretary in deposed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government, beat her rival Rishi Sunak, the Indian-origin former Chancellor, according to a survey of ruling Conservative party members, the electoral college to choose the winner.

Forty-seven per cent of respondents to pollster Opinium sounding them out felt Truss performed better versus 38 per cent who thought likewise about Sunak.

However, Sunak marginally defeated Truss, again according to Opinium, in a poll of regular voters who watched the debate. Thirty-nine per cent said Sunak won, while 38 per cent stated Truss did.

The debate held at Stoke-on-Trent, a town in the west midlands of England, was hot-tempered and combative in which Sunak was noticeably aggressive, often talking over his opponent.

Sunak was trailing 62 per cent to 38 per cent in YouGov’s poll of Conservative members, who will begin voting next week and will have time up to September 2 next to do so. It would appear he did not make up sufficient ground with this constituency as yet to turn the tables on Truss.

Clearly, Sunak’s strategy was to attack. Several viewers interviewed after the debate thought his constant interruptions were ‘rude’ and they sounded as if they were displeased by such behaviour. It was certainly un-British tactics.

The two contenders clashed on tax cuts — Sunak sticking to doing so later, Truss promising it will be as soon as she comes prime minister.

On British policy towards China, both agreed this should be tough. Sunak said Truss was on a ‘journey’ when it came to China, alleging she had previously argued in favour of a ‘golden age’ in the UK’s relations with the country. Ultimately, they concurred on a clampdown on companies like TikTok.

Regarding loyalty to Johnson, Sunak resigned as chancellor of the exchequer thereby precipitating Johnson’s end, while Truss remained as a caretaker foreign secretary. Both attempted to justify their opposite stances.

The debate took place against the background of the London Metropolitan Police, which fined Johnson for partying during the Covid pandemic in violation of prevalent laws, not apparently sending a questionnaire on the matter to the Prime Minister.

In effect, it did not investigate him as thoroughly as it ought to have.

On Monday, the Met, popularly known as Scotland Yard, effectively admitted in court that it had not fully probed Johnson.

The Good Law Project, a non-profit campaign group which petitioned a judicial review of the case, said: “We don’t think the Met’s response is consistent with their legal duty of candour.”

Johnson’s troubles escalated with media scoops making public last December that socialising had taken place rampantly at his office-cum-residence during the Covid lockdown.

He seems to be backing Truss rather than Sunak in the race to replace him.

Earlier, the YouGov survey also revealed that Truss extends its lead over Rishi Sunak as she gained 24-points.

Now, the two had finally announced and their summer campaign began, a new YouGov poll of Tory members suggests that Truss retains her strong advantage.

According to the survey, 31 per cent of the members intends to vote for Rishi Sunak, while 49 per cent intend to vote for Liz Truss. A further 15 per cent currently don’t know how they will vote, and 6 per cent currently tell us they will abstain.

This puts the headline voting intention at 62 per cent for Truss and 38 per cent for Sunak (i.e. after people who are currently unsure or won’t vote are excluded) – a 24-point lead for the foreign secretary.

The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 amid an avalanche of resignations of government officials, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson will continue to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.

ALSO READ-Truss, Sunak vow crackdown on migration

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Union boss calls for general strike

Truss has said her government would introduce legislation in the first 30 days of parliament to guarantee a minimum level of service on vital national infrastructure…reports Asian Lite News

Union bosses have warned of a general strike this year if Liz Truss becomes prime minister and implements “Victorian” plans to restrict the right to industrial action.

The No 10 hopeful has pledged to ensure “militant action” from trade unions can no longer “paralyse” the economy if she replaces outgoing Tory leader Boris Johnson.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said “coordinated and synchronised industrial action” would be needed if legislation is brought in. He said the “very dangerous situation” risks taking the country back to “Victorian times”.

Lynch’s remarks came as strikes by members of the RMT and Transport Salaried Staffs Association left only around one in five trains running, bringing the country to a grinding halt.

In the wake of Wednesday’s stike action, Aslef – the train drivers’ union – announced its members will walk out on Saturday 13 August, citing the failure of train firms to make a pay offer to help members keep pace with the rising cost of living as the trigger.

Lynch told the i newspaper: “There is a whole host of measures that [Truss] is looking to bring in that will make it virtually impossible to have effective trade unionism and we think would effectively outlaw collective action.

“I think that’s a turn to the extreme right on behalf of the Conservatives, and they’re playing to their reactionary base. I think there will be an enormous response from the trade union movement.”

He contined: “I would be looking for a general strike if we can bring that off, but it’s up to others. We’re a small union compared to others. So we’ll have to see where that goes.”

Truss has said her government would introduce legislation in the first 30 days of parliament to guarantee a minimum level of service on vital national infrastructure.

She vowed she would also ensure strike action has significant support from union members by raising the minimum threshold for voting in favour of strike action from 40 per cent to 50 per cent. The minimum notice period for strike action would be raised from two weeks to four weeks, and a cooling-off period would be implemented so that unions can no longer strike as many times as they like in the six-month period after a ballot.

Asked what she would do about the rail strikes, the foreign secretary told Sky News: “I would legislate to make sure that there are essential services on our railway.

“It is completely wrong that the travelling public are being held ransom by militant unions. We can’t allow that to happen. We need to make sure our essential services run.

“As I said, I am on the side of people who work hard, who go into work, who want to run their businesses. We can’t see them hampered by the activities of these militant unions.”

A general strike, which can only be called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), is when a “substantial proportion” of workers in multiple sectors refuse to work until their demands are met.

And asked if it would call a general strike, the TUC stressed “every strike is a democratic process”, but said: “It’s clear this Conservative government is not on the side of working people.”

It follows the war of words which erupted on Wednesday between unions and transport secretary Grant Shapps after he laid out plans to curb industrial action, including stopping coordinated industrial walk outs, limiting picketing and having a cooling off period after strikes.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “I’m looking at banning strikes by different unions in the same workplace within a set period. We should also place an absolute limit of six pickets at points of Critical National Infrastructure, irrespective of the number of unions involved, and outlaw intimidatory language.

“Ballot papers should also set out clearly the specific reason for industrial action and the form of action to be taken. In addition, before strike dates are announced, employers should have the right to respond to the issue cited on the ballot paper.”

Echoing comments made by Mr Lynch, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “If Grant Shapps had his way we would all still be in the workhouse.”

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea added: “The government wants to turn the clock back to Victorian times when children were sent up chimneys and working people ruthlessly exploited.”

Meanwhile, Sam Tarry has warned that the Labour leadership is on a “direct collision course” with trade union chiefs who have been left “absolutely fuming” by his sacking from the party frontbench for joining a rail strike picket line.

The former junior shadow transport minister attended a demonstration at Euston Station in London – defying Sir Keir Starmer’s order to stay away from rail worker demonstrations.

Picture Credit: Keir Starmer/Twitter

The Labour leader warned his party’s shadow ministers on Tuesday not to join picket lines on a one-day walkout by RMT members seeking a better pay offer.

A Labour spokesperson said: “This isn’t about appearing on a picket line. Members of the front bench sign up to collective responsibility. That includes media appearances being approved and speaking to agreed frontbench positions.

“As a government-in-waiting, any breach of collective responsibility is taken extremely seriously and for these reasons Sam Tarry has been removed from the frontbench.”

ALSO READ-Rail strike brings train services to a crawl

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Now, Boris says he doesn’t want to quit

Boris Johnson told former treasurer Peter Cruddas that he “does not want to resign” as UK prime minister and wishes he could “wipe away” his departure…reports Asian Lite News

Boris Johnson told former treasurer Peter Cruddas that he “does not want to resign” as UK prime minister and wishes he could “wipe away” his departure, The Telegraph reported on Monday.

Johnson also told Cruddas over lunch on Friday that he “wants to fight the next general election as leader of the Conservative Party,” the report said.

“There was no ambiguity in Boris’s views. He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can,” the report quoting Cruddas as saying.

Lord Cruddas told the Telegraph: “There was no ambiguity in Boris’s views. He definitely does not want to resign. He wants to carry on and he believes that, with the membership behind him, he can.”

The peer added: “Boris thanked me for my ‘Boris on the ballot’ campaign. He said he was enjoying following it and he wished me well. He said he could understand the membership’s anger at what had happened.

“He said that he wished that he could carry on as Prime Minister. He said he does not want to resign.”

The paper said Johnson, when asked by the peer if he would “wipe away” his resignation immediately with “a magic wand”, reportedly replied: “I would wipe away everything that stops me being PM in a second.”

Lord Cruddas, who said 10,000 party members have backed the campaign, added: “He wants to carry on to finish the job. He wants to fight the next general election as leader of the Conservative Party.”

However, No. 10 said: “The Prime Minister has resigned as party leader and set out his intention to stand down as PM when the new leader is in place.”

In his final appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson said “mission largely accomplished, for now” before signing-off by telling MPs: “Hasta la vista, baby.”

The Spanish term “hasta la vista” translates to “see you later”, but “hasta la vista, baby” is the catchphrase of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg character in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Johnson’s comments left the door open for a possible comeback, with the Terminator also known for the catchphrase: “I’ll be back.”

Truss, Sunak spar over tax in TV debate

The two candidates vying to be Britain’s next prime minister sparred Monday over how to help families struggling with the soaring cost of living, meeting in a testy televised debate that highlighted the contrasting economic visions of the Conservative Party rivals.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss promised to cut taxes as soon as she took office, using borrowing to pay for it. Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said he would get inflation under control first, arguing that Truss’s plan would increase the public debt and leave people worse off in the long run.

Tempers flared as Sunak said that “it’s not moral to ask our children to pick up the tab for the bills that we’re not prepared to pay.” Truss called that “Project Fear” and said it was sensible to borrow to rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic, a “once in a 100-year event.”

The pair are battling to succeed Boris Johnson, who quit as leader of the governing Conservative Party on July 7 after months of ethics scandals triggered a mass exodus of ministers from his government. The contest has exposed deep divisions within the party as it tries to move on from the tarnished, but election-winning Johnson.

Oddsmakers say Truss is the favorite to win. She outperforms Sunak in polls of Conservative members — though Sunak has the edge among voters as a whole.

The winner will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative Party members and will automatically become prime minister, governing a country of 67 million. Party members will vote over the summer, with the result announced Sept. 5. Johnson remains caretaker prime minister until his successor is chosen.

Truss, 46, and Sunak, 42, have wooed Conservatives by doubling down on policies thought to appeal to the right-wing Tory grassroots, including a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

The government says the policy will deter people-traffickers from sending migrants on hazardous journeys across the Channel. Political opponents, human rights organizations and even a few Conservative lawmakers say it is immoral, illegal and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

The first scheduled deportation flight was grounded after legal rulings last month, and the whole policy is now being challenged in the British courts.

Hard-line policies like the Rwanda plan are less popular with voters as a whole than with Conservatives, but the British electorate won’t get a say on the government until the next national election, due by the end of 2024.

The leadership election is taking place during a cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring food and energy prices, partly due to the war in Ukraine. While many countries are experiencing economic turbulence, in Britain it’s compounded by the country’s departure from the European Union, which has complicated travel and business relations with the U.K.’s biggest trading partner.

Both Sunak and Truss are strong supporters of Brexit, which was the signature policy of the Johnson government. Both denied Brexit was responsible for huge queues of vehicles waiting to cross to France at the port of Dover in recent days.

Sunak is running as the candidate of fiscal probity, while Truss has positioned herself as a disruptor who will “challenge orthodoxy” and “get things done.”

The two sparred on topics such as policy toward China, with Truss accusing Sunak of changing his stance on relations with Beijing.

Sunak says that China represents the “biggest-long term threat to Britain” and that if elected he would close the 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain. Funded by the Chinese government, the institutes teach Chinese language and culture, but have been accused of spreading pro-Beijing propaganda.

ALSO READ-Channel 4 to tell the story of Boris from Eton to No. 10

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‘Next PM will inherit a mess’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Ukrainian troops. Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Ukrainian troops being trained by British Armed Forces in North Yorkshire. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

This means running on campaign issues that the candidates believe are most likely to appeal to this very small and hardly diverse group of people…reports Asian Lite News

The next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will inherit a mess that some members of the governing Conservative Party believe will be impossible to manage, media reports said.

With just six weeks until Boris Johnson’s walks through the famous black door of 10 Downing Street, the two remaining candidates are making a bad situation worse by rubbing acid into the wounds of a party so badly divided it could be forced to call an early election and hope for the best, CNN reported.

Johnson’s replacement will not be elected by the 47 million adults registered to vote, but by a much smaller group of around 160,000 grassroots Conservative Party members. The winner will be announced on September 5.

This means running on campaign issues that the candidates believe are most likely to appeal to this very small and hardly diverse group of people.

“The average age of a party member is late 50s. Just under half are of a pensionable age and they are predominately White,” says Tim Bale, who is professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London and has studied the Conservative Party extensively.

“They mostly live in southern England and are (financially) comfortable. They support a strong line on law and order, they approve of low taxes but believe that public services are important and should be funded properly, especially schools, police and, of course, the health service,” Bale adds.

Unsurprisingly, given the cost-of-living crisis, the main issue of debate has been how to handle the economy. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is one of the two, is calling for a different approach from Johnson’s tax rises, and claims that cutting taxes immediately would create growth. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak argues that he believes this is fantasy economics, given the UK is still recovering from the economic shock of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Seconds after it was decided the final two were Truss and Sunak, an even less optimistic Conservative MP told CNN: “We’ve just lost the next election.”

The job of reinventing and uniting the party, which has been struggling in the polls for months and publicly flagellating itself for almost as long, would be tough for anyone. It will be even harder for either of the leadership contenders, both of whom have their hands dirty from previous government jobs and whose supporters have been flinging mud at one another over a long, hot summer, CNN reported.

And if the warring factions cannot overcome these differences, they may find that they’ve wrecked their own chances of staying in power and hand the keys over to an opposition party that’s been locked out of Downing Street since 2010, CNN reported.

ALSO READ-Truss, Sunak vow crackdown on migration

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Truss, Sunak vow crackdown on migration

More than 14,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK on small boats so far this year. In an attempt to deter the crossings, in April the government announced it would send some asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally to Rwanda to claim refuge there…reports Asian Lite News

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have vowed to toughen controls on migration into the UK as part of their bids to become next Tory leader and prime minister.

Sunak said he would tighten the definition of who qualifies for asylum and introduce a cap on refugee numbers.

Truss said she would extend the UK’s Rwanda asylum plan and increase the number of Border Force staff.

More than 14,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK on small boats so far this year. In an attempt to deter the crossings, in April the government announced it would send some asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally to Rwanda to claim refuge there.

However, no asylum seekers have been sent to the east-African country yet following a series of legal challenges.

The UK stands to lose the £120m it has paid to Rwanda if the plan is ruled unlawful by the courts at an upcoming hearing.

Both leadership hopefuls said they would explore similar deals with other countries.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the Mail on Sunday the Rwanda policy was the right approach and that she was determined to “see it through to full implementation”.

Truss also said that if she became Tory Party leader and prime minister, she would increase Border Force staffing from 9,000 to 10,800.

She has also promised a strengthened UK bill of rights, adding: “I’m determined to end the appalling people trafficking we’re seeing.”

Former chancellor Sunak has also pledged to do “whatever it takes” to make the Rwanda scheme work and described the UK’s migration policy as “broken” and “chaotic”.

His plans would see the UK re-assessing aid, trade terms and visa options on the basis of a country’s willingness to co-operate with the return of failed asylum seekers and offenders.

He has also promised to give Parliament control over how many come to the UK by creating an annual cap on the number of refugees accepted each year, though this could be changed in the case of emergencies.

And he said he would introduce “enhanced powers” to detain, tag and monitor those entering the UK illegally.

He said: “Right now the system is chaotic, with law-abiding citizens seeing boats full of illegal immigrants coming from the safe country of France with our sailors and coastguards seemingly powerless to stop them.”

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the pair’s proposals, saying they were wasting taxpayers’ money on the Rwanda scheme.

She said: “The Conservatives have been in power for 12 years. It beggars belief that they claim to be the ones to sort things out when they have both failed for so long.”

Last month, 47 people were told they would be flown to Rwanda, with a flight booked for 14 June. But after a series of legal challenges the flight was cancelled.

Another flight has not yet been scheduled.

Earlier this week, a Commons select committee cast doubt on the effectiveness of the scheme, saying there was “no clear evidence” it would stop risky Channel crossings.

Truss rejected Sunak’s criticism that it would be wrong to raise government borrowing to fund tax cuts – a major policy difference between the candidates.

She is pledging around £30bn in immediate tax cuts, arguing they will boost growth, while Mr Sunak has said immediate cuts could fuel already-soaring inflation.

Conservative Party members are due to start receiving ballot papers this week and the winner will be announced on 5 September.

Sunak, who quit as part of the government mutiny against Boris Johnson, topped the MPs’ ballots to qualify for the final run-off with Truss. But polls currently suggest the foreign secretary is the favoured candidate of party members, who decide the leader.

It is thought a significant chunk of the 160,000 or so Tory members will vote in the coming weeks.

Hustings will take place throughout July and August, and the two candidates will square off in a live BBC TV debate on Monday, followed by another hosted by The Sun and TalkTV on Tuesday.

Bookmakers bet on Truss

Truss has undergone a political reinvention to become the favorite to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party and UK Prime Minister.

The Foreign Secretary campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union before embracing Brexit with the zeal of a convert after the vote went the other way. And she’s gone from yelling slogans as a child against Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s Conservative government and leading Oxford University’s Liberal Democrat society to become the darling of the Tory Party right.

“My parents were left-wing activists, and I’ve been on a political journey ever since,” Truss said in an ITV debate of Tory leadership candidates on Sunday. On Thursday, she told BBC radio that she’d got it wrong on Brexit.

Now, Truss stands six weeks — and one ballot — away from claiming the top job in UK politics, with only former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak standing in her way. British bookmakers have installed her as the favorite, and polling of party members by YouGov suggests she’ll soundly defeat her opponent in the runoff vote among the party grassroots.

Truss grew up in Scotland and then Leeds, where she attended a comprehensive school before going on to Oxford University to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then worked for Shell as an industrial economist before moving to Cable & Wireless and the think-tank Reform.

ALSO READ-Truss vows to scrap all EU laws by next year

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Truss backs Turkey to join Rwanda scheme

Prime Minister Boris Johnson - Weekly Cabinet Meeting. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the Cabinet Room after the Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired his weekly Cabinet in the the Cabinet Room of No10 Downing Street. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Conservative MP Christopher Chope said that Truss had told him that she intended to seek similar deals with other countries, including Turkey and Spain…reports Asian Lite News

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will attempt to expand Britain’s Rwanda migration scheme to include Turkey if she wins the Conservative Party leadership battle to become prime minister.

In a bid to build support from MPs, Truss said that she would approach Turkey — which houses almost four million migrants — to join the controversial scheme, The Times reported.

The Rwanda program enables the deportation of illegal migrants and asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and resettlement. The scheme was launched to help combat a surge in migrant channel crossings from France.

Conservative MP Christopher Chope said that Truss had told him that she intended to seek similar deals with other countries, including Turkey and Spain. But the Truss campaign subsequently excluded the latter country from her plans.

Polling shows that reducing migrant crossings is the second most important issue for voters in so-called “red wall” seats — areas that the Conservative Party gained from the Labor Party in the UK’s last general election.

But in “blue wall” seats, the migration issue ranks low on the list of voter priorities.

Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, an “international initiative to counter social division,” said: “Our research shows that when it comes to immigration, simply proposing ever more punitive measures won’t hold the Tory coalition together.

“While the Rwanda plan might resonate with some parts of the Tory base, it is toxic to others.

“Instead, a policy that could reach across both blue and red walls needs to balance tough action against people smugglers, and a deterrent to small boats, with compassion and humane treatment for those fleeing persecution.”

The remaining candidates in the Conservative Party leadership race have all pledged to support the Rwanda scheme.

ALSO READ-UK PM contenders set to clash in TV debate

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Democracy’s diversity: Sunak takes it forward

Sunak and Braverman’s fellow Indian-origin Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, chose to sit it out…writes Vikas Dutta

It could be called democracy’s diversity, or even colonialism’s counterblast. The race to succeed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson by becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party, which espoused the Empire, imperialism and British national identity, has been swamped with contenders from former colonies in Asia and Africa. And at the end of the preliminary rounds, the son of immigrants from British East Africa was on top.

Rishi Sunak, UK’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Finance Minister, whose sudden resignation set in motion the circumstances that forced an intransigent Johnson to finally bow out, has emerged the main contender at the end of two rounds of voting by the 358 Conservative MPs.

Picking up a quarter of the votes in the first round, he became the only one to get over three digits in the second round — and is followed by three women present and former ministers.

The initial race had a ethnically diverse list of candidates — British Pakistani ministers Sajid Javid and Rehman Chishti, Sunak’s Iraqi Kurd-born successor Nadhim Zahawi, Attorney General Suella Braverman, whose family’s roots are in Goa, and Nigerian-origin former minister Kemi Badenoch.

Sunak and Braverman’s fellow Indian-origin Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, chose to sit it out.

Javid and Chishti failed to get enough traction to even figure in the race, Zahawi bowed out after the first round, and Braverman after the second, leaving Sunak and Badenoch to contend against Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, and Tom Tugendhat, the backbench MP, who happens to be half-French.

It’s early days for Sunak, who has emphasised that identity of a person born in the UK but with origins elsewhere matters to him. He has to remain in the reckoning till there are only two contenders left in the race, at which point the decision will be left to the rank-and-file Conservative Party members across the cities, shires, hills and dales across the British Isles.

Suave, efficient, but also controversy-ridden, the former US-based investment banker, hedge fund operator, and three-time MP still has a chance to become the first non-ethnic Briton to become Prime Minister.

This, though, will not be entirely unusual — for such staunch British PMs as Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan happened to be half-American (on their mothers’ side) and Johnson was born in the US, becoming the first non-UK-born Prime Minister since Andrew Bonar Law nearly a century ago (Bonar Law, however, was born in Canada, which was a part of the Empire.)

Born in Southhampton on May 12, 1980, Sunak is the son of (the then British) Kenya-born Yashvir Sunak and his wife, Tanganyika-born Usha, who grandparents were born in the Punjab Province of British India, and migrated to East Africa, and from there to the UK in the 1960s.

“My parents emigrated here, so you’ve got this generation of people who are born here, their parents were not born here, and they’ve come to this country to make a life,” he said in an interview with the BBC in 2019.

“In terms of cultural upbringing, I’d be at the temple at the weekend — I’m a Hindu — but I’d also be at (Southampton Football Club) the Saints game as well on a Saturday — you do everything, you do both,” he said, also revealing that he was fortunate not to have endured a lot of racism growing up, save for one incident, when he was with his younger siblings.

With his father a general practitioner, and his mother, a pharmacist, he had an easy childhood. He studied at a prep school in Hampshire, and then he was at the prestigious Winchester College, where he was head boy and editor of the school paper; during vacations, he worked at local curry restaurant.

Oxford was the next stop and he graduated in 2001. The same year, he was interviewed along with his parents for the BBC documentary “Middle Classes: Their Rise and Sprawl”. He was an analyst at investment bank Goldman Sachs till 2004, and then a hedge fund management firm till 2009, when he left to join former colleagues at a new hedge fund launched in October 2010.

In 2009, he married Akshata, daughter of Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and writer Sudha Murthy, who’s also the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. Sunak and Akshata have two daughters.

Engaged with the Conservative Party since his Oxford days, Sunak got into politics full-time in 2014 when was selected for the Richmond seat in north Yorkshire — one of the safest Conservative seats, which has been held by the party for more than a century — and won it in the 2015 elections by nearly 20,000 votes.

He retained it in the 2017, and 2019 elections, with increased majorities. His predecessor as Richmond MP was William Hague, now Baron Hague of Richmond, who held important cabinet position, Including Foreign Secretary, and was Leader of the House of Commons,

A staunch proponent of “Leave” in the Brexit referendum of 2016 and subsequent parliamentary votes, Sunak’s first government job was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government (2018-19) in the Theresa May government and then as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2019-20) in the government of Johnson, whose leadership bid he had supported.

He replaced his boss Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2020, and while he mostly earned plaudits for steering the government’s economic response to the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown, he also became the first Chancellor to be found to have broken the law while in office by breaching lockdown norms.

His wife’s non-domicile status, which let her save huge amount of taxes in the country, also became a major controversy for him.

It is Sunak’s “treachery”, which set off the spate of resignations that forced Johnson’s resignation, that may just queer his chances to become Prime Minister.

ALSO READ-Sunak still on top, Braverman out

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Truss pledges ‘upward trajectory’ for economy by 2024

The report, citing a source close to one of the conversations, said Johnson appeared most keen on Truss…reports Asian Lite News

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss pledged to get the British economy on an ”upward trajectory” by the time of the next national election in 2024 as she set out her pitch on Thursday to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister.

”We have to level with the British public that our economy will not get back on track overnight. Times are going to be tough, but I know that I can get us on an upward trajectory by 2024,” Truss said.

Truss has gained backing from Brexit negotiator David Frost and British lawmaker Suella Braverman to become the next UK prime minister, British media reported on Thursday.

Truss, who received 64 votes in the second round of the Conservative Party’s leadership election on Thursday, pledged an “upward trajectory” for the economy by 2024, when the next national election would take place. Former finance minister Rishi Sunak topped with 101 votes, followed by junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt with 83.

The Times reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is urging defeated leadership candidates to back “anyone but Rishi”. He has held conversations with failed contenders and made clear his view that Sunak should not become the prime minister.

The report, citing a source close to one of the conversations, said Johnson appeared most keen on Truss.

Sunak has been endorsed by leading party figures including Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Transport Minister Grant Shapps.

Frost, in an op-ed in The Telegraph, urged lawmaker Kemi Badenoch to withdraw from the race and back Liz Truss. “She has the right ideas and the energy to deliver them. She deserves to be our next Prime Minister to take our country forward and I will support her,” Frost wrote.

Braverman, who was eliminated from the race with only 27 votes, said she will support Truss while influential Conservative Party lawmaker Steve Baker, who had supported Braverman, also said he would support Truss, The Times said.

ALSO READ-Sunak still on top, Braverman out

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Truss rejects EU proposals to resolve Northern Ireland trade dispute

The Times newspaper reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government could legislate to ditch checks on goods and tell businesses in Northern Ireland to disregard EU rules…reports Asian Lite News

Britain has rejected the European Union’s proposals to resolve a standoff over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, saying it would not shy away from taking direct action in the latest escalation between the two sides.

Striking a deal that preserved peace in Northern Ireland and protected the EU’s single market without imposing a hard land border between the British province and EU member state Ireland, or a border within the UK, was always the biggest challenge for London as it embarked on its exit from the bloc.

It agreed on a protocol which instead created a customs border in the sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, but now says the required bureaucracy is intolerable.

London’s Conservative government has been threatening to rip up the protocol for months, raising the risk of a trade war with Europe at a time of soaring inflation and ringing alarm bells across Europe and in Washington.

Brussels offered to ease customs checks in October last year, but British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Wednesday said this failed to address the core problem, “and in some cases would take us backward”.

“Prices have risen, trade is being badly disrupted, and the people of Northern Ireland are subject to different laws and taxes than those over the Irish Sea, which has left them without a (governing) executive and poses a threat to peace and stability,” she said in a statement.

Truss said the government wanted a negotiated solution, but added we “will not shy away from taking action to stabilise the situation in Northern Ireland if solutions cannot be found”.

The Times newspaper reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government could legislate to ditch checks on goods and tell businesses in Northern Ireland to disregard EU rules.

The move to announce domestic legislation which would effectively disapply the protocol could come on Tuesday, a Conservative source said.

But not everyone in British governing circles will back such an approach, which could also take months to be passed by the lower and upper houses of parliament.

Simon Hoare, a Conservative lawmaker who chairs parliament’s Northern Ireland select committee, said, “No honourable country should act unilaterally within an agreement.”

Were the House of Lords to object to the legislation, the government could try to resort to the Parliament Acts, a rarely used device that solves disagreement between the lower and upper houses, to force it through.

Ireland, Germany and the EU leadership have urged the UK not to take matters into its own hands.

But elections in Northern Ireland last week added impetus and the UK says nothing must threaten a 1998 peace deal which largely ended decades of sectarian violence between Irish nationalists and unionists.

Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, which accepts the protocol given its goal of Irish unification, emerged as the largest party in the vote, while the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which fears losing ties with London, fell to second.

The DUP has now refused to form a new power-sharing administration unless the trading rules are overhauled.

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Truss blames Russia for satellite hack ahead of Ukraine invasion

The assault has now ground on for over two months as Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy losses on Russia’s army and forced it to refocus its assault on the east of the country…reports Asian Lite News

Western powers on Tuesday accused Russian authorities of carrying out a cyberattack against a satellite network an hour before the invasion of Ukraine to pave the way for its assault.

According to the British Foreign Office, UK, US and EU cybersecurity experts have met to assess new intelligence linking the February attack directly to the Russian state.

“This is clear and shocking evidence of a deliberate and malicious attack by Russia against Ukraine which had significant consequences on ordinary people and businesses in Ukraine and across Europe,” UK foreign minister Liz Truss said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, confirming the US intelligence assessment of the attack, said that Russia aimed to disrupt Ukrainian command and control.

“The activity disabled very small aperture terminals in Ukraine and across Europe,” Blinken said in a statement.

“This includes tens of thousands of terminals outside of Ukraine that, among other things, support wind turbines and provide Internet services to private citizens,” Blinken said.

Blinken condemned the Russian actions and said that the United States has helped support Ukraine’s connectivity, including by providing satellite phones and data terminals.

The statements marked the first time that the European Union has formally blamed Russian authorities for carrying out cyberattacks, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

“The European Union and its member states, together with its international partners, strongly condemn the malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which targeted the satellite KA-SAT network, operated by Viasat,” the 27-nation bloc said in a statement.

“The cyberattack took place one hour before Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 thus facilitating the military aggression.”

The British statement also said that Russian military intelligence was “almost certainly” behind an earlier attack on January 13 that temporarily defaced Ukrainian government websites.

Borrell said that previously, the bloc has only said that cyberattacks had come from within Russia, but that it now had enough evidence to attribute this hack to the Russian state.

“We will have to work together with Ukraine, our international partners on how to prevent, discourage, deter and respond to these cyberattacks that we certainly attribute to the Russian Federation,” he said.

European providers said in March that the targeting of US satellite operator Viasat threw thousands of Internet users offline in Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Italy and Poland.

Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor Ukraine in the early hours of February 24 in what appeared to be an attempt to quickly oust the country’s leadership.

The assault has now ground on for over two months as Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy losses on Russia’s army and forced it to refocus its assault on the east of the country.

Military and cyber specialists had feared that the war could lead to an outbreak of devastating cyberattacks that could spillover to have a global effect.

But a worst-case scenario has so far been avoided, as the attacks observed appear to be contained in their impact and geographical scope.

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