Tory conference LIVE: Kemi Badenoch branded 'key plotter' in brutal party showdown

A new poll suggests the British public is largely indifferent to the Conservative leadership race, with nearly two-thirds (64 percent) saying they do not care who becomes the next leader of the Conservative Party.

This lack of interest is consistent across age groups and includes almost a third (32 percent) of those who voted Conservative on July 4 saying that they do not care very much or at all.

The Ipsos poll, conducted among 1,100 British adults last weekend (Sept 20-23) also found that public awareness of the Conservative leadership candidates remains low.

While Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and Nigel Farage are familiar faces, the same cannot be said for the Conservative hopefuls. Just 25 percent know a great deal or fair amount about James Cleverly, 21 percent Kemi Badenoch, 18 percent Robert Jenrick and 17 percent Tom Tugendhat.

James Clverly has said Lasbour has "no plan" to stop illegal immigtration - despite Sir Keir Starmer pulling the plug on Rishi Sunak's Rwanda scheme.

Posting on X, the Tory leadership contender said: "Labour are preparing to reopen asylum hotels.

"Why? because they scrapped Rwanda, have no plan, and over 11000 illegal migrants have crossed the channel since Labour took office."

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has floated the idea of the Tories standing aside in almost 100 seats where Reform UK came second behind Labour.

Speaking at a Popular Conservative event at the Tory conference in Birmingham, Sir Jacob argued that the Tories should make the party led by Nigel Farage a “big and generous offer” in a bid to improve their own election chances.

The former Cabinet minister, who lost his seat in North East Somerset to Labour in July, told attendees the party should "for once model ourselves on David Cameron and make a big and generous offer…".

He said: “What if we were to say at the next election, as we did to the liberal unionists, we will not oppose Reform in those 98 seats?

"I would certainly be open to that as a real opportunity for Reform to win seats from Labour.”

Nadine Dorries, the former Culture Secretary and a close ally of Boris Johnson, has launched a scathing attack on leadership frontrunner Kemi Badenoch, accusing her of plotting against the ex-PM "for months".

Ms Dorries was commenting on an interview Ms Badenoch did with Robert Peston during which she said her "saddest moment" was resigning from Mr Johnson's cabinet.

The ex-MP for Mid Bedfordshire, who also used a vomiting emoticon, said: "She had been plotting with Gove and Dougie Smith to do it for many months… she was a key plotter."

Ed Balls was hit with backlash for his "disgraceful" interviewing techniques on Good Morning Britain today. The ITV presenter and his co-star Susanna Reid welcomed on Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick - but the interview caused outraged as the MP was grilled.

During the chat, Mr Jenrick insisted a £75,000 donation from a sports fitness business, which has never turned a profit and has no employees, was 'normal'. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, live from the conference in Birmingham, the MP said: "It's normal for companies as well as individuals to donate to political parties and campaigns.

"If you stand for leader of any party you have to raise money. We don't want the tax payer to be paying for these things. This is a donation from a British company with British shareholders. The businessman behind it has made himself known. It's a sports fitness business and we've registered it in the correct legal manner, so there's nothing improper here at all."

Meanwhile, Ed grilled the MP on him wanting to "take back control of migration" and leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights).

Tom Tugendhat has also said he was "extremely concerned" by Tory leadership rival Robert Jenrick's widely criticised claim that special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists, saying it demonstrates a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the law of armed conflict.

Asked whether he agreed with the remarks, which were made by Mr Jenrick in a promotional video for his leadership bid, the shadow security minister told Sky News: "No, I don't. I think what he said is wrong and I'm afraid demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of military operations and the law of armed conflict.

"I'm extremely concerned that such words should not be seen in any way to encourage people to take any action other than surrender to British forces when asked to do so."

Tory leadership contender Tom Tugendhat has lambasted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a new video clip.

The former security minister said: "Politics is about choices, and Keir Starmer has certainly made his he had the choice whether or not to back pensioners or to punish them.

"He had the choice whether or not to support his union paymasters or stand up to them.

"He had the choice whether or not to release prisoners early or make sure those who committed crimes paid their poor sentences.

"I'll tell you what my choices are. I'm going to serve the British people. I am going to leave decisively and I will always act in the matter. That's my mission."

Three-quarters of people in the UK believe there should be a ban on those working in politics from betting on political markets following the scandal which rocked number 10 earlier this year.

The General Election campaign was marred by revelations nine people working within politics were being investigated for betting on when the poll would be held.

Now an OLBG/YouGov survey has suggested 76 per cent of Brits think anyone working within politics should not be allowed to gamble on political markets.

And six out of ten people say all politicians should be made to declare all their betting activity, after the scandal exposed how some were able to apparently bet using insider information.

The poll was based on interviews with 2,273 adults in the UK between August 15 and 16.

Keir Starmer is being torn apart after it emerged he is set to break yet another manifesto pledge, this time around housing migrants in hotels.

Labour’s manifesto pledged to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”.

While they didn’t set a timeframe, Home Office officials had been expecting all hotel use to end within a year of Sir Keir coming to power.

However this morning it emerged that migrants will now continue to be housed in hotels for up to three years due to the size of the backlog and swathes of migrants continuing to float over the Channel.

James Cleverly has said he supports Israel's military incursion into Lebanon.

Asked on Sky News if he supports Israel's ground operation in Lebanon, the former foreign secretary said: "I do, and the reason why is what I have always said, Israel has the right to defend itself.

"Israel has been at the receiving end of rockets from Hamas, who are embedded within Lebanese society. I love Lebanon. I've been to Beirut.

"I've spoken with representatives of many of the parts of Lebanese society on a very, very regular basis.

"But Hezbollah are doing huge damage, not just to Israel, but to the Lebanese people.

Those rockets have been raining down for months, and Israel has now taken action.

"My support has always come with the caveat that Israel must continue to adhere to international humanitarian law. They absolutely have the right to defend themselves."

James Cleverly said that the UK military does not "murder people" and that Robert Jenrick should justify his claims that special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists.

The shadow home secretary was asked if he agreed with his competitor in the Tory leadership race Mr Jenrick that the SAS kill rather than capture terrorists, because otherwise, under EU law, they would be freed.

Mr Cleverly told Sky News: "You're going to have to ask Robert to justify that statement. That's not something which I have heard.

"That's not something which I'm comfortable kind of repeating.

"As I say, if Robert is able to justify that I think he should.

"The British military always abide by international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict.

"We have, I was about to say some of the most, no, we have the most professional military in the world. Our military do not murder people."

Robert Jenrick insisted his "values haven't changed" when asked why he voted to remain in the EU in the Brexit referendum but later backed leaving the bloc.

The Tory leadership frontrunner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I got behind the democratic decision of the people of this country."

He added that he had realised while serving as a minister in the Home Office that "we were not able to secure our borders and to keep the public safe".

He insisted: "My values haven't changed, but it's certainly true that over time the things I have seen in the ministerial jobs that I have done have led me to conclusions that the British state isn't working in the interests of the British people, and in particular my time at the Home Office where I saw that we were not able to secure our borders and to keep the public safe, which to my mind is the most basic duty of our country."

Robert Jenrick was unable to say whether he knows that UK special forces are "killing rather than capturing terrorists", as he claimed in a promotional video for his Tory leadership campaign.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The point I was making was one that our former defence secretary Ben Wallace has made, which is that our human rights apparatus including the ECHR is encroaching on the battlefield.

"And it is impacting the decisions that our generals and military decision-makers are taking as to what kind of action is required in these difficult situations."

Repeatedly asked whether he knew special forces were killing rather than capturing terrorists, he said: "As Ben Wallace has said in that interview, decision makers are being asked to make decisions which they might not ordinarily make, for example to call in a drone strike and take lethal action in that way."

It was put to him that he was unable to back up his claim, to which he replied: "Of course I'm not going to elaborate on particular cases because these things, these cases are not things that any minister or foreign minister can speak about."

Kemi Badenoch compared herself to Margaret Thatcher following a backlash after she suggested maternity pay was “excessive”.

The Tory leadership contender insisted yesterday (MON) that she believes paying new mothers is “quite important” after rivals attacked her comments.

Boris Johnson has launched a scathing attack on Rishi Sunak, accusing his erstwhile protege of ending his political career with a betrayal similar to that of Brutus in murdering Julius Caesar.

The former Prime Minister dipped into his classical education in the latest extract from his memoirs, claiming his former chancellor, whom he once saw as a “friend and partner,” of orchestrating a plot “worse than a crime”.

He claimed that when Mr Sunak attempted to oust him by resigning from his cabinet in July 2022, Mr Johnson quietly echoed the dying words of Julius Caesar, “You too, child.”

Mr Johnson insisted he did not blame Mr Sunak for wanting to become PM “prematurely,” but emphasised his belief that he he would have won the 2024 election, unlike his rival, who was “vaporised”.

Migrants could be housed in hotels for up to three more years due to the asylum backlog, an insider has claimed, dealing a massive blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s fledgling Government.

Since coming into office, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and other ministers have come to realise that clearing the backlog will take longer than initially hoped, the Times reported - with the number of people waiting for an initial decision actually increasing slightly in the three months since the election.

he party had promised to resolve the issue and “end asylum hotels,” but a Whitehall source described the situation as “much worse than we thought.”

They added: “It’s going to take much longer to clear than we anticipated. It certainly won’t be cleared within a year.”

Robert Jenrick is closing in on Kemi Badenoch following a surge in his support, a YouGov poll of Conservative members has suggested.

The most significant change over the past six weeks has been Ms Badenoch losing her substantial lead over Mr Jenrick among Tory members, according to the first poll conducted since the leadership race was narrowed to four candidates.

Six weeks ago, Conservative members favoured Ms Badenoch by 59 percent to Mr Jenrick's 41 percent six weeks ago – an 18-point lead – if the two were to face each other in the final round.

However, the latest survey of 802 Tory members, published today, suggests Ms Badenoch is on 52 percent compared with Mr Jenrick's 48 percent, a leader of just four points.