Sky cancels planned Conservative leadership debate after Sunak and Truss say they will not participate
Sky News has just announced that it has canceled the Conservative leadership debate scheduled for tomorrow night after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss said they would not participate. This is from Tamara Cohen of Sky.
Sky can confirm that tomorrow night’s leadership debate has been canceled after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss decided not to participate.
More information at @SkyNews soon
– Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) July 18, 2022
Key events:
BETA filters
Key Events (6) Rishi Sunak (8) Liz Truss (7) Penny Mordaunt (4) Sky (2) Labor (2)
Starmer says getting out of TV debate when you want to be prime minister “doesn’t show much confidence”
Keir Starmer has said he is “surprised” that candidates for Conservative leadership avoid scrutinizing a televised debate. He said:
It amazes me that those who want to be prime ministers of the UK are out of the debates and the scrutiny. I can see from what I’ve seen in the debates so far why they want to do it because this is a party that is for ideas, without purpose, they are being destroyed …
Getting out of a TV debate when you want to be prime minister doesn’t show much confidence.
Keir Starmer with Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest Group, on a visit to the bank’s headquarters in London this morning. Photography: Stefan Rousseau / PA
Penny Mordaunt’s campaign has said that a statement was sent on the cancellation of the previously published Sky News debate, which blamed Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss for not being able to debate “in a civil way” (see 11.13 h). error. He has retracted this statement and instead issued this comment that does not criticize his rivals. A campaign spokesman said:
Media scrutiny is important in this contest. Penny has aired and given journalists time to ask questions at its launch. Deputies not only elect a new leader, but they elect the new prime minister of nations. Penny hopes there will be ample opportunity for this scrutiny later in the contest in a format that allows for detailed questions and insights.
Here is a question from below the line.
Andrew can Labor amends the motion of confidence to restore the original wording if they ask Hoyle to do so.
The motion for debate this afternoon, which has been tabled by the government, says, “That this house has confidence in Her Majesty’s government.”
Labor may choose to table an amendment to the motion, but have decided not to. A party source says it is because the party does not trust the government and will vote against it. “Instead of getting lost in procedural points, we are focused on how this government has failed the country and will vote against the no-confidence motion,” the source said.
Originally, Labor wanted a censorship debate on a motion linking not trusting the government with Boris Johnson being prime minister. His proposed wording was: “That this house has no confidence in Her Majesty’s government while the member of Rt Hon for Uxbridge and South Ruislip [Boris Johnson] he is still prime minister ”. But the government said it would not schedule a debate on the motion, although motions of no confidence tabled by the official opposition are always intended to take precedence, on the grounds that the wording was unconventional and Johnson’s decision of resigning made this aspect of the movement irrelevant.
The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to the motion being debated today in which it says the Commons “do not trust Her Majesty’s government and the Prime Minister, and demand that the Prime Minister resign immediately.” But he is unlikely to be selected by the president to be put to a vote.
Updated at 12.09 BST
Conservative MPs have been expressing alarm in private WhatsApp groups over the damage that TV leadership debates are causing to the party’s reputation, reports ITV’s Anushka Asthana. In its history it says:
In messages seen by ITV News, one MP warned: “This weekend’s division, defamation and personal attacks have been shameful. Nothing will kill our party more than blue on blue. “
Another wrote: “We have a majority of 80 seats and we have spent time fighting and tearing down the party and now we are fighting publicly. It’s embarrassing. I can’t believe this is happening.”
One MP told ITV News that he was more “saddened than angry” when it came to mood, but admitted: “It’s hard to see how people associate when they face so much.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss’ refusal to attend a televised leadership debate tomorrow shows they are treating the public with contempt. In a statement it says:
Conservatives say they want to lead, but they won’t even come to debate the issues that matter in our country.
Each of them is treating the nation with utter contempt and they have long taken the people for granted.
The Conservative candidates ’attempt to avoid scrutiny only makes the general election at the end of this campaign even more necessary.
Updated at 11.49 BST
Penny Mordaunt’s campaign has criticized Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss ’decision not to participate in the Sky TV debate that was scheduled for tomorrow, reports my colleague Jessica Elgot. Mordaunt has blamed Sunak and Truss for not being able to debate “in a civil way.”
🚨 Penny Mordaunt’s team statement: “It’s a pity that some teammates can’t find a way to argue with each other in a civil way.
“Throughout this contest, he has never dodged the media or shied away from the interviews and debates broadcast: people deserve to hear their leaders.”
– Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) July 18, 2022
UPDATE: The Mordaunt campaign was later retracted from this statement. See 12.06 pm
Updated at 12.07 BST
Rishi Sunak would be happy to take part in more televised debates if (as expected) he enters the final list of two for member voting, a campaign source has said. And Liz Truss ’campaign says it is focused on MPs’ aspirations, but that it will participate in any debate to which all other candidates have signed up.
Updated at 11.14 BST
Sky cancels planned Conservative leadership debate after Sunak and Truss say they will not participate
Sky News has just announced that it has canceled the Conservative leadership debate scheduled for tomorrow night after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss said they would not participate. This is from Tamara Cohen of Sky.
Sky can confirm that tomorrow night’s leadership debate has been canceled after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss decided not to participate.
More information at @SkyNews soon
– Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) July 18, 2022
Next Wednesday, Guardian Live is hosting a discussion about who will be the next Conservative leader. The panel includes my colleagues Jonathan Freedland and John Crace, and Salma Shah, a former special adviser to Sajid Javid. Full details of the event and how to get tickets are available here.
Conservative candidates called for a boycott of the upcoming televised debate amid concerns over the damage the first two have done to the party’s image.
According to Steven Swinford of the Times, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are considering retiring from the Sky debate scheduled for tomorrow night, in part because they are concerned about the impact the debates have on the party’s reputation.
BREAKING:
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are unlikely to have a leadership debate on Sky News
They are said to want to focus on MPs ’aspirations ahead of Wednesday’s final vote
He is also concerned that the two brutal debates so far have been incredibly detrimental to conservatives.
– Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 18, 2022
I’m told that at the end of Friday’s vitreous leadership debate on Channel 4, Sunak turned to Truss and asked, “Why do we do this?”
Both questioned the meaning of the debates amid concerns about where they will leave the Conservative Party in the long run.
– Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 18, 2022
The influential ConservativeHome website urges all candidates to boycott tomorrow’s debate. In an article on the website posted this morning, Paul Goodman, its editor, says last night’s ITV was a particular horror show for the party. He says:
Why did conservative candidates in this contest sign up to be victims of this political version of the Hunger Games? (It’s not even clear if there’s a Katniss Everdeen on hand.) I’m afraid the answer is a) none of the candidates dared to face the stations, even if they wanted to, and b) the party institutional has “t the influence to end this.
None of the candidates and their teams, when they saw the ITV format, did not think that it was the equivalent of the scope of the Cornucopia of the Hunger Games, in which the contestants stick, s’ do they stick, shoot, and strangle in order to die? to get vital supplies? Can having the most nasty punchline bring down your opponent? But will it help you form a stable government if you win?
Conservative MPs and activists will have been horrified to see several of the candidates throwing manure buckets at each other. Or to start the file of the Government in which they have all exercised. Either they have tried to move away from policies that they have supported or that they have pledged to support.
Updated at 11.17 BST
Mordaunt has neglected part of his job in the trade department because of his campaign, says his chief minister
Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative leadership candidate, has been accused by her chief minister of neglecting some of her government duties while focusing on her leadership campaign.
The indictment comes from Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the secretary of international trade. Mordaunt is the department’s minister of state, effectively Trevelyan’s deputy.
Trevelyan, who supports Tom Tugendhat for conservative leadership, told LBC:
We all do our job in different ways. It’s understandable, maybe, now it’s clear, Penny has done the last few months …