Jenrick hits back at Gove after ‘Tory boy’ jibe, saying ex-minister to blame for much of ‘infighting’ that took down ToriesIn an interview broadcast this morning, Michael Gove, the former Tory cabinet minister and an ally of Kemi Badenoch’s, said that, although Robert Jenrick had strengths as a leadership candidate, one problem was that he looked like a “Tory boy”. (See 9.47am.)
Now the Jenrick campaign has hit back. A spokesperson for Jenrick said:
Michael Gove and his acolytes have been responsible for so much of the infighting and drama that has led our party to where it is.
Rob’s going to end that drama and the excuses that followed and just deliver for our country.
Key events
5m ago
Chope defends jibe about Badenoch, claiming she prefers family time to visiting ‘far-flung constituencies’
1h ago
Half of Tory councillors do not believe Jenrick or Badenoch can win next election, poll suggests
2h ago
Jenrick hits back at Gove after ‘Tory boy’ jibe, saying ex-minister to blame for much of ‘infighting’ that took down Tories
2h ago
School absences in England at 6.9%, down on previous year, but still well above pre-pandemic levels, DfE says
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No 10 says departments need to become ‘more productive’, as it plays down reports of cabinet rifts over spending
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Tory MP claims Badenoch would not make good Tory leader because she’s ‘preoccupied’ with 3 young children
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Gove suggests Jenrick could hold Conservatives back because he looks like ‘Tory boy’
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Tories would do better with Jenrick as leader than Badenoch, poll suggests ahead of leadership hustings
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Chope defends jibe about Badenoch, claiming she prefers family time to visiting ‘far-flung constituencies’The Tory MP Christopher Chope defended his comments about Kemi Badenoch (see 12.57pm) in a subsequent interview with Andrew Neil on Times Radio. Chope said that Badenoch and Robert Jenrick could both be “excellent party leaders”. And he said that there was “a lot of mischief-making going on” and that he was being misprepresented.
I repeat the point which I was making before, and that is that Kemi has got a young family and so it’s less likely that she’s going to be able to spend as much time as is required as somebody who hasn’t got the commitments of a young family.
Now, that’s not suggesting she’s unsuited or anything like that to be the leader of the opposition …
All I’m saying is that one of the candidates has got a younger family than the other one, and has also got a record of wanting to spend more time with her family than engage in going to far-flung constituencies.
Chope also said that, when he was a junior minister in the early 1990s, he was the father of a young baby.
Labour and Lib Dem MPs have criticised the Conservative Christopher Chope for saying that Kemi Badenoch won’t make a good party leader because she is “preoccupied” with her three young children. (See 12.57pm.)
This is from Helena Dollimore, the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye.
I thought nothing could shock me about the state of the Conservative Party, but that was before I had to sit through Christopher Chope MP opining about whether mothers can lead political parties. 🦖
I hope Robert Jenrick distances himself from these unhinged comments.
I thought nothing could shock me about the state of the Conservative Party, but that was before I had to sit through Christopher Chope MP opining about whether mothers can lead political parties. 🦖
I hope Robert Jenrick distances himself from these unhinged comments. t.co/ck7PDTodPP
— Helena Dollimore MP (@helenadollimore) October 17, 2024 This is from Tom Hayes, the Labour MP for Bournemouth East.
Christopher Chope represents the seat beside mine. I wish I didn’t have to say this, but as he takes this view, I’d urge him to talk with mothers and find out what they achieve every day.
We shouldn’t be debating whether mothers can lead political parties. It’s that simple.
And these are from Liz Jarvis, the Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh.
Outrageous but predictable comments from Christopher Chope. The idea that women can’t hold positions with huge responsibility and still manage to be brilliant mums is antiquated, insulting and chauvinistic, to say the least.
Even by Christopher Chope’s standards, these comments are staggeringly ignorant and offensive. Diminishing women’s ability to play leading roles in public life because they have young families is an attitude that should be in the distant past.
Robert Jenrick should immediately condemn his remarks and Rishi Sunak must suspend the whip. If they do not, it is clear that they see these views as acceptable in the modern Conservative party.
Jenrick’s campaign has disowned Chope’s remarks. (See 2.31pm.)
Parliament’s first “bionic Lord” has taken his seat on the red benches, where he has pledged to highlight the awareness of sepsis and improve the quality of prosthetics offered to amputees, PA Media reports. PA says:
Craig Mackinlay is the first quadruple amputee to be introduced to the House of Lords after he was given a peerage in Rishi Sunak’s dissolution honours list.
Lord Mackinlay of Richborough wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in the upper chamber where he swore the oath of allegiance to the king.
The 58-year-old was supported by fellow Conservative peers Lord Hayward and Lord Jackson of Peterborough.
His wife and daughter were among family and friends who looked on from the gallery above as Lord Mackinlay signed the members’ book with his “bionic” hand.
Others watching in the chamber included Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, former deputy speaker Nigel Evans, and Conservative MP Mark Francois.
Craig Mackinlay being introduced in the House of Lords as Lord Mackinlay of Richborough Photograph: House of Lords/PAHalf of Tory councillors do not believe Jenrick or Badenoch can win next election, poll suggestsAlmost half of Conservative councillors polled this week believe that neither Robert Jenrick nor Kemi Badenoch will be able to win the next election, and a significant minority said they did not plan to vote in the leadership contest, Jessica Elgot reports.
Robert Jenrick’s campaign has disowned what Christopher Chope said about Kemi Badenoch. (See 12.57pm.) A campaign source said:
Rob doesn’t agree with this. He’s raising three young daughters himself.
Jenrick hits back at Gove after ‘Tory boy’ jibe, saying ex-minister to blame for much of ‘infighting’ that took down ToriesIn an interview broadcast this morning, Michael Gove, the former Tory cabinet minister and an ally of Kemi Badenoch’s, said that, although Robert Jenrick had strengths as a leadership candidate, one problem was that he looked like a “Tory boy”. (See 9.47am.)
Now the Jenrick campaign has hit back. A spokesperson for Jenrick said:
Michael Gove and his acolytes have been responsible for so much of the infighting and drama that has led our party to where it is.
Rob’s going to end that drama and the excuses that followed and just deliver for our country.
School absences in England at 6.9%, down on previous year, but still well above pre-pandemic levels, DfE saysThe school absence rate for England for the autumn and spring terms of 2023-24 was down on the same period the year before – but still much higher than pre-pandemic, according to figures out from the Department for Education.
The overall absence rate in the autumn and spring terms of 2023-24 was 6.9%, down from 7.3% the previous year, the DfE says. That figure covers primary schools, secondary schools and special schools. Pre-pandemic, the comparable figures were below 5%.
Today’s figures also show that 19.2% of pupils were persistent absentees, meaning they missed 10% or more of school sessions. The equivalent figure for 2022-23 was 21.2%
Commenting on the figures, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:
Schools are working incredibly hard to boost attendance, and it is positive that these figures have improved overall year on year. However, the reasons for absence often lie beyond the school gates, and it is clear schools need more support to tackle unauthorised absence and the often deep-rooted issues facing children and families.
These include everything from sickness and mental health problems, to poverty and other social challenges. Previous governments failed to properly fund vital services like social care and CAMHS, while important roles like education welfare officers were cut.
No 10 says departments need to become ‘more productive’, as it plays down reports of cabinet rifts over spendingDowning Street has said that government departments will have to become “more productive” in response to the funding challenges facing the government.
The PM’s spokesperson used the phrase at the morning lobby briefing, where he also played down reports suggesting that some ministers are complaining strongly about the spending settlements they have been offered by the Treasury.
The spokesperson said that the overall spending total for Whitehall has now been agreed – but he said some departmental spending budgets within that total were still being negotiated.
Asked about reports that ministers have been writing to Keir Starmer directly with concerns about their budget settlement, the spokesperson said:
I am obviously not going to get drawn into specifics of spending review discussions, but clearly engagement between departments and the Treasury and No 10 ahead of the budget and a spending review are a standard part of the process where departments will set out their priorities and the challenges that they are facing.
The spokeperson said government departments would “have to become more productive” and may need to undertake reforms.
Not every department will be able to do everything they want to. There will be tough decisions taken, there will be tough conversations, but ultimately this government has been very clear that it will fix the foundations, it will fix the position in relation to the public finances.
Explaining what has already been agreed, he said:
The prime minister and the chancellor have agreed what is known as the major measures … which have been submitted to the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] as per a timetable that is set out on the OBR website.
That submission includes the overall spending envelope, which is now closed, and then individual departmental spending review negotiations are now being concluded.
The Magistrates’ Association has welcomed the news that magistrates will get the power to sentence offenders for up to 12 months in jail, not six. (See 12.21pm). It is a change it has been calling for. But it says the criminal justice system also needs more investement.
Tom Franklin, the association’s chief executive, said in a statement:
Extending the range of cases that magistrates can hear to include those which carry a maximum sentence of 12 months, is something we had long campaigned for as a vital means of ensuring speedier justice for victims, witnesses and defendants …
But such a change is not problem-free. There are serious bottlenecks in magistrates’ courts too, particularly with the lack of availability of legal advisers and probation officers needed to support magistrates, which often leads to delays and cancellations.
So, to be most effective, this change would need to go together with more court resources. There must be a long-term, sustainable and considered investment in the whole criminal justice system, which we and many others have long called for.
Tory MP claims Badenoch would not make good Tory leader because she’s ‘preoccupied’ with 3 young childrenThe Conservative MP Christopher Chope has said that he is backing Robert Jenrick for Tory leader, not Kemi Badenoch, partly because he thinks having three young children will distract her.
In an interview with ITV Meridian, Chope said:
I myself am supporting Robert Jenrick because I think he’s brought more energy and commitment to the campaign, and being leader of the opposition is a really demanding job.
And, much as I like Kemi, I think she’s preoccupied with her own children, quite understandably. I think Robert’s children are a bit older, and I think that it’s important that whoever leads the opposition has got an immense amount of time and energy.
When it was put to him that he was saying a woman with young children could not lead a political party, Chope denied that. He said that he was one of Margaret Thatcher’s strongest supporters (although both Thatcher’s two children were in their 20s when she became Tory leader.)
He also said that he understood “talking to colleagues that Kemi spends a lot of time with her family”. That was not possible to combine with being opposition leader, he claimed.
NEW: Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope says Kemi Badenoch is “preoccupied with her children” and “you can’t spend all your time with your family at the same time as being leader of the opposition”.
He was speaking on this month’s @itvmeridian The Last Word. @itvnewspolitics pic.twitter.com/1qUF9Do7A6
— Kit Bradshaw (@kitbradshaw) October 17, 2024Badenoch and Jenrick both have three children. Jenrick’s are 13, 11 and nine. Badenoch’s are younger, but not by much. They are 12, seven and five.
Speaking on the same ITV Meridien programme, the Labour MP Helena Dollimore said:
I think many women will be shocked by those comments.
I’m really proud that we live in a country where we’ve had women who have become prime minister, we’ve got the first woman chancellor at the moment, I think there should be no barrier to women standing in public life.