Keir Starmer is under fire over his freebies and policies, and the honeymoon period is over. After just a few short months, this Tory conference, currently under way in Birmingham, is a chance for the candidates to set out their stall on how they would do things differently, and why the Conservatives can be trusted again after a bruising election defeat. Hold on is that Liz Truss? This is the theme of Monday’s sessions, where leadership rivals do their best to look impressive, while the former Prime Minister reminds people just why so many have given up on the Conservatives.
Consider her complete lack of endorsement for the candidates, albeit something they are grateful for. Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly are all trying to drum up support, yet Ms Truss is instead making headlines by boasting she’d have done better than Rishi Sunak at the election. It’s the political equivalent of an arsonist turning up at the scene of the crime, then telling the firefighters the hose isn’t working, but not to mind as she’s got a bucket of petrol.
Her presence in Birmingham is baffling, a vanity tour that has infuriated MPs who so wanted this conference to be about what the party could be, rather than what it was. Still at least she found time to declare her support for Argentina's far right leader Javier Milei, a man whose policies have seen poverty levels reach 50 per cent. Yes 50.
Away from this unelected un-apologist, Mr Tugendhat started his day .
