Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Bookie odds favour Rishi Sunak comeback amid turbulence for UK PM Liz Truss

On Sunday, the new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, urged his party to unite behind Truss as “the last thing that people really want� is yet another change of leader.

Bookie odds favour Rishi Sunak comeback amid turbulence for UK PM Liz Truss

British Prime Minister Liz Truss, just over a month into the job, is already seen as increasingly unlikely to ride out the turbulence within her own Conservative Party and the financial markets, with her former leadership rival Rishi Sunak the odds-on favourite to make a comeback for 10 Downing Street.

At the end of a tumultuous week in British politics which saw Truss sack her close friend and trusted aide Kwasi Kwarteng who was enforcing her own economic policies as Chancellor, the mutinous voices within the governing Conservatives continue to flag how Sunak had warned against much of the financial meltdown that would follow his rival’s unfunded tax-cutting policies.


The former British Indian Chancellor adopted a silent approach as he hosted two pre-scheduled parties at a central London hotel this week to thank his Ready for Rishi leadership campaign team and officials at the UK Treasury.

“His approach is one part ‘I told you so’ but rather more a sense of sadness. He just says: ‘It didn’t have to be like this’,” a friend was quoted by ‘The Sunday Times’ as saying.

As the Oddschecker bookies’ odds aggregator showed 42-year-old Sunak racing ahead as the favourite to replace 47-year-old Truss, his team is said to be eyeing what would be one of the most remarkable political comebacks in British politics.

According to insiders, the UK-born Indian-origin politician, who lost to Truss in the Tory membership vote after being the clear frontrunner among his parliamentary colleagues, is steering well clear of any accusations of plotting against Truss as he spends time in his constituency of Richmond in Yorkshire.

Among the possibilities being considered by Tory rebels is to avoid another full-blown leadership election by getting members of Parliament to unite behind one particular candidate.

Sunak is not seen as an all-out favourite for that because the fierce loyalists from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s camp, who still blame his resignation as Chancellor for their leader’s exit in the wake of the partygate scandal, are unlikely to rally behind him.

The proposal of a joint unity ticket involving Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, who came third in the shortlisting phase of the leadership contest and now serves as Leader of the House of Commons in the Truss Cabinet, has also been considered.

However, close aides on both sides indicate that neither would be willing to serve as the other’s junior. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is considered a strong contender as the new unity candidate if Truss is convinced to step down. Meanwhile, the prospect of Johnson attempting his own possible comeback of sorts has not been ruled out.

On Sunday, the new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, urged his party to unite behind Truss as “the last thing that people really want” is yet another change of leader.

“She’s listened, she’s changed, she’s been willing to do that most difficult thing in politics which is to change tack,” said Hunt, as he insisted Liz Truss is still the one in charge amid reports of him now the de facto leader overturning most of her tax-cutting plans.

“Taxes are not going to go down as quickly as people thought and some taxes are going to go up. So it’s going to be very, very difficult and I think we have to be honest with people about that,” he said.

Hunt, himself a former Tory leadership hopeful and a Sunak supporter, has ruled out vying for the top job again and said he was focussed on the “very big fiscal statement” for the end of this month when much of his predecessor’s controversial mini-budget is set to be reversed.

(PTI)

More For You

British national survives Ahmedabad Air India crash

Rescue and relief work underway following the Air India plane crash, in Ahmedabad. (PTI Photo)

British national survives Ahmedabad Air India crash

ONE survivor walked away from the Air India aircraft that crashed at Ahmedabad airport earlier this morning (12), according to the latest reports from India.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, a UK national, was in seat 11A of the Air India Flight 171 bound for London Gatwick when it crashed shortly after take off from Ahmedabad with 242 people on board.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India crash: Former Gujarat chief minister Rupani was on aircraft

FILE PHOTO: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. (PTI Photo)

Air India crash: Former Gujarat chief minister Rupani was on aircraft

FORMER Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was believed to be on board the London-bound Air India plane that crashed near the Ahmedabad airport soon after take-off on Thursday (12), a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.

"Vijay Rupani was going to London by the Air India flight," senior BJP leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told reporters in Ahmedabad. "I am going to the city civil hospital to inquire about him," he added.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India crash: Police collect 204 dead bodies

Police said they had collected 204 dead bodies (PTI photo)

Air India crash: Police collect 204 dead bodies

  • All 242 passengers on board believed to have been killed in the Air India crash AI-171 in Ahmedabad
  • Air India passenger hotline numbers - 1800 5691 444 and for foreign nationals +91 8062779200
  • There were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London Gatwick
  • Contact @HCI_London on the emergency number 07768765035 with regard to emergency visa assistance to travel to India if needed

POLICE in Ahmedabad said they had collected 204 dead bodies after the London-bound Air India aircraft with 242 people on board crashed into residential buildings after takeoff on Thursday (12).

“We have found 204 bodies,” city police commissioner GS Malik said, adding that 41 injured people were “under treatment”.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer says scenes of Air India plane crash 'devastating'

Keir Starmer. (Photo by JORDAN PETTITT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer says scenes of Air India plane crash 'devastating'

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer on Thursday (12) expressed his anguish following a plane crash involving a London-bound Air India flight with 53 British nationals among 242 on board, shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport.

"The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” Starmer said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less
Major air crashes in India

FILE PHOTO: Officials inspect the wreckage of an Air India Express jet at Calicut International Airport in Karipur, Kerala, on August 8, 2020. (Photo by ARUNCHANDRA BOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

Major air crashes in India

INDIA has witnessed several major air disasters over the decades, reflecting both the challenges of aviation safety and the complexities of its growing air traffic. While many flights operate safely each day, a few tragic incidents have left lasting impacts on the nation’s aviation history. Below is a list of some of the most significant plane crashes that have occurred in India.

1. Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision (Nov 12, 1996)
A Saudi Boeing 747 and a Kazakh IL-76 cargo plane collided mid-air near Delhi due to communication failures. All 349 people on both aircraft died, making it the deadliest air disaster in Indian airspace.

Keep ReadingShow less