Graham Brady: ‘Sunak was decent, competent and had less ego than other leaders’
Tory 'kingmaker' reveals plots to oust former prime minister in new book
Graham Brady
By Amit RoySep 28, 2024
RISHI SUNAK emerges as the best of the five prime ministers that Graham Brady had to deal with as chairman of the influential “1922 Committee” that represents backbench Tory MPs.
Sunak, described as “decent and competent”, is given greater credit than David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson or Liz Truss.
This is set out in Brady’s just published “bombshell” memoirs, Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers. Sir Graham Brady – now Lord Brady – was the soul of discretion when he was chairman of the 1922 Committee from 2010 to 2024. He was the MP for Altrincham and Sale West from 1997 to 2024, but stepped down before the general election on July 4 this year after which he was given a peerage.
“Politics is a rough business,” observes Brady, “and it is harsh that Rishi Sunak faced an election campaign seeking to blame him for ‘14 years of Tory chaos’. If Sunak deserves criticism for anything it is for excessive caution. With no more than two years or so to steady the ship before an election, it seemed it was always his strategy to win back trust for his calm, competent economic management before cutting taxes.”
He says: “Some of us pushed Sunak and his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to move more quickly, but we will never know whether that course of action would have paid political dividends. Rishi was complimentary about my judgment, but he sought it less often than his four predecessors had.”
Brady goes on: “The political risks I encouraged him to take – such as ending the ban on new grammar schools or piloting the Sutton Trust’s ‘Open Access’ scheme (in which school fees are means-tested) – were resisted. Nonetheless, I would observe that not only is Rishi Sunak decent and competent, he also has rather less ego than is normal for a senior politician.”
He goes on: “Attacks on Sunak for his wealth – suggesting it made him ‘out of touch’ – couldn’t have been more wrong. Those who have dealt with Rishi find him surprisingly normal. But maybe Rishi Sunak wasn’t enough of a politician: he made the mistake of being what people say they want, not what they actually vote for.”
What also comes out is the plot to destabilise Sunak when various newspapers claimed – wrongly – that nearly 50 Tory MPs had sent in letters to Brady seeking a vote of no confidence against the prime minister.
It had been suggested that Sunak was left with no choice but to call an election because he was about to face a vote of no confidence. Reports claimed Brady had received “around 50” letters – almost at the threshold of 53 required.
The former Tory MP, Simon Clarke, will now have to explain why he went out of his way to mislead the press. Brady exposes him as a sort of plotter in chief.
He says: “One problem with the system of using ‘letters’ to trigger a confidence vote is that the numbers must necessarily be kept confidential. In April 2024, the MP Simon Clarke briefed the press that ‘around 50’ letters of no-confidence in Rishi Sunak had been submitted. In fact, I had received nine. Most colleagues understood that, however frustrated they may have been, yet another change of leader would have made us look completely deranged.”
The leader of the Commons, Penny Mordaunt – she lost her seat in the general election – also had ambitions of replacing Sunak, according to Brady.
He says he had “started to wonder whether Rishi was preparing for a summer election, even though I was advising him to go in October or November. My suspicions had first been raised in March when I was asked to fill in the necessary forms to go to the House of Lords Appointments Commission. Ten days later, a smattering of parliamentary knighthoods and damehoods were announced, and my suspicions intensified.
Brady with Rishi Sunak
“Then, a rumour started that if local election results were poor, Rishi would just walk away. I heard this from two different members of the lobby within a couple of hours. During a meeting with me soon after, leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt said: ‘I wouldn’t ask you... but if anything did happen.. if Rishi walked away after the local elections, I hope there is a plan for a calm transition?’”
Brady explains: “In my experience, when a vacancy arises there is normally a surfeit of candidates and I couldn’t see how such a transition would be assured. Then, in between votes on the Rwanda bill, the former Home Office minister John Penrose asked me for my views on the Lascelles Principles: ‘If the PM asked His Majesty to grant a dissolution, do you think it could be stopped?’
“I said that, so near to the end of the parliament, His Majesty would be bound to grant a dissolution. Penrose agreed. I assumed he had been asked to sound me out on behalf of team Mordaunt.”
The book leads to events leading up to the election: “At 1pm (on May 22) Rishi rang. ‘Graham, I wanted you to know first, before I tell the Cabinet: I’ve seen the King and he has agreed to my request for a dissolution... I know that there is a case that we should wait until there has been more economic improvement but... I just think that the public isn’t going to engage with the arguments until they have to make a decision.’
“He also told me that there would be a dissolution honours list and my peerage would be on that – so that it would be approved ‘while I am still prime minister’.”
Brady goes on: “Returning to Parliament, I chaired the ’22 Executive, where we discussed the swirling rumours of an early election….I tried my hardest to give nothing away until reports reached us that there was to be a statement by the PM outside Number 10.
“Members of the Executive huddled, watching the statement from ‘Drowning Street’. On a small and distant screen, it looked at first like Rishi was wearing a very shiny suit – surely he wouldn’t be standing outside in a downpour? The words of Louis XV came to mind: ‘Après moi, le déluge.’”
Andrea Leadsom also moved against Sunak. “When the thinly attended meeting (of the 1922 Committee) got back under way, I invited questions. Dame Andrea Leadsom rose to her feet with a question for me, drawing an envelope from her pocket and waving it in the air as though proclaiming peace for our time. She asked, in an astonishing intervention: ‘If enough of us submit letters to you calling for a vote of no confidence – can we stop the prime minister from leading the Conservative Party to its destruction?’
“I replied: ‘Technically, I believe it would be possible to trigger a confidence vote, but given that His Majesty has already consented to the prime minister’s request for dissolution, the general election would still take place on July 4’.
“A rumour spread that Rishi had called the election because I had told him that he was about to face a confidence vote. I had given no such indication. As we headed off towards the smoke of battle, there were 10 letters sitting in my safe.”
Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers, by Sir Graham Brady, is published by Ithaka Press. £25.
Amanda Anisimova defeats world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets
The American advances to her first Grand Slam final
Sabalenka’s run of Grand Slam finals ends
Anisimova will face either Swiatek or Bencic on Saturday
With the win, Anisimova is projected to reach world No. 7
American tennis star Amanda Anisimova produced the biggest win of her career by defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the semi-finals of Wimbledon on Thursday. The result sends the 23-year-old into her first Grand Slam final, where she will face either Iga Swiatek or Belinda Bencic on Saturday.
The contest on Centre Court lasted two hours and 37 minutes and was interrupted twice during the first set due to spectators feeling unwell in the heat. Despite the stoppages, both players maintained their focus in a match marked by intense rallies and shifting momentum.
Anisimova, currently ranked 12th, held her nerve in key moments. Although she was broken for the first time in the second set after leading 30-love, she regrouped in the deciding set. After losing her serve in the opening game, she immediately broke back and went on a run of three consecutive games to take control of the match.
Sabalenka’s defeat ends her streak of reaching the last two Grand Slam finals and marks her third straight Grand Slam loss to an American player this year, following defeats to Coco Gauff at Roland Garros and Madison Keys in Melbourne.
Anisimova, the last American woman remaining in the draw, is set to climb to a career-high world No. 7 following this result. Sabalenka will retain her No. 1 ranking for a 39th consecutive week despite the loss.
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HYBE Cine Fest 2025: How HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is India’s K-pop soft launch
You step into your local PVR today. The smell of popcorn hits you, but instead of previews for the latest Bollywood hit, the lobby is a sea of ARMY Bombs and CARAT Bong light sticks. Fans in TXT tees are swapping photocards. Someone’s already belting out a LE SSERAFIM chorus into a mic at the pop-up Noraebang station. Inside Screen 3? It isn’t a film, but a full-blown K-pop concert. Thousands of voices scream every word of BTS’s Dynamite, and tears well up during Jungkook’s solo. But this isn’t Seoul. It’s Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, all this weekend. And HYBE? They’re taking notes, big ones!
What is Hybe Cine fest?
HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is a three-day cinema event (from 10 to 12 July) that brings some of the biggest K-pop concert experiences to the big screen across India. Organised by South Korean entertainment giant HYBE in partnership with PVR INOX and Trafalgar Releasing, the fest features full-length concert films from BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, ENHYPEN, ILLIT, and Katseye. Expect stadium-level production with cinematic visuals, surround sound, and collective fan chants, everything fans love about a K-pop concert, recreated inside a cinema.
HYBE didn’t pick India at random. It’s a calculated move. The company has confirmed it will open an Indian office in Mumbai or Delhi by September or October 2025. This festival is a soft launch, a proof-of-concept to test the waters. By partnering with PVR INOX and global distributor Trafalgar Releasing (which brought in over 260,000 fans during the Latin American edition), HYBE is laying the groundwork for bigger things. With India’s entertainment market projected to grow from £22.9 billion to £32.2 billion (₹2.45 trillion to ₹3.45 trillion) by 2028, the timing is no accident.
HYBE isn’t just here to screen films. This is step one in a long-term strategy:
Live concerts: The biggest fan demand. Data from this weekend supports the case for bringing TXT, ENHYPEN, or SEVENTEEN to Indian stages post-2025.
Local talent & collaborations: HYBE’s upcoming Indian office could scout homegrown talent or spark Indo-Korean music projects, similar to what HYBE America did with Katseye.
Lifestyle takeover: Pop-up merch counters are only the beginning. HYBE wants to control K-pop fashion, fan experiences, and digital platforms (like Weverse) in India.
Expect ticket prices between £7.50–£14 (₹800–₹1,500), depending on location and seat type. Morning and midday weekday shows are filling up fastest, so book early if you want the full fan-crowd vibe.
While Indian ARMYs, CARATs, MOAs, and ENGENEs lose their voices this weekend inside packed theatres, HYBE’s executives are wide awake, analysing ticket data, fan turnout, and social media buzz. Every chant, every Noraebang sing-along, every sold-out show is a datapoint fuelling their next big move.
HYBE Cine Fest 2025 is more than a weekend spectacle. It’s a strategic push to embed K-pop deep into India’s entertainment ecosystem. The concert films are just the beginning, the real goal is long-term cultural presence, local talent scouting, and eventually, massive live tours. The light sticks are lit. The playbook is open. And HYBE’s Indian takeover has officially begun.
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Starlink will next need to acquire spectrum from the government, build ground infrastructure, and carry out testing and trials to meet the agreed security requirements. (Photo: Reuters)
INDIA’s space regulator on Wednesday granted Starlink a licence to begin commercial operations in the country, removing the final regulatory barrier for the satellite internet provider.
The company, led by Elon Musk, has been waiting since 2022 for licences to start operations in India. It received an initial approval last month from India’s telecom ministry and was waiting for clearance from the space regulator.
The licence, issued by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), is valid for five years.
Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing sources, that Starlink had secured the licence from IN-SPACe.
Starlink is now the third company to receive approval to enter the Indian satellite communications market. India has previously cleared applications from Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio.
The company will next need to acquire spectrum from the government, build ground infrastructure, and carry out testing and trials to meet the agreed security requirements.
Musk and Reliance Jio’s Mukesh Ambani had disagreed for several months over how spectrum should be allocated for satellite services. The Indian government later supported Musk’s position that spectrum should be assigned, not auctioned.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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The launch of Grok 4 comes amid criticism of the previous version
Elon Musk unveils Grok 4, calling it “the smartest AI in the world”
Grok 4 reportedly trained 100 times more than Grok 2
Musk says it performs at PhD-level across nearly all subjects
The launch follows controversy around Grok 3’s offensive responses
Musk launches Grok 4 AI model with bold claims of intelligence
Elon Musk has launched Grok 4, the latest artificial intelligence model developed by his xAI company, claiming it surpasses PhD-level intelligence across all academic fields.
Speaking at the launch, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said Grok 4 had been trained using 100 times more data than Grok 2, which was replaced by Grok 3 in February this year. Musk described the new model as “the smartest AI in the world” and said it could achieve near-perfect results in graduate-level exams in almost every subject.
“Grok 4 is smarter than nearly all graduate students in all subjects simultaneously,” Musk said. He referred to the current pace of AI development as an “intelligence big bang” and suggested the model may soon contribute to significant technological breakthroughs.
Potential and concerns over AI ethics
While praising Grok 4’s capabilities, Musk acknowledged that the model “may lack common sense” despite its advanced reasoning skills. He stressed that the most important quality for any AI system is to be “truth-seeking” and stated that it is possible to embed values such as honesty and honour into AI, much like instilling values in a child.
Musk also predicted that the first “watchable half-hour” of television produced entirely by AI could be released by the end of 2025.
The launch of Grok 4 comes amid criticism of the previous version, Grok 3, after it generated antisemitic content, including messages that praised Adolf Hitler. In response, the official Grok account on X (formerly Twitter) said: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.”
Musk distances Grok from 'woke' competitors
Musk has positioned Grok as an alternative to other chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, which he has previously criticised for being “woke”. In June, he invited users on X to help train Grok using “divisive facts” — a term he used for politically incorrect but factually accurate statements.
The update also follows news that X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down, nearly two years after being appointed by Musk to lead the platform he acquired for $44 billion (£32.4 billion) in 2022.
PAKISTAN’S army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday (7) rejected Delhi’s allegation that his military received active support from longtime ally China in its conflict with India in May.
The Indian Army’s deputy chief, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, said last week that China gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions.
Singh did not elaborate on how India knew about the live inputs from China.
Regarding the possibility of China providing satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence, India’s chief of defence staff had said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China or elsewhere.
The “insinuations regarding external support” are “irresponsible and factually incorrect”, Munir said in an address to graduating officers of the national security and war course in Islamabad, according to an army statement.
Pakistani officials have previously dismissed allegations of receiving active support from China in the conflict.
Beijing and Islamabad have longstanding close relations, with billions of dollars of Chinese investment in the country’s energy and infrastructure.
India’s relationship with China meanwhile was strained after a 2020 border clash that sparked a four-year military standoff, but tensions began to ease after the countries reached a pact to step back in October.
India and Pakistan used missiles, drones and artillery fire during the four days of fighting in May – their worst in decades – triggered by an attack in April on tourists in Indian Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack in April.
Singh also added that Turkey provided key support to Pakistan during the fighting, equipping it with Bayraktar and “numerous other” drones, as well as “trained individuals”.
Ankara has strong ties with Islamabad, and had expressed solidarity with it during the clash, prompting Indians to boycott everything from Turkish coffee to holidays in the country.
Turkey’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the allegations.