Free Republic

Rishi Sunak will become the next U.K. prime minister after his last competitor, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew, just minutes before a deadline to get support from 100 lawmakers. Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer, will become the first ethnic minority leader of the U.K. Sunak is set to speak in the next half hour.

LONDON — Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, was poised to become Britain’s next prime minister as soon as Monday, after Boris Johnson pulled out of the race to succeed Liz Truss on Sunday evening. If Mr. Sunak wins, he will become the first person of color, the first person of Indian heritage and the first person of Hindu faith to lead Britain. Mr. Sunak, who lost a leadership contest to Ms. Truss this summer, is the clear front-runner, with the public backing of 192 Conservative lawmakers as of Monday afternoon, according to the BBC. That number represents...

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will not run to lead the Conservative Party, ending intense speculation about a comeback.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid met Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York with UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, who reportedly said she is considering moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Lapid expressed “his deepest condolences, on his own behalf and on behalf of the people of Israel, on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, ” congratulated Truss on taking office, and expressed “confidence that under their leadership, ties between Israel and the United Kingdom will reach new heights in various fields, in particular the economy, innovation and...

Is it a comeback, or just a fantasy? Is it in the “national interest,” or in personal ambition only momentarily thwarted?Whatever it is, it’s apparently on like Donkey Kong now that Liz Truss has resigned as UK PM, according to the Times of London’s Ragip Soylu. Once-and-future-PM Boris Johnson is already taking “soundings” and lining up support now that Truss’ government has collapsed:BREAKING: Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the contest to replace Liz Truss as PM and believes it is a matter of “national interest” — The Times— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 20, 2022Boris Johnson is expected to...

Westminster is buzzing with rumours circulated by political correspondents extremely close to both the governing Conservative Party and the man himself, that Boris Johnson will run to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, just 15 weeks since he announced his resignation in July. Liz Truss announced her resignation Thursday lunchtime, bringing to an end the shortest-ever term of a UK Prime Minister, a withdrawal precipitated by her inability to deliver on her policy programme amid brutal party infighting and what appeared to be a counter-coup against her administration by the pre-Brexit Remainer element inside the party.

It’s good to remember that the Biden administration isn’t just trying to run America into the ground. Like the Obama administration, it’s also trying to run the world into the ground.And like Obama, Biden’s regime is hostile to conservative governments and traditional allies like the UK and Israel. Now it’s the UK’s turn in the barrel for cutting taxes instead of raising them.The Biden administration is alarmed over the market turmoil triggered by the new UK government’s economic program and is seeking ways to encourage Prime Minister Liz Truss’s team to dial back its dramatic tax cuts.Why can’t the UK...

Liz Truss, the U.K.'s new prime minister, billed herself to the public as that, but the mess she's made of the British economy, which includes a cave-in on a proposed tax cut, is pretty much the opposite of What Thatcher Would Do. According to Fox News:The U.K. is canceling plans to impose a major tax cut for the nation's top tax bracket following widespread frustration and market chaos, U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss announced Monday.Truss' plan had called for eliminating the U.K.'s highest tax bracket, resulting in major cut for citizens making more than $168,000 annually. Truss and her government...

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is going big. Her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, has unveiled an aggressive program of permanent tax cuts. The Wall Street Journal likes the plan:Mr. Kwarteng axed the 2.5-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax imposed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and canceled a planned increase in the corporate income tax rate to 26% from 19%. … Kwarteng also surprised by eliminating the 45% tax rate on incomes above £150,000. The top marginal rate now will be 40%.As a percentage of GDP, it shapes up as the biggest British tax cut since 1972. From the Telegraph:As you...

Liz Truss’s premiership was in freefall last night. In an astonishing few hours, she sacked Suella Braverman after a 90-minute ‘shouting match’ – and then saw her Chief Whip ‘resign’. The ousted Home Secretary launched an outspoken attack on the PM, accusing her of breaking key pledges and wobbling over manifesto commitments such as reduced migration.

Despite the ongoing gas crisis, Liz Truss has promised that the United Kingdom will not ration energy over the coming winter months. Energy rationing will not come into effect in the United Kingdom over the coming winter, Liz Truss has promised, despite the significant supply shortages currently facing the country. While no doubt a relief for many private citizens and households in the country, Truss’ promise that ordinary Britons will also not be forced to pay above and beyond for the unrationed energy raises questions as to just how the newly minted Prime Minister expects to make it through the...

Asked if he was concerned about possible negative economic spillover from Liz Truss's resignation, Joe Biden said: ‘I don’t think they’re that consequential.’ Speaking to reporters, the US president said the British prime minister had been a good partner ‘on Russia and Ukraine, and the British are going to solve their problems’. In a statement from the White House, Biden said the US and the UK remained ‘allies and enduring friends – and that fact will never change’. He thanked Truss for her partnership against Russia

The Palestinian government is still paying imprisoned terrorists stipends and inciting violence against Israel, even as the Biden administration provides nearly half a billion dollars in American taxpayer funds to the government, according to a non-public State Department report recently furnished to Congress. The Palestinian Authority, which committed to stop these acts to receive new tranches of U.S. aid money, "continued payments to Palestinian prisoners who had committed acts of terrorism, as well as the families of so-called ‘martyrs’ who died while committing acts of terrorism," according to the report, a copy of which was reviewed by the Washington Free...

Prime Minister Liz Truss has been on a media tour defending her tax-cutting ‘mini-budget’ amid fierce criticism from the left and central bankers. Truss, who is attempting to boost growth by, among other things, cutting green levies and, controversially, the top 45 per cent rate of income tax for earnings over £150,000 — rather than the 40 per cent rate of income tax on earning from £50,000 to £150,000, which impacts mainly on the squeezed middle class — has been accused of “undercutting” the country’s central bank, which is largely unaccountable to the government, by Mark Carney, its former governor.

SNIP Her successor – due to be announced next week – will be the country´s third Prime Minister this year. So what on earth caused this mess? There are a number of reasons. But some of them are ones that America could learn from. SNIP All of the Western world is now suffering economic turmoil and cost of living crises. Nobody who is in power is going to look good at such a time. But it was the choice of politicians in Britain – as it was in America – to pump out free money since 2008. We did so...

LONDON — After a whirlwind two months packed with drama and crisis, Britain finds itself right back where it was before with some of the same faces competing to become the third prime minister in just eight weeks. Supporters for the three presumed front-runners — Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and, yes, Boris Johnson — were out of the blocks early on Friday, setting out their pitches for why their person should get the keys to 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial residence. Could Boris Johnson stage an extraordinary political comeback? What about Rishi Sunak, the bookies’ favorite who fell to...

Welcome to Your Weekend. Another quest for media excellence in the spirit of El Rushbo. Thankful today my Higher Power loves me, cares about me, wants me to do the next right thing. (The Following Material May Be Disturbing) From FDR To Brandon: The Kiss Up To The Kingdom Of Al Qaeda... And here we are on another Newsdump Weekend Joe Biden coming out of Israel and offering... For The Record Cold Hard Facts About Saudi Arabia... "Yes they chop heads off after Friday prayers outside the local mosque. They also do hands and feet They stone to death women...

Penny Mordaunt has closed the gap on frontrunner Rishi Sunak as the five Tory leadership contenders prepare to face a TV debate showdown on Friday evening. The former defence secretary also stretched further ahead of third-place Liz Truss as Suella Braverman was eliminated in Thursday’s second ballot of Tory MPs. The Attorney General lost five supporters, while Ms Mordaunt picked up 16 extra backers - putting the international trade minister on 83 votes in the contest to replace Boris Johnson. -Chancellor Mr Sunak remains the frontrunner with 101 supporters, up from 88 in the first round of voting on Wednesday....

Having survived the recent cabinet reshuffle the international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, is confronted with the biggest headache of her short ministerial career: the fallout of the US intention to cut funding to UNRWA, which constitutes one of the most serious challenges to UK policies in the Middle East. Donald Trump’s threat to cut financial assistance to the UN agency specifically responsible for Palestinian refugees will be a disaster not only for the refugees but also for Israel and neighbouring countries. It does not advance US interests either. Provoked by the Palestinian rejection of Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as...