pretty political viewpoint, those were pretty brave gifts for the opposition, so no surprise that keir starmer opposition, so no surprise that keir starmer would come in and say that he disagrees and would reverse the abolition he disagrees and would reverse the abolition of the 45p tax rate. i notice abolition of the 45p tax rate. i notice he abolition of the 45p tax rate. i notice he has not said, or has said he would notice he has not said, or has said he would not notice he has not said, or has said he would not reverse the reduction of the he would not reverse the reduction of the hasto he would not reverse the reduction of the basic tax rate to 19p, something that appears to be controversial within the labour party controversial within the labour partyiust controversial within the labour partyjust as they start their conference. andy burnham, the mayor of manchester, has been criticising this, senators a very untargeted way of spending public money, which is tr
partyjust official position of the labour party just yet, official position of the labour partyjust yet, they do seem to be edging towards it. have a listen to the party s deputy leader angela rayner. boris johnson has to account for his actions and the ministerial code is very clear that if he has misled parliament and he s not abided by that code, then he should go. and the frustration for me is that conservative mps have been out on the airways, condemning the prime minister, and saying he does need to come clean on his actions, but, you know, the prime minister is being propped up by his conservative mps at the moment and he s been proven not fit to govern. nobody will be surprised that. i don t believe that borisjohnson was the right prime minister for this country but i think, more importantly now, the british public are now thinking that he is not the right prime minister for this country. if the prime minister says he was at the party and if he perhaps apologises, will that be
the horse and that s why i want to hear today, get more clarity so we can start addressing those issues. but, at the moment, ijust don t have the background and the basis to be able to do so, i m sorry. so that is the view of some tory mps, that it s wait and see. there are some who are defending boris johnson privately are trying to find ways to defend him until he gives his own account. but as i said, it does just feel like a really serious moment for this prime minister, a really dangerous moment for a prime minister who isn t finding mass support on the back benches at the moment and is finding many tory mps are saying, look, you need to sort this out. you need to give us answers and then we will make our minds up. 0pposition mps meanwhile smell blood. they think boris johnson is in real trouble. the snp and the liberal democrats have been saying this morning that they think the prime minister now needs to resign and although that s not an official position of the labour
different views in the party about what should happen to the leader right now. so, for the short term at least, we are still waiting and watching to see which conservative mps choose to act now, which are holding their council, whom i act down the line and what it means for boris johnson s down the line and what it means for borisjohnson s leadership. bleep. boris johnson s leadership. alex, thank conservative mp who decided to act now and in a very dramatic way. the conservative mp for bury south christian wakeford, who defected to the labour partyjust before prime minister s questions. timed to cause maximum political damage to boris johnson. sir keir starmer warmly welcomed him and said bury south is now a labour seat. i m joined by richard duggan, editor of the bury times. did this come as a surprise to you as it did to most other people in the country? it as it did to most other people in the country? as it did to most other people in the country? it certainly did. we were not ex
and i think it s a good thing and it s been a good thing for democracy, and it ll be interesting to see how ruth gets on on times radio. good luck to them. 0k, phil, we ll come back to you in a moment. but let s start with the dramatic scenes that i expect will be dominating tomorrow s front pages. borisjohnson appeared at prime minister s questions today after a pretty dramatic morning, which included an mp defecting from the conservatives to labour. what did you make of it all, laura hughes, political correspondent at the ft? well, it was. not to sound like a football commentator, but it was an event of two halves. at the beginning, you started with this enormous bombshell of a tory mp defecting to the labour partyjust minutes before the prime minister faced parliament. and that felt like a real, real sort of moment which actually served in the prime minister s favour, because i think it scooped a few tory mps who were feeling a bit nervous now. but then, at the very end of prime min