6:55 am, July 23, 2024
New Tory Party leader to be announced on November 2
The Conservative Party will appoint a new leader on November 2 to replace Rishi Sunak after the 1922 Committee of backbenchers agreed the rules and timeline for the leadership contest.
Nominations will kick off on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on July 29. Each candidate will need a proposer, seconder and eight nominations to qualify.
The parliamentary party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.
Reeves: Covid corruption commissioner will get back what is owed to taxpayers
Rachel Reeves has started the appointment process for a Covid corruption commissioner tasked with getting back ‘what is owed to the British people’.
The Chancellor told MPs the commissioner will report to her, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Parliament on their work to chase down fraudsters who prospered during the pandemic.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is examining how £15bn of taxpayers’ money was spent on personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, amid claims of fraud and waste.
Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH racer begins track testing
Aston Martin has begun testing its Valkyrie AMR-LMH hypercar for it to compete in World Endurance Championship and International Motor Sports Association events next year.
The car is set to enter the 24 hours of Le Mans 2025 too and will mark the firm’s return to the famous endurance race having debuted back in 1959.
This new hypercar has been developed with the help of Aston Martin Performance Technologies and The Heart of Racing. Both divisions will now commence a development schedule to prepare the car ahead of FIA homologation in the autumn and its debut as of early next year.
Rwanda scheme has already cost taxpayers £700m, Cooper reveals
The Rwanda deportation scheme cost Britain £700 million despite only four volunteers being sent to Kigali, Yvette Cooper has said, branding the policy the ‘most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen’.
The Home Secretary accused the previous Conservative government of creating an ‘asylum Hotel California’, where people arrived in the system but never left.
In a statement to MPs on Monday, Ms Cooper claimed that the Tories had planned to spend more than £10bn over six years on the Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
Monday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Forty jobs to go as Ken Brown Motors shuts two Hyundai dealerships
- Mercedes-Benz dealer invests £2million in new commercial vehicle service and parts location in Bedfordshire
- Carwow launches enhanced stock transport service with Carwow Collects
- European demand for battery-electric vehicles slows in first half of 2024, data suggests
- Bentley Motors holds topping-out ceremony to mark milestone in building new design centre
- Pre-tax profit at Romans International more than halves but supercar dealer is happy
- Nissan’s Formula E team enjoys victorious end to season in London
- Three used car sales and a drive in a Fisker Ocean – watch James’s Video Diary
Carpetright bought in rescue deal but more than 1,000 jobs cut
Carpetright has been bought in a rescue deal by rival Tapi, but will shut more than 200 stores and cut more than 1,000 jobs.
Flooring retailer Tapi has agreed to buy the Carpetright brand, intellectual property, 54 stores and two warehouses in a pre-pack administration deal.
Administrators at PwC said the deal will save more than 308 current jobs at Carpetright.
Kamala Harris secures endorsement of former speaker Nancy Pelosi
Vice president Kamala Harris has moved swiftly to lock up Democratic delegates behind her campaign for the White House after President Joe Biden stepped aside amid concerns he would be unable to defeat Republican Donald Trump.
Mr Biden’s exit on Sunday, prompted by Democratic worries over his fitness for office, was a seismic shift to the presidential contest that upended both major political parties’ carefully honed plans for the 2024 race.
Aiming to put weeks of intra-party drama over Mr Biden’s candidacy behind them, prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders and political organisations quickly lined up behind Ms Harris in the hours after Mr Biden announced he was dropping his re-election campaign.
London markets positive despite Biden withdrawal and weaker airlines
The London market was stronger on Monday after it rebounded from concerns over the Microsoft IT outage which disrupted a raft of industries.
Disruption from the outage and Joe Biden’s decision to step down from the US presidential race did little to dampen trading at the start of the week.
The FTSE 100 finished 43.06 points, or 0.53% higher, to end the day at 8,198.78. Elsewhere in Europe, sentiment was even more positive. The Cac 40 in France ended 1.16% higher and the Dax index was up 1.35% at the close.
Weather outlook…
Today, the south and east will see patchy cloud and a few well-scattered and light showers. These will ease later on. The BBC reports it will be largely sunny in the north-west but turning cloudy in Northern Ireland by evening.
Tonight, much of the UK will see variable cloud, a few breaks along with largely dry and widely settled conditions. Skies will remain clearest in the south-west and far north.
Tomorrow will see a mix of variable cloud and sunny spells. Light showers will develop in the east briefly. In the afternoon and evening, showery rain will affect the north-west and far south-west.
