Tory Party Conference 2023 LIVE: Rishi Sunak insists he won’t be forced into ‘premature’ HS2 decision and claims he’s ‘not at all’ worried about Liz Truss as Suella Braverman prepares to address immigration ‘failings’

Strikes ain’t what they used to be. Say what you like about Arthur Scargill. He may, in the immortal words of the late electricians’ leader Eric Hammond, have gone into the miners’ strike with a big union and a small house and come out of it with a big house and a small union.

But at no time during the year-long dispute, can I ever recall him nipping across to the Algarve for a bit of R&R.

In my earlier incarnation as an industrial correspondent, I covered more than my fair share of strikes — most notably the Winter of Discontent in 1978/79.

They all involved a great deal of hardship for the strikers themselves as well as the long-suffering British public, who had to cope with everything from petrol shortages to uncollected rubbish piling up in the streets.

Back then the vast majority of those taking industrial action were pretty low-paid. Today it’s a different story altogether, from train drivers on £60,000-a-year-plus to hospital consultants banking six-figure salaries, as a basis for negotiation.

Read Richard Littlejohn in the Mail below

Through the throng loomed a familiar, froggy grin: Nigel Farage was at the Conservative conference for the first time since 1988. He was there, he insisted, as a GB News presenter.

Activists queuing for the Great British Growth Rally fringe event went mad when they spotted him. There were shouts of ‘Nigel!’, as if the Messiah had been glimpsed. A crush of bodies surged towards him as a single organism, seeking selfies.

While Farage the humpback whale gorged on this Tory bait ball, there came a distant, panicked sound of Rishi Sunak’s spin doctors wrestling for control of the news agenda. ‘We cannae hold her, captain!’

Read Quentin Letts’ full sketch below

Britain is the best country in the world to be black in, Kemi Badenoch told the Tory party conference.

The Business Secretary used a tub-thumping speech to blast Labour over its ‘woke’ views and for using Brexit to repeatedly talk down Britain.

She lashed out over trans rights, Remainer defeatism and the pace of reaching green targets.

Mrs Badenoch rejected the ‘narrative of hopelessness’ for ethnic minorities that suggests ‘British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations’.

Read the full MailOnline story below

Rishi Sunak stubbornly refused to confirm that the HS2 Manchester leg is being ditched despite a wave of condemnation.

The PM desperately blustered as he was challenged during interviews at the Tory conference that the decision has already been taken to scrap the plans.

He said the costs were ‘enormous’ but insisted he would ‘not be rushed’ into an announcement – which is now widely expected during his keynote speech tomorrow.

And brushing away anger about bungled communications, Mr Sunak insisted he ‘really’ thinks that the process is ‘going well’.

Read the full MailOnline story below

Rishi Sunak said he did not believe voters care about how much money he has, amid claims and criticisms that his wealth means he is ‘out of touch’.

He told Times Radio: ‘I think what people want from their prime ministers and their leaders is to do things that are going to make a difference to their lives.

‘I don’t think people are as interested in how much money is in my bank account. They’re interested in what I’m doing for them.’

Rishi Sunak said he was ‘not at all’ concerned about the scale of support Liz Truss appears to still have within the Tory party, after crowds massed to listen to the former prime minister on Monday.

The Prime Minister told Times Radio that there were ‘lots of Conservatives here’ at the party conference.

‘I think the mood is great. People are excited about the things we’re doing.’

Key fringe speeches include:

12.30pm Jeremy Hunt in conversation with the Centre for Policy Studies
6.30pm Kemi Badenoch in conversation with the Spectator

Here are the timings for today’s speeches at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester:

11am Steve Barclay
11.15am Michelle Donelan
11.30am Michael Gove
3pm Alex Chalk
3.15pm Suella Braverman

The PM rejected a suggestion that the row over HS2 had overshadowed the Conservative Party conference and that the handling of the announcement had been poor.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘I don’t think that. Actually we’re having a great conference.’

Pressed again, he said: ‘The mood here is great.’

He then proceeded to list all the other Government announcements made at the conference in Manchester this week.

Mr Sunak said that he would not be forced into a ‘premature decision’ on the future of HS2, as the Prime Minister comes under intense pressure over the fate of the rail project.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘I am not going to be forced into a premature decision because it is good for someone’s TV programme’

‘What I want to do is make the right decision for the country. This is an enormous amount of people’s money, taxpayers’ money, everybody watching, billions and billions of pounds.

‘We shouldn’t be rushed into things like that. What people would expect from me is to take the time to go over it properly and make sure we make the right long-term decisions for the country.’

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog from the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester today.

Follow all the twists and turns from the city’s Central Convention Complex here, with Rishi Sunak doing a series of TV interviews this morning.

Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday he had not yet taken a decision on whether to cancel the northern leg of the HS2 high-speed railway project.

Speaking to the BBC, the Prime Minister denied that the line from Birmingham to Manchester has already been axed.

He said: ‘I know there’s a lot of speculation on HS2. All I would say is the way I approach this job, I take a look at the facts, I take my time to get the decision right on behalf of the country – whatever it might be – and that’s what I’ll do with this, as I do with everything else.’

On BBC Breakfast he said: ‘As you saw with my recent decision on net zero, when I make a decision that I think is important of course I go and explain that to everyone, explain why I’m doing what I’m doing, why I thought it was right to change direction there.’

He added: ‘If that happens and is necessary, of course that’s what I’ll do.’