Britain's former chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has spoken with Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt with a view to form a new government if Prime Minister Liz Truss is ousted, Conservative Party sources have told The National.
Mr Sunak also held meetings with his former special advisers at his constituency in Richmond last week, potentially for leadership planning, it can be disclosed.
The National can also report that any leadership contest will probably be held with a “very high entry bar”, with candidates requiring the support of between 50 and 60 MPs to enter the race.
But there is also discussion, should Ms Truss be pushed out of office, for a caretaker prime minister to be appointed for three months to allow time for a more considered leadership contest.
The sources also disclosed that Conservative MPs’ WhatsApp groups are ablaze with plotting, including intense debate about Mr Sunak, who came second to Ms Truss in last month’s leadership race.
“Rishi met with his Spads [special advisers] in Richmond a week ago, so he’s obviously in the planning phase,” a Westminster source said. “Rishi also briefly talked to Penny Mordaunt. As a result, she is now regarded as a ‘flight risk’ on resigning from government.”
A former minister said that the 1922 Backbench Committee, that oversees elections, could change the rules to set the bar at 50 MP supporters to speed up a “coronation” for the new leader.
“This will slash it right down to a couple of contenders. What we really want is a tsunami of support for a single ticket that will ease the pain and we do have to have an election because that person needs a mandate.”
A backbench MP said: “We do not want a debilitating, drawn-out election with the membership, so it will essentially have to be a coronation.”
It is still uncertain if Mr Sunak would unite with Ms Mordaunt, although they would prove a powerful force as more than two thirds of MPs voted for them in the summer leadership contest.
But others say it is still uncertain if Mr Sunak would automatically be chosen after the ill-feeling he caused by hastening Boris Johnson’s end when he resigned as chancellor in July.
Other MPs believe that another “clean pair of hands” candidate could emerge, potentially untainted by association with Ms Truss and regarded as sensible. Names put forward include the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps, the respected former transport secretary, Tom Tugendhat, the security minister and Kit Malthouse, the current education secretary.
With Mr Kwarteng sacked it is a question of whether “he takes Liz down with him” the backbencher said.
“There’s lots of WhatsApps going around saying that she’s got to go, it’s meltdown and hysteria. Some say it’s probably best to keep her on as PM but she’s so toxic, her polling numbers are shocking. There’s lots of febrile stuff but the problem is there’s no focus.”
The former minister said: “There will be plotting over this weekend but it’s a question of whether or not Rishi breaks cover. He might be marmite to some but his economic policies have certainly been vindicated.”
While it is unclear whether Mr Sunak will come forward as a leadership contender, Ms Truss's authority appears to be evaporating.
“How will she stand up at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday after she has trashed her own economic policy?” the backbench MP said. “You could get a move on her at that point but they will have to move fast as there really is not much time to repair the roof before the next election. It’s all grim, grim, grim with no great solution.”
It was accepted that the expected U-turn on corporation tax might “save her until Christmas”, but if Ms Truss’s polling remained poor then she would be gone by the new year.
MPs are also angry that the Downing Street operation was still lacklustre, being run by young and inexperienced staffers.
“Number 10 is manned by children, bar Mark Fullbrook [chief of staff] who’s never worked in a government job and has a few outstanding issues,” the former minister said. “They are under-gunned in Downing Street and no one knows what’s going on.”
Whoever is prime minister in 2023 know sit will be an immense challenge to defeat Sir Keir Starmer’s resurgent Labour Party at the next general election, to be held before January 2025.
“Whoever that might be, it’s possible but unlikely they might win the election, there’s just too many hard facts against us,” the backbencher said.
Brief scores:
QPR 0
Watford 1
Capoue 45' 1
The story of Edge
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Hani%20Abu%20Ghazaleh%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20with%20an%20office%20in%20Montreal%3Cbr%3EFounded%3A%202018%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Virtual%20Reality%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%241.2%20million%2C%20and%20nearing%20close%20of%20%245%20million%20new%20funding%20round%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The years Ramadan fell in May
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UK’s AI plan
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