Inside Politics: Johnson’s speech branded ‘vacuous’ and ‘economically illiterate’

Boris Johnson lived out his childhood dream yesterday as he got to play world king for a day in front of the Tory Party faithful. Back to reality: his keynote address has been criticised by business as “vacuous” and “economically illiterate”. Elsewhere, Priti Patel has been accused of weaponising violence against women to justify new laws that will “curtail freedom and deepen inequality” and a think tank has warned the PM’s bid to fix social care could result in council tax rises.

Parliament is in recess until 18 October.

Coming up:

– Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi on LBC at 7.50am

– Shadow child poverty secretary Wes Streeting on Sky News at 8.05am

BUSINESS BACKLASH: Johnson’s first in-person speech to the Conservative Party conference splashes most papers and news websites this morning. How the address went down depends on which outlet you read. “Iran man Boris”, gushes the Daily Express in a nod to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, reported to one of the PM’s idols. “I’ll unleash the spirit of Britain,” it adds. But with the UK in the grip of several crises, the business community’s reaction to the PM’s remarks is less than positive, with several industry figures and think tank policy experts lining up to deliver what they see as some home truths about the state of Britain’s economy. The free-market think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, condemned the speech as “vacuous and economically illiterate”, saying: “Shortages and rising prices simply cannot be blustered away with rhetoric about migrants.” Comments from the ASI also make the front of The Guardian, which says, “Business anger at vacuous and bombastic speech”.

CONF BANTZ: The PM’s speech was light on policy and long on banter, with only one discernible announcement, which appears to be a re-hash of an earlier pledge. He promised a “levelling up premium” of £3,000 for maths and science teachers in disadvantaged areas. Today’s Telegraph says he also promised not to build homes on greenfield sites. There was nothing on how the government intends to sort out Britain’s ongoing supply chain crisis, but the PM did find time in his 45-minute speech to launch a personal attack on Labour leader Keir Starmer, with a series of gags aimed at “captain hindsight”. “Build back banter”, is Metro’s main takeaway as it splashes a picture of the PM kissing his wife, Carrie. Rich with jokes but devoid of a plan for “levelling up”, the PM’s crowd-pleasing Manchester speech was also peppered with inaccuracies.

COUNCIL TAX HIKES: Johnson’s promise to “fix” Britain’s ailing social care sector will need billions of pounds more from his government and substantial council tax rises, a leading think tank has warned. Extra cost pressures faced by local authorities could easily push up council tax bills by 5 per cent a year – or £220 – by 2024-25, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

VIOLINS OUT: Please spare a thought this morning for the lowly Conservative MP, Sir Peter Bottomley, who says he is struggling to get by on his £82,000 salary. Despite earning twice as much as the average Briton, Sir Peter whinged that it’s “really grim” being in the top 5 per cent of earners. The Worthing West MP said that the annual salary, which does not include expenses and perks, should be higher.

PATEL UNDER FIRE: Priti Patel has been accused of weaponising violence against women to justify new laws that will “curtail freedom and deepen inequality.” The End Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition, which includes Rape Crisis, Refuge, Women’s Aid and other organisations supporting victims, called for laws championed by the home secretary in her Conservative Party conference speech to be scrapped. Patel announced an inquiry into Sarah Everard’s murderer, saying that “such unconscionable crimes and acts of violence against women and girls have no place in our society”.

“Boris’s rhetoric was bombastic but vacuous and economically illiterate. This was an agenda for levelling down to a centrally-planned, high-tax, low-productivity economy. He is hamstringing the labour market, raising taxes on a fragile recovery and shying away from meaningful planning reform. Shortages and rising prices simply cannot be blustered away with rhetoric about migrants. There is no evidence that immigration lowers living standards for native workers. This dog whistle shows this government doesn’t care about pursuing evidence-based policies.”

Matthew Lesh of the Adam Smith Institute gives a glowing review of PM’s speech.

“The part of the speech I really disagreed with/was alarmed by was the idea that by levelling up you can move housebuilding out of the SE/restrict it to brownfield. The idea that other regions may be richer years down the line doesn’t change the fact there’s a housing crisis now.”

Robert Colville of the Centre for Policy Studies on housing crisis.