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Sizewell C nuclear project hit by fresh delays as investment talks drag on

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UK ministers have made contingency arrangements to fund the Sizewell C nuclear power project in case a final agreement with potential private investors is delayed by as much as two years, officials have admitted.

A £5.5bn subsidy scheme set up in August to support the construction of Britain’s next nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk envisages a scenario where there is no agreement with private sector investors until mid-2026.

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The timeline for Sizewell C is already running late.

The last Conservative government had hoped to sign off the final investment decision by July this year but the process was disrupted by the UK general election. The government then set an end-of-year target date.

“The £5.5bn budget is based on cost estimates to fund the project until the current projected FID date with a contingency in case of delays to a FID until June 2026,” the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said in a September letter to a campaign group Stop Sizewell C.

The UK government and French state-owned energy company EDF are expected to fund about 20 per cent each of the £20bn-plus project, with the other 60 per cent needed from institutional investors. 

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Several industry and Whitehall figures said no deal is expected before spring 2025 as ministers try to nail down firm commitments from investors for the 3.2-gigawatt project, capable of powering millions of homes.

Francois Xavier Basselot, managing director for Europe and the Middle East at Egis, an engineering consultancy involved in the design of Sizewell C, said the government had told partners that there would be no formal announcement until 2025. 

“They are obviously delaying the final investment decision but they are clearly committed to seeing it through. We will wait and see in Q1 next year,” he said.

The UK government insisted an agreement with investors could still be reached this year.

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Private investors in talks with the government over Sizewell have included Centrica, Schroders Greencoat, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and Amber Infrastructure Group, according to people familiar with the matter.

However the final balance between the different investors is still being discussed and some have become more wary after the troubles faced by investors in the UK’s water sector, the people said.

Nuclear power has long been an unattractive sector for many investors due to factors ranging from cost overruns to the remote risk of a nuclear accident. 

New nuclear power is seen as critical to the UK government’s plans to slash carbon emissions as it can provide a steady supply of electricity, unlike intermittent solar and wind. 

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Yet only one nuclear power station is under construction in Britain, the Hinkley Point C project in Somerset, which is running several years late with a ballooning price tag of up to £46bn.

EDF is the majority investor in Hinkley Point C, with a 66.5 per cent stake, while CGN, a Chinese state-owned company, owns a 33.5 per cent stake. 

Ministers and EDF argue Sizewell C should be cheaper and easier to build than Hinkley Point C as lessons will have been learned from that project.

The UK government has so far committed £2.5bn to help fund the early stage development of Sizewell C before a final deal with private investors.

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It also announced up to £5.5bn in further support in August, with funding to be released in tranches and subject to approval.

All but one of the UK’s ageing fleet of existing nuclear power stations, owned by EDF with Centrica, are set to close down by the end of the decade. 

An energy department spokesperson said there were no plans for any further delays at Sizewell C. “New nuclear power stations such as Sizewell C will play an important role in helping the UK achieve energy security and net zero,” they said.

“Subsidies with extended timelines are a standard contingency measure and in no way indicative of project timelines. There are no plans for a delay to Sizewell C, with discussions with potential investors ongoing, and our intention to deliver the project as quickly as possible,” they added.

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But Alison Downes from Stop Sizewell C said ministers were “shoving public money” at the project without knowing its true cost.

“If Labour ministers have started waking up to the reality that Sizewell C cannot possibly help them decarbonise by 2030 this could explain why they are taking their time to make a final investment decision,” she said.

“However it could also indicate that the enormous, still-secret, cost and financing plans are causing considerable difficulties,” Downes added.

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Retail investors can sustain China’s market bounce

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There has been only one trading day this week in China. But no matter: that one day more than made up all the losses for this year.

Global investors are betting on China for a rebound, more than three years after they shunned the market as regulatory crackdowns hit the country’s biggest tech groups. Chinese markets are closed for most of the week for the so-called Golden Week holiday, as the country celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. On the last day of trade before the holidays on Monday, the benchmark large-cap CSI 300 index rose 8.5 per cent, joining in the festive mood with the biggest daily gain since 2008.

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Still, investor sentiment remains fragile, especially among foreign investors. Industrial profits at large Chinese companies fell 17.8 per cent August, their first decline in five months, reflecting the ongoing economic slowdown. Producer prices have been falling since 2022, adding to deflation concerns.

That is reflected in the stock market: the CSI 300 index trades at just 12 times forward earnings, a significant discount to global peers. Earlier this year, that figure for the Shanghai Stock Exchange hit its lowest level in a decade.

Line chart of CSI 300 index, Chinese renminbi showing A golden week for China's stock market

Even at rock-bottom valuations, investors have continued to stay away. Over the past three years, shares have fallen 45 per cent peak to trough. During this time, investors have been disappointed as every small rebound was followed by a bigger decline. A revival in domestic demand — consumption accounts for more than half of China’s GDP — remains the biggest hurdle to reviving investor confidence and starting a lasting recovery for Chinese stocks.

The difference now is that the weakness in economic data had become too serious for Beijing to ignore. As recent data moved further away from the goal of 5 per cent growth this year, Beijing has made a rare, aggressive pledge to support an economic recovery through stimulus efforts, including $114bn in new funding facilities for stock purchases and cuts in borrowing costs. Given the ongoing property sector downturn, it is unlikely that economic data has bottomed. That means yet more government support measures can be expected in the coming months.

That may not be enough to win over battered foreign investors. But it will help bring back more retail investors — 200mn locals who account for 80 per cent of the total trading volume. That should at least be enough to give depressed markets a decent, near-term boost.

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june.yoon@ft.com

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Hammerson prices 12-year £400m bond issue

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Hammerson prices 12-year £400m bond issue

The proceeds will support its growth strategy and refinance debt on bonds due to mature next year and up until 2028.

The post Hammerson prices 12-year £400m bond issue appeared first on Property Week.

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Meet Machado-Muñoz – Madrid’s hottest new design duo

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It’s a sleepy August morning when I meet husband-and-wife design duo Mafalda Muñoz and Gonzalo Machado at their gallery Machado-Muñoz in Madrid’s Justicia, the fashionable barrio with a similar feel to Manhattan’s West Village. 

Muñoz and Machado met as teenagers in Madrid. Together for 16 years, they have been married for 11 and are parents to two children. They share a passion for design that was nurtured throughout their childhoods: Muñoz’s late father Paco established his design firm Casa & Jardin in 1951 (at its zenith it utilised the skills of more than 300 artisans) and eight years later founded the furniture company Darro. Many consider him to be the founder of modern Spanish design.

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A work by British sculptor Rebecca Warren (far left), a CMS Editions plaster coffee table and Audoux Minet armchairs in the gallery
A work by British sculptor Rebecca Warren (far left), a CMS Editions plaster coffee table and Audoux Minet armchairs in the gallery © Giulio Ghirardi
Muñoz’s father, designer Paco Muñoz, in the 1980s
Muñoz’s father, designer Paco Muñoz, in the 1980s

The gallery opened in May with a soft-launch party: it’s what Muñoz calls “an evolution” of the gallery of the same name the pair launched 10 years ago with a focus on contemporary design. The couple have a close, almost symbiotic connection, and there’s also a lot of laughter. “We are together on everything,” says Muñoz. “My parents used to work together too, so it was kind of natural.” The original gallery was about to move to a new city space when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and it was forced to close. But this did not stall the couple’s creative output, and their interior-design business Casa Muñoz has continued to thrive. Among its projects are the apartment of Spanish model Eugenia Silva, an Ibiza townhouse, the restaurant at the Fondation Beyeler art museum in Switzerland and the Casa Taberna hotel and restaurant in Pedraza, Spain, which is run by Muñoz’s half-sister, Samantha Vallejo-Nágera. 

A Raymond Subes armchair and a 1930s Danish vitirine, in which are Verre d’Onge handblown vases
A Raymond Subes armchair and a 1930s Danish vitrine, in which are Verre d’Onge handblown vases © Giulio Ghirardi
BL001 light by Michael Anastassiades, flanked by 1980s sculptures by Moisès Villèlia
BL001 light by Michael Anastassiades, flanked by 1980s sculptures by Moisès Villèlia © Giulio Ghirardi

Reopening the gallery after a five-year hiatus has allowed the pair to reflect on their singular perspective. “We feel more mature now,” says Muñoz. Machado adds: “At the time, we were fascinated with the contemporary design world. We wanted to give a voice to Spanish design. Now we want to be without restriction.” The curation at their space spans 20th-century classical design, antiquities, art and objets. “We feel that this is the kind of gallery we would like to visit. A place where you can be amused by an artefact, an artwork or a piece of furniture,” says Machado. “It’s more about our point of view on the arts.” 

That viewpoint has garnered an illustrious following. “Gonzalo and Mafalda have an extraordinary sense of taste and definitive style, whether related to their work, their home or how they entertain guests,” says Marta Ortega Pérez, the non-executive chair of Inditex, Zara’s parent company, who is a friend of the couple. “I never fail to be blown away by their exquisite personal touch and encyclopedic knowledge of art, furniture and all aspects related to interiors, as well as their individualistic flair.”

Darro furniture in an Ibiza townhouse
Darro furniture in an Ibiza townhouse © Giulio Ghirardi

This flair is evident as we walk through the gallery, a peaceful, inspiring but very comfortable space. We sink into woven cord Audoux Minet armchairs to appreciate the Machado- and Muñoz-designed furniture, placed beside both originals and re-editions by Paco Muñoz. Beside us is a vintage Danish cabinet displaying handblown glass orbs and a simple lamp, which catches my eye. Muñoz explains its provenance: “It’s a very important lamp by Paul Dupré-Lafon that was designed for Hermès. It’s one of the few with the original parchment lampshade.” The couple see the gallery as a platform to source furnishings for their interiors projects. Muñoz continues: “We can buy things for the gallery that we can later use.” 

The front half of the gallery is dedicated to rotating exhibitions. Currently displayed is the hand-carved work of Moisès Villèlia, the late Catalan sculptor known for experimenting with bamboo, and lighting by London-based designer Michael Anastassiades. His limited-edition piece from the Cheerfully Optimistic About the Future exhibition at the ICA in Milan works harmoniously with Villèlia’s mobile sculptures. “It’s different uses of the same material and we felt they work together incredibly well,” Muñoz explains.

Pieces by Catalan sculptor Moisès Villèlia flank a doorway in the gallery
Pieces by Catalan sculptor Moisès Villèlia flank a doorway in the gallery © Giulio Ghirardi
A sconce by French sculptor Philippe Anthonioz, a work (behind glass) by the Spanish textile artist Aurèlia Muñoz and, beneath it, a revolving bookcase by Claudio Salocchi
A sconce by French sculptor Philippe Anthonioz, a work (behind glass) by the Spanish textile artist Aurèlia Muñoz and, beneath it, a revolving bookcase by Claudio Salocchi © Giulio Ghirardi

Anastassiades refers to the pair as “passionate, absolute perfectionists”. Recalling his first meeting with them in 2015 when he was invited to participate in their inaugural exhibition, he says: “I knew from the start that what they intended to deliver was going to be of exceptional standard. We have continued to work together ever since.”

As we continue our tour, Muñoz pauses at a re-edition of her father’s stainless-steel shelves. Paco Muñoz’s legacy, an archive of more than 20,000 designs, is a frequent source of inspiration. They also have plans to relaunch the brand Darro in its entirety in the near future. Several of the craftspeople who made her father’s furniture now make the couple’s bespoke furniture. “The upholsterer we currently work with made my cradle,” Muñoz says.

The gallery’s façade
The gallery’s façade © Giulio Ghirardi

With the studio and gallery, the pair’s output is prolific: they juggle 10 or so interior projects at any one time. Their time is split between two offices, one in Madrid and the other in Gstaad, Switzerland. And they keep expanding their interests. They are currently working with Belgian lighting brand Authentage on a line of architectural lights. “And we want to do faucets next,” says Machado, hinting they also have interior work in the pipeline from Madison Avenue to Madrid. 

The duo, however, bring their own talents to each project. Muñoz is a skilled interior architect, while Machado, who also studied interior design, is a successful photographer who honed his skills as an assistant for Mario Testino before establishing a career shooting editorial for magazines. He acts as the studio’s creative visualiser. “Gonzalo has special vision,” says Muñoz. “It’s super-intuitive and very impressive.”

“I’m always framing. It’s a disease,” laughs Machado, who enjoys work assignments but finds photographing his own work “torture”. His perfectionism means he sometimes refuses to release the images. Thankfully, Muñoz is more than understanding: “We think precision is one of the most important things when you create.” 

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Abrdn Adviser hires chief technology and product officer

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Abrdn Adviser hires chief technology and product officer

Abrdn Adviser has today (3 October) announced the appointment of Derek Smith to the newly created role of chief technology & product officer.

The CTPO role will bring together Abrdn Adviser’s technology and product teams.

Smith will be responsible for executing the technology strategy and ensuring the continuous enhancement and scalability of the Abrdn Adviser business.

He will join in November from Morningstar Wealth, where he is currently chief technology officer, a role he has held for the past two years.

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His previous roles include head of engineering at Virgin Money and Lloyds Banking Group.

Smith’s appointment follows a busy few weeks on the recruitment front for Abrdn Adviser.

Last month, it announced that industry veteran Verona Kenny will join as chief distribution officer and Louise Williams as chief financial officer.

Abrdn Adviser CEO, Noel Butwell, said: “Our ambition is to deliver a market-leading proposition with exceptional client service and we’ve set out to create the best senior leadership team in the market to achieve this.

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“Technology is a critical enabler in realising our goals and aligning to continuously evolving customer needs, and Derek brings a wealth of experience to the role of chief technology & product officer.

“He will lead the implementation of our strategy and next phases of platform upgrades as we embark on our next stage of growth and evolution during a period of disruption and digital transformation in the market.”

Smith added: “I am thrilled to join Abrdn Adviser at such a pivotal time.

“My passion lies in leading the creation of innovative digital solutions and journeys that empower financial advisers to deliver high-quality, personalised service to their clients.

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“Together, we will build solutions with service excellence and interconnectivity at their heart, supporting advisers to navigate and thrive in the ever-evolving financial landscape with confidence.”

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I visited the underwhelming ‘magic bench’ that’s now a 5-star tourist attraction – to see what all the fuss was about

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The 'Magic Bench' is located by Bewl Water and is tucked next to the bushes

TOURIST attraction owners and hoteliers break their backs to get spotless reviews online, often go above and beyond to please demanding customers.

But it turns out all you really have to do is…. nothing. Because there’s a place in Wadhurst, East Sussex, with a faultless run of five-star reviews – called simply the ‘Magic Bench’.

The 'Magic Bench' is located by Bewl Water and is tucked next to the bushes

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The ‘Magic Bench’ is located by Bewl Water and is tucked next to the bushesCredit: Katrina Turrill
The bench doesn't look too special, slightly weathered, but it's in a prime spot for viewing the water

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The bench doesn’t look too special, slightly weathered, but it’s in a prime spot for viewing the waterCredit: Katrina Turrill

The pictures online show an ordinary-looking bench, a memorial one, and one that’s perhaps seen better days.

But bizarrely, it has five stars on Google and gleaming reviews spanning back three years.

Is this a targeted campaign by a bunch of locals or an in-joke among mates? Quite possibly, but three years is an impressive length of time to keep a campaign going.

Someone who visited this year wrote: “The most magical bench I’ve ever sat upon. Beautiful view, lovely serene setting and magic all round!”

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They visited on a weekday, experienced no wait time, but did recommend reservation.

Other visitors wrote: “If sitting is your thing, then this bench is a must.”

Also: “A wonderful place! An absolutely magical view over the lake! The highlight in the UK.”

And: “Believe the hype! Truly magical!”

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Baffled by such positive words, I had to go check out the bench for myself, to see if it truly was magical or just an online hoax.

I live in a village named one of the best places to live in the UK

The bench can be found by Bewl Water – a location attraction which is a great place for walks or water activities.

The best way I found to get to the bench was to park at The Old Vine pub and to follow the track there leading down to the reservoir.

The walk takes about 20 minutes, and once you reach the circular track that goes around the water and start walking anti-clockwise, you’ll find a small opening between the bushes and trees.

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It was easy to find and a welcome sight after a tricky walk down in wellies.

I took a seat and waited to see if some ethereal feeling came over me.

It didn’t.

But with no other benches nearby, and after a fast-paced walk down to find it, it was a great place to perch and rest and admire the view.

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The bench is tucked in close to the bushes, so feels very much secluded.

And the view is amazing overlooking the still stretch of water, with nothing but the sound of birds and the wind rustling through the leaves…

Maybe this is what everyone meant when they described the bench as “magic”.

Whether the online reviews are a joke or actually real I think is yet to be determined.

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Nonetheless, if you’re looking for some beautiful walks and cosy pubs to warm up in this Autumn, I definitely recommend visiting Wadhurst – named ‘Best Place to live in the UK’ by The Sunday Times last year.

Equally great places near Wadhurst to visit

Tunbridge Wells

A 17 minute drive away from Wadhurst is Tunbridge Wells – the closest big town if you’re looking for more shops and restaurants. The Pantiles walkway is an iconic feature in the town, famous for its Georgian architecture and independent shops and restaurants.

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Hastings

Not far away is the seaside town of Hastings. You can hop on the train at Wadhurst and it’s at the end of the line (about 30 minutes away). Hastings’ medieval Old Town is a main attraction, with its narrow streets, antique shops, boutiques and cafes. The beach is pebbly, but the perfect place to sit down and enjoy some fish and chips.

Bodiam

Less than half an hour away is Bodiam, a small village but with a rather large castle. The castle is owned by the National Trust, and it another good place to head for an Autumn walk. If you’re looking for a bite to eat, there’s the Castle Inn across the road or The Hub @ Quarry Farm, which has the Kent & East Sussex Railway nearby. 

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The bench offers incredible views of the water at Bewl Water and is a lovely quiet spot

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The bench offers incredible views of the water at Bewl Water and is a lovely quiet spotCredit: Katrina Turrill
The bench is definitely a welcome place to rest after a long walk

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The bench is definitely a welcome place to rest after a long walkCredit: Katrina Turrill

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Conservatives should pick James Cleverly. Here’s why they won’t

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Good morning. The answer to who the Conservatives should pick as their leader is, I think, screamingly obvious.

There’s one candidate in the race who has held two of the great offices of state, is one of the few politicians of either party to emerge from the Home Office with his reputation as a competent administrator and effective secretary of state unscathed; has shown an ability to get through tough media rounds under a series of leaders; has throughout this leadership campaign correctly identified that the first thing the Conservative party needs to fix is that too often it sounds weird, angry and unpleasant; and recognises that the party first of all needs to start sounding as if it likes the country it seeks to govern.

There’s one candidate who more than any other is singled out by politicians outside the Conservative party as the one they think would pose the greatest challenge to them.

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The superior candidate in this contest — James Cleverly — further underlined his credentials by delivering the standout speech of the conference season yesterday. It electrified and energised previously gloomy MPs on the party’s moderate wing. It won the largest standing ovation at the conference and improved his odds. And, as both our reporters and the BBC’s World At One programme found, it shifted the opinion of some activists watching in the hall towards Cleverly.

And yet, and yet . . . I still feel as if this contest is ultimately going to be won by someone else, in large part because it’s such a familiar movie. A political party is turfed out of office after an economic shock. The party, given a choice between one of its more distinguished senior members and a candidate who tells it that its defeat was down to having been insufficiently radical, chooses the latter, then loses the next general election.

It’s an old, old, old story in British politics. There are two candidates offering that myth in this contest, and I suspect that history will repeat itself this time. Some thoughts on why that myth is just that — a myth — below.

Inside Politics is edited by Harvey Nriapia today. Read the previous edition of the newsletter here. Please send gossip, thoughts and feedback to insidepolitics@ft.com

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Familiar fictions

In her speech to the Conservative party conference yesterday, Kemi Badenoch blamed the party’s defeat on having allowed itself to be bound “by a Treasury whose rules were written by Gordon Brown and a legal system re-engineered by Tony Blair”, adding for good measure that “when we went after Labour votes . . . we lost our own!”

There are a number of holes in this theory. The first is that the Treasury’s “rules” were quite extensively rewritten by George Osborne. He created the Office for Budget Responsibility, and by changing a lot of departmental budget lines from annual managed expenditure (AME) to departmental expenditure limits (DEL), he changed the relationship between the Treasury and spending departments in a number of important ways. It just isn’t right to say that the Treasury in 2024, or the UK’s broader fiscal arrangements, have not changed since 2010.

And the fruits of Osborne’s changes are clear to see: as chancellor, he successfully unpicked a great number of Brown’s tax rises and defunded, scrapped and rolled back much of New Labour’s policy programme. Theresa May, Andrew Lansley, Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling and Michael Gove oversaw significant changes in how policing, immigration, health, welfare policy, criminal justice and education were delivered and managed.

Opinions will vary about the effectiveness of these reforms. Personally, I think some were brilliant and others disastrous, but that’s irrelevant because regardless of what you think about the record of these Cameron-era ministers, what you can’t dispute is that a) they happened, and that b) with the exception of what Michael Gove did at the Department of Education, they can hardly be seen as continuity Blairite or New Labour measures. They were significant, far-reaching and in many cases quite rightwing policies.

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The same apparently ‘leftwing’ fiscal and legal framework doesn’t seem to have stopped the Conservatives implementing Brexit, a hammer blow to an essential aspect of the Blair-Brown economic model.

Just as importantly, it is not clear when this era in which the Conservative party “went after Labour votes and lost its own” happened. In 2010 and 2015, David Cameron made a conscious effort to woo Labour and Liberal Democrat voters. In 2010 he captured more additional constituencies in a single night than any Conservative leader since Stanley Baldwin and won the first Tory parliamentary majority since John Major in 1992. In 2019, after Boris Johnson embraced net zero and promised to spend more on the public services — both measures designed to woo Labour voters — he won the party’s biggest majority since 1987.

When you look at what harmed the Conservatives, it was a combination of personal failures, the fallout from Partygate and the conscious political decision to move to the right, not to the left. The Truss experiment destroyed the party’s reputation for economic competence. Then Rishi Sunak, having enjoyed political success with a series of centrist budgets as chancellor, led the Conservatives into an election in which he distanced himself from Boris Johnson’s pledges on net zero and public services — going into an election promising further tax cuts funded by a squeeze on government spending. His opening offer in that campaign was to bring back national service — a sop to Reform voters, not Labour ones. The result was the worst defeat in Tory party history.

It is just wrong to say that the Conservatives did not make big and significant changes to the Blair-Brown model of governing, and it is wrong to say that the party lost because it wasn’t rightwing enough.

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But defeated political parties tend to respond well to this argument, a slicker version of which is on offer from Robert Jenrick, the candidate most likely to benefit from it. Is a strong speech from James Cleverly enough to convince enough Tory members not to do what so many defeated parties have done over the years? Over the course of the next month, we’ll find out.

Now try this

(Georgina) One of the little, bonus pleasures of an author talk is getting to hear how other readers perceive their work and worlds. And speaking last night at Foyles, novelist Alan Hollinghurst said two close friends were deeply split over his protagonist in the Line of Beauty: Nick Guest, a gay graduate who moves into the home of a Conservative MP in the 1980s. One “absolutely detested [Nick] from the first page” while another “got behind him the whole way”. So it was fascinating to hear Hollinghurst, launching his book Our Evenings, discuss how this delights him — and his hope for readers to experience shifts in mood or genre in one story, often from the comic to the dark.

(Stephen) I’m horrified to learn that there are people who don’t side with Nick! What a terrific novel The Line of Beauty is.

Top stories today

  • Knight-errant | Green energy magnate Dale Vince, who has donated more than £5mn to the Labour party, has been accused by his estranged wife of seeking to finalise their divorce in “haste” because he expects to receive an honour from Downing Street and wants to deprive her of a title.

  • Delay repay | The prime minister has repaid £6,000 of gifts and commissioned a new set of principles on hospitality to be published in the updated ministerial code, following a raft of revelations about clothing and other donations to senior cabinet members.

  • Conservative crossroads | Tory think-tanks are split over how to survive now the Conservatives have been ousted: should they try to shape the party in opposition or pivot to Labour?

  • Fiscal rule-breaking | The chancellor faces an economy mired in low growth, ballooning national debt and creaking infrastructure. But she’s also up against her own, self-imposed fiscal rules. Can Labour find a way out of its own Budget traps?

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