Liz Truss – live: New PM to be announced as Tories warned ‘divided parties lose elections’

Liz Truss is expected to be announced as the new prime minister today after a gruelling six-week Tory leadership campaign.

Voting among the estimated 200,000 Tory members charged with choosing Boris Johnson’s successor closed on Friday, and either the foreign secretary or Rishi Sunak will be declared the victor at 12:30pm by 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady.

Whoever is then handed the keys to No 10 at Balmoral on Tuesday “will face one of the most difficult inheritances of any prime minister” in the past 50 years, warned former No 10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell.

Several reports have suggested Ms Truss is strongly considering freezing energy bills to help households through the cost-of-living crisis if she wins the keys to No 10, with The Times suggesting the package could be on the scale of the Covid furlough scheme introduced by Mr Sunak while chancellor.

Senior Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown urged his party to support whatever energy plan the next prime minister announces, warning that “divided parties do not win elections”.

Key points

• Truss to consider ‘freeze for energy bills due to economic squeeze’

• ‘Divided parties do not win elections’: Tories urged to support new PM on energy crisis

• Kwarteng insists Truss would be ‘fiscally responsible’ as PM

• Sadiq Khan calls for ‘Covid-style’ emergency support to ease pain of energy bills

• Liz Truss warns she will make unpopular decisions as prime minister and defends tax cuts for wealthy

Nothing in Britain ‘really working anymore’, says Keir Starmer

11:13 , Andy Gregory

People will be asking what they have “got to show” for the fourth Tory prime minister in 12 years, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

In a new video clip shared to Twitter, the Labour leader said: “Across Britain today people can’t pay their bills. They’re worried about doing even the weekly shop or filling up their car with fuel.”

He added: “There is a general sense that nothing is really working anymore, and neither of the candidates to be prime minister had any answer to those issues ... their arguments all summer have been so alien and so out of touch with what so many people have been going through.”

Starmer tells Year 11 pupil she would ‘probably do better job’ than incoming PM

11:10 , Andy Gregory

Sir Keir Starmer and shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson are visiting a school in north London ahead of the new Tory leader being announced.

Sir Keir and Ms Phillipson met with two year 11 pupils, Aaayushi and Nayra, from the school’s student parliament, with the Labour leader telling the former: “We need to get you into No 10, you’ll probably do a better job than whoever’s coming in at lunchtime today.”

Liz Truss warned against ‘bad’ Boris Johnson mistake of filling cabinet with friends

10:58 , Andy Gregory

Liz Truss is on course to repeat Boris Johnson’s mistake of packing her first cabinet with only allies, a senior Tory peer has warned.

Polling guru Lord Hayward urged Ms Truss to offer top positions to people aligned with rival Rishi Sunak if she wins the contest for No 10 today, as is widely expected, insisting this was vital to help “heal the wounds” in the Tory party.

“I think there is a general assessment that Boris’ first cabinet is a bad cabinet because all he did was award friends’ jobs, people who were absolute loyalists, and that doesn’t work,” the Tory peer told Sky News.

Lord Hayward said a better example was Margaret Thatcher, who “brought all sorts of people who were known to be critics of hers into cabinet”, adding: “That’s how you set about reuniting the party, because it’s reunited at the top and works downwards.”

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has the full story here:

Liz Truss warned against ‘bad’ Boris Johnson mistake of filling cabinet with friends

Sunak ‘tight-lipped’ as he leaves Kensington home

10:43 , Andy Gregory

According to reporters with the Press Association news agency, Rishi Sunak looked tight-lipped and serious as he left his Kensington home this morning.

The former chancellor reportedly remained silent and avoided eye contact with reporters as he boarded a security-staffed blue Range Rover.

Accompanied by special adviser Lisa Lovering, he will be driven to Westminster to hear the results of the Tory leadership contest.

He did not respond to questions about the race, which he is widely expected to lose.

Analysis | Brexit aside, Johnson has ticked off little substantial from history’s to-do list

10:21 , Andy Gregory

In this “living obituary” of Boris Johnson, our chief political commentator John Rentoul argues that, Brexit aside, the outgoing prime minister “has ticked off little substantial from history’s to-do list”. He writes:

“By the end, his lifetime’s assumption that the normal rules didn’t apply to him, which had served him so well, served him badly.

“He welcomed chaos because he thought it created opportunities. It was, after all, how he got Brexit done. As Tom Peck, my colleague, said at the time: ‘There was no darkest hour waiting for him, so he switched off the lights himself.’

“That should be his epitaph, because despite his belief that he had been betrayed, he was the author of his own downfall.”

You can read his evaluation of the Johnson premiership in full with Independent Premium:

Boris Johnson got a lot of things wrong – but he got some things right | John Rentoul

Truss to pay less than £2,000 for Downing Street energy bills this winter, Labour says

10:06 , Andy Gregory

Liz Truss will pay less than £2,000 for her energy bills at Downing Street this winter if she wins the Tory leadership contest, according to analysis by Labour.

Electricity, gas and water at the No 10 and No 11 flats are covered by the state as a “benefit in kind” – with Ms Truss only set to pay tax on the perk of around £1,980 this winter – meaning she “won’t face the same concerns” as ordinary Britons, Labour said.

Regardless of how high the energy price cap soars, the maximum amount of tax the next PM would have to pay in tax for receiving free energy is around £3,400 each year.

Liz Truss to pay less than £2,000 for her energy bills this winter, Labour says

Benny Hill theme played outside parliament ahead of announcement of new PM

09:44 , Andy Gregory

Some hours ahead of the announcement of Boris Johnson’s successor, activist Steve Bray can already be heard blaring the Benny Hill Show theme song outside parliament.

The music was also used by the so-called “Stop Brexit Man” as members of the media awaited Mr Johnson’s resignation in July.

Boris Johnson comeback a ‘fantasy’, says former comms chief

09:39 , Andy Gregory

Former Boris Johnson communications chief Will Walden has said he “doesn’t think there’s any coming back for Boris – he’ll disappear off to earn a lot of money”.

He said Johnson had given “tacit support” to the idea of another push for the leadership at some stage in a bid to “re-write the historical narrative” that he was hard done by.

“I think it is a fantasy, and I think Boris will know that,” he told LBC. “I think the Tory party will have to be in a pretty strange state of affairs to go back in time to Boris.”

Lord Marland, a former trade envoy, told the BBC last week that Mr Johnson wants to “go and put hay in the loft” after he leaves office.

“As he said to me the other day, he wants to go and put hay in the loft, in other words to build up his bank balance so that he can afford to pay for the lifestyle that he has created,” he said.

His immediate future as an MP is also uncertain. If Mr Johnson is found by the privileges committee to have lied to parliament, he could face a suspension from the Commons for 10 or more sitting days and a recall petition, which, if signed by 10 per cent of his constituents, would trigger a by-election.

Truss ‘created tension and undermined trust’ as foreign secretary, Irish counterpart suggests

09:30 , Andy Gregory

Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has said he hopes “the direction of travel” of British-Irish relations can be changed if Liz Truss enters No 10 – effectively accusing her of having “created a lot of tension and undermined trust” as foreign secretary.

Speaking on RTE Morning Ireland, Simon Coveney said he and Irish premier Micheal Martin were in Oxford at the weekend to meet British ministers, and that “everyone was talking about what a Liz Truss premiership would look like”.

“Whether the strident way in which she has brought forward the Northern Ireland Protocol legislation in the UK, which, of course, has created a lot of tension and undermined trust, whether that will continue to be her strategy as prime minister or not.”

Mr Coveney described Ms Truss as a “talented, very energetic politician”, adding: “She is going to be the next prime minister, and we will work with her and her team, but I hope we can change the direction of travel for British-Irish relations that we’ve seen over the last couple of years, which really has been one of tension and standoff on very important issues – predominantly related to Northern Ireland.”

New PM’s first day ‘scary’ and chaotic’

09:21 , Andy Gregory

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest reports:

Lord O’Donnell, who was cabinet secretary when David Cameron took over from Gordon Brown, said the new PM’s first hours in office will be “scary” and “a bit of a chaotic day”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is an incredibly exciting day for that person coming through the door at No 10, it’s the highlight of their career and that may be the biggest moment in their lives”.

The new prime minister gets clapped in by staff before going into the Cabinet Room, he said, adding: “It’s that moment that I remember – David Cameron putting his head in his hands and thinking, ‘Oh my god, what have I let myself in for?’.”

He said the new premier receives the nuclear codes, “quite scary” security and intelligence briefings, and phone calls from world leaders and people “claiming to be your mum or your dad”.

Next PM faces ‘one of most difficult inheritances’ in past 50 years, says ex-No 10 chief of staff

08:52 , Andy Gregory

The next prime minister “will face one of the most difficult inheritances of any prime minister in my lifetime”, a former No 10 chief of staff under Theresa May has warned.

Boris Johnson’s predecessor “inherited the huge Gordian knot of Brexit, but the rest of the policy environment was (relatively) benign”, while – in contrast – his successor “faces challenges on virtually every front”, according to Gavin Barwell.

In a lengthy Twitter thread detailing the myriad problems facing the next prime minister, Mr Barwell warned that targeted energy bills support for those on the lowest incomes “won’t be enough”, with businesses and people on average incomes also requiring help in a package he estimated could cost north of £100bn.

Referring to “widespread strikes over pay”, he added: “Ministers may think it is good politics to take the unions on, but they need to be careful – there is strong public support for some professions.”

Truss plans to cut taxes will fuel inflation, IFS chief warns

08:34 , Andy Gregory

Liz Truss’s plans to cut taxes to boost growth will further fuel inflation, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

“She’s clearly absolutely right that we’ve had dreadful growth over the last 15 years,” Paul Johnson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “The ‘but’ is that simply cutting taxes, cutting National Insurance contributions, for example, is not a strategy for growth.

“And it is clearly pumping a large amount of money into the economy on top of the £30bn we’ve already had to support energy bills, on top of the presumably many, many tens of billions additional that are going to come from that, and on top of what’s going to have to be more money for public services.

“Now put all of that together and that will lead to not just extremely high borrowing in the short run, but also additional inflationary pressure”.

Truss ‘considering price cap freeze’ in package ‘on scale of Covid furlough scheme'

08:17 , Andy Gregory

Liz Truss is reported to be strongly considering freezing energy bills in a bid to ease the burden on households this winter if she wins the keys to No 10 today, in plans claimed to have been discussed with civil servants and potential Cabinet ministers.

“The plan is to introduce some kind of artificial price cap for consumers combined with a mechanism for reimbursing suppliers,” one source told The Times.

“Plans are reasonably well advanced and involve not just civil servants but also ministers lined up for jobs by Truss.”

Businesses struggling with soaring energy bills are also said to be in line for additional help, with the scale of the support package being drawn up reportedly “at least” around the £69bn cost of the Covid furlough scheme.

Dominic McGrath and Adam Forrest have more details here:

Liz Truss ‘strongly considering freeze for energy bills due to economic squeeze’

Senior Tory MP urges colleagues to back new PM’s cost of living measures

08:12 , Andy Gregory

Conservative MPs should support whatever plan the next prime minister announces to ease the cost of living crisis, a senior Tory has said, warning that “divided parties do not win elections”.

“I would hope that my colleagues will recognise the very serious situation we’re in and divided parties do not win elections,” Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We are going to have a general election within two years and I think what the public want to see is a government delivering on their behalf in every respect, and above all, having a plan to deal with this very serious situation.

“And I would hope that all my colleagues when Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, whichever of the two of them it is, announces a plan, that they will get behind it and support it.”

The treasurer of the 1922 Committee denied knowing which candidate would be announced as winner, adding that he suspects the committee’s chair Sir Graham Brady knows the result, “but as always he is completely inscrutable on these matters”.

New PM ‘could do a lot worse’ than adopt Labour’s policy of freezing energy bills

07:57 , Andy Gregory

Boris Johnson’s successor could “do a lot worse” than to U-turn to adopt Labour’s plan to freeze energy bills, Labour’s shadow justice secretary has said.

Steve Reed told BBC Breakfast: “It’s extraordinary that one of them will walk into Downing Street today with no idea what they’re going to do to help people. Now Labour’s winning the battle of ideas here, Labour’s come up with a fully-costed plan.

“They could do a lot worse than U-turn on what they’ve said in refusing help to families and look at what we’ve proposed and adopt it, as they have many times this year”.

The Labour MP for Croydon North dismissed the argument that the candidates require full Treasury briefings before announcing their plans to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

“One of them is the foreign secretary, one of them was the chancellor. They have all the access they needed to the books; they have chosen to sit on their hands and do nothing and neither of them have come up with any plans. The only plan on the table right now is Labour’s,” he said.

Speaking to Sky News, Tory former chief whip Mark Harper welcomed frontrunner Ms Truss’s commitment to announce support with energy bills within a week, saying: “The important thing a significant package of support is on its way.”

Next PM should appoint a broad Cabinet, Tory MP says

07:43 , Andy Gregory

Tory former chief whip Mark Harper has called on the party’s next leader to appoint people to their Cabinet from all wings of the party, telling Sky News: “The election campaign has been quite bruising.

“From my experience as a former government chief whip in terms of managing the parliamentary party, if you’ve got a very broadly-based cabinet, so accounting for people, not just people who have supported the winner, then that’s most likely to have a unified and cohesive parliamentary party.

“And I think given all of the challenges facing the winner of this contest this winter, I think that would be the best way of a successful outcome for the Conservative Party and the Conservative government.”

Asked about reports of plotting against Liz Truss if she becomes the next prime minister, the Rishi Sunak-supporting MP said that would not be “helpful” and urged his colleagues to “all get behind the winner”.

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has taken a look at who could potentially be in Ms Truss’s Cabinet if she enters No 10 this week as expected:

Top contenders for Tory frontrunner Liz Truss’s cabinet if she replaces Boris Johnson

House of Lords to make amendments to flagship energy bill

07:30 , Namita Singh

The House of Lords might suggest potential amendments today to the government’s flagship energy bill in a bid to protest poorest households from soaring energy prices.

The Lords returns today after the summer recess, and peers are reportedly likely to advocate for changes to the legislation as the bill enters its committee stage.

While several NGOs have advocated for measures to insulate more homes and help the most vulnerable heat their home, some of the amendments are likely to be blocked by the government, reported The Guardian.

This comes even as researchers warned that about two-thirds of households could be in fuel poverty with millions forced to make a choice between heating and eating.

Liz Truss, the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, is reportedly considering freezing energy bills in a bid to ease the burden on households this winter.

Having made tax cuts a key priority during her leadership campaign, Ms Truss has been tight-lipped about what kind of support package she might introduce as the UK faces the prospect of soaring energy bills and a worsening cost-of-living crisis.

But reports in The Daily Telegraph and The Times on Monday suggest Ms Truss will likely introduce an energy bills freeze in some form.

Replace consumer price cap with ‘free basic energy’, suggests think tank

07:15 , Namita Singh

The government should pay some portion of the energy bills for every household in Britain in a bid to tackle the financial crunch faced by the poorest families, suggested a report.

The New Economic Foundation think tank has advised replacing consumer price caps for gas and electricity bills with a system of “free basic energy” by the beginning of next year, reported The Guardian.

In their radical plan set out to tackle the rising energy bills, the group suggested the government could pay for a certain level of energy bills and charge higher prices than usual if the limit is crossed, thereby aiding the country’s net-zero goals as well.

Industry leaders are floating ideas for the consideration of the new prime minister, as the energy regulator Ofgem confirmed that the average household’s yearly bill could rise from £1,971 to £3,549.

One in 10 homeowners have said they plan to light fires or stoves more often in their homes to avoid central heating amid soaring energy prices.

The study by Aviva also showed that 92 per cent of people are looking towards alternative ways to keep themselves warm as they seek to reduce their bills.

The Liberal Democrats have said they will propose legislation this week which would freeze energy bills, preventing the price cap rise due in October.

ICYMI: Truss warns of unpopular decisions as she defends tax cuts for wealthy

06:58 , Namita Singh

Liz Truss has warned she will make unpopular decisions as prime minister and defended tax cuts that benefit the wealthy as “fair”, despite growing calls to ditch them.

She pledged immediate action will be taken on soaring household bills if, as expected, she wins the keys to No 10 on Monday, with the promise of a plan within her first week.

But despite the gathering storm clouds and warnings that the costs of her proposed response to the crisis could run to tens of billions of pounds, she said: “Britain has been through worse, frankly.”

And she warned the public, who did not get a say in who becomes the new prime minister, that there would be difficult decisions ahead and “not all those decisions will be popular”.

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

Truss warns she will make unpopular decisions as PM and defends tax cuts for wealthy

ICYMI: Refugees minister quits government and declares his job ‘essentially complete’

06:43 , Namita Singh

Lord Harrington, who was appointed refugees minister in the wake of the war in Ukraine, has quit the government before a new leader takes over.

In government since March, Lord Harrington stressed his resignation is no reflection on either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak and he instead feels it is the right time to leave a “temporary” position.

Boris Johnson was among those to pay tribute to his efforts, with the outgoing prime minister saying that the government would miss his “wealth of experience”.

Lord Harrington, who thanked Mr Johnson for appointing him, said his decision means the next prime minister can “save” on a ministerial position.

Read the full report:

Refugees minister quits government and declares his job ‘essentially complete’

What’s next for Boris Johnson and divided Tories?

06:28 , Namita Singh

“I think he honestly believes that it is churlish for us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else,” wrote Martin Hammond, Boris Johnson’s teacher at Eton, in a letter to Johnson’s father Stanley, as Andrew Gimson’s biography records. When historians make the first stab at Johnson’s political legacy, the words will not be very different.

Some Tories judge what they called their “deal with the devil” worth it. After all, Johnson did “get Brexit done” (apart from the bits, such as the Northern Ireland protocol, that are still not “done”).

Yet his political epitaph will not just be about Brexit, because he was driven out of Downing Street in ignominy after repeatedly breaking the rules on standards in public life, writes our political columnist Andrew Grice.

The end of the party? What’s next for Boris Johnson and divided Tories

Scottish government pledges fiscal review two weeks after UK emergency budget

06:13 , Namita Singh

The Scottish government will lay out the results of a fiscal review within two weeks of a UK government emergency budget, John Swinney has said.

Ministers pledged to undertake a budget review in response to the cost-of-living crisis, in a bid to identify funding from other spending areas that can ease the pressure on households.

Either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak could hold an emergency budget or other fiscal event after taking office in an attempt to tackle the crisis and the deputy first minister pledged to act quickly after Downing Street plans are announced.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon will publish her plans for the next year in the Programme for Government on Tuesday, with Mr Swinney due to give an update on the budget review and its impact on public sector pay the following day.

“This year’s Programme for Government is set against a backdrop of economic upheaval that has not been seen for a generation, already impacting people, businesses, public services and the third sector across Scotland,” the deputy first minister said.

“For that reason, this is a different Programme for government - one that is subject to the outcome of our Emergency Budget Review and its implications for our budget for 2023-24.

“The UK government’s existing spending plans, coupled with Bank of England inflation forecasts, mean that the Scottish government’s funding will fall by 4.5 per cent in real terms next year.

“If inflation rises significantly higher, the resources available to us will erode even further at the very time when costs are increasing.

“With the new prime minister due to be appointed this week, it is vital that the UK government now acts decisively to tackle this ongoing crisis.”

Johnson expected to skip Conservative Party conference

05:58 , Namita Singh

Boris Johnson is reportedly set to skip the Conservative Party conference in October, after he leaves Downing Street.

The Telegraph reported that Mr Johnson, traditionally the star of the party gathering, will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors David Cameron and Theresa May, if he does decide to avoid the conference in Birmingham.

Mr Johnson, who will be replaced as Conservative leader today and step down as prime minister on Tuesday, leaves power with his closest allies not ruling out a future bid for the highest office.

Former chief of staff and close aide Lord Udny-Lister said that Mr Johnson will be “very sad” as he travels to Balmoral to formally offer his resignation to the Queen.

But he also told Sky News that he would “never say never” about a return for Mr Johnson.

“He is going to be watching all this and if something happens in the future, as you said, the ball comes loose in the scrum, then anything can happen.

“I’m not going to predict. All I’m saying is, I would never write him off.”

More in this report:

Boris Johnson expected to skip Conservative Party conference

Cost of after-school clubs has risen more than £800 a year since 2010, says Labour

05:24 , Namita Singh

Labour has accused the government of “failing children and families” as it said the cost of after-school clubs has risen by more than £800 a year since the Conservatives came into power.

According to analysis from the opposition, the price of after-school childcare for primary age children has increased 1.5 times faster than other items such as food and clothing since 2010.

Labour says the average family is now spending more on after-school clubs than on their weekly food shop.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson warned the steep cost of after-school childcare, in addition to soaring food, fuel and housing costs, could force parents out of work and leave more and more children missing out on these activities and time with friends.

She called on the government to match Labour’s recovery plan, which commits to breakfast and after-school clubs for all, supporting parents struggling to balance rising bills and prioritising children’s learning.

“As parents battle rising costs of living, soaring childcare costs are making life ever harder for families,” she said. “For many the return to school simply means yet more bills for parents to pay.”

Read the details here:

Labour: Cost of after-school clubs has risen more than £800 a year since 2010

When will the Tory leadership result be announced?

05:18 , Namita Singh

The results of the Conservative Party leadership race to replace Boris Johnson are scheduled to be announced in Westminster at 12.30pm by Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the party’s 1922 Committee of backbenchers.

MPs will return from summer recess that day and Parliament is expected to sit after lunch, from around 2.30pm.

The new leader-in-waiting, either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, will be expected to spend that afternoon and evening finalising their choices for key cabinet positions.

The next day, Mr Johnson will visit Her Majesty the Queen at Balmoral, her family home in the Scottish highlands, in order to formally tender his resignation as PM.

For the first time in her long reign, the 96-year-old will not conduct this formality at Buckingham Palace.

The winner will also visit the monarch and accept the Queen’s formal invitation to form a government, after which both the outgoing and incoming PMs will be expected to address the nation, something that would ordinarily take place outside of 10 Downing Street.

On Wednesday, the winner will find themselves squaring up to Sir Keir Starmer at the dispatch box in the House of Commons for their first Prime Minister’s Questions at noon.

When will the Tory leadership result be announced?

Kwarteng insists Truss would be ‘fiscally responsible’ as PM

05:09 , Namita Singh

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who is expected to be Britain’s next chancellor, said Liz Truss will not blow a hole in the public finances as he strived to reassure markets ahead of the results of the Tory leadership race.

The ally of Ms Truss said the Treasury’s fiscal framework will be reviewed soon “given the severity of the economic shocks we face”.

Writing in the Financial Times, Mr Kwarteng said the new administration would “act in a fiscally responsible way”, even though there will need to be “some fiscal loosening”.

Mr Kwarteng said he would assess the key fiscal rule that debt should be falling as a proportion of the national income in the third year of the forecast to ensure it still worked for the economy.

My colleague Lucy Skoulding reports:

Kwarteng insists Truss would be ‘fiscally responsible’ as new Tory leader

Truss to consider ‘freeze for energy bills due to economic squeeze’

04:47 , Namita Singh

Liz Truss is strongly considering freezing energy bills in a bid to ease the economic burden on households this winter.

Tipped to win the Conservative leadership race, the foreign secretary remained tight-lipped into Sunday about the kind of support package she might introduce as the residents face the prospects of soaring energy bills.

Reports in The Daily Telegraph and The Times suggest that Ms Truss is likely to introduce an energy bills freeze in some form. The package could be on the sale of the furlough scheme introduced by then-chancellor Rishi Sunak when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, reported The Times. Specifics of such a policy are, however, still being debated, according to the Telegraph.

Ms Truss had used an interview on the BBC on Sunday to insist that she would within a week reveal fresh support for struggling households, but repeatedly declined to spell out what those support measures might look like.

Liz Truss

Boris Johnson: Twenty one of the outgoing PM’s biggest gaffes from letterbox burqas to hiding in fridge

02:57 , Joe Middleton

Boris Johnson is finally stepping down as prime minister after nearly three tumultuous years in power.

The Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP is being banished to the back benches, for now at least, after both candidates to replace him - Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak - ruled out giving him a cabinet job.

But Mr Johnson himself, never one to shy away from the limelight, recently refused to rule out some form of politcal “comeback”.

And there has already been some speculation that he could have another “Trump-style” tilt at the Tory leadership in the future.

Much like Donald Trump, his political career to date has been littered with gaffes - some more catastrophic than others.

From insulting entire cities, countries and cultures, the Etonian schoolboy has offended many during his time in the limelight.

Here The Independent looks back at just some of Mr Johnson’s most damaging and humiliating blunders.

Burqas, kippers and Peppa Pig: Twenty one of Boris Johnson’s biggest gaffes

Where does Boris Johnson stand in the pantheon of modern British prime ministers?

01:58 , Joe Middleton

He’s clearly not in the Churchill or Thatcher first class, and his personal flaws and precipitate fall from power means he’s demoted below the likes of Blair and Wilson in the second division. However, Brexit and his election success put him above May and Cameron, writes Sean O’Grady.

Where does Boris Johnson stand in the pantheon of modern British prime ministers?

Sadiq Khan calls for ‘Covid-style’ emergency support to ease pain of energy bills

Monday 5 September 2022 00:58 , Joe Middleton

London mayor Sadiq Khan has urged Boris Johnson’s successor to immediately introduce a “Covid-style” support package to help families facing poverty because of soaring energy bills.

The Labour mayor said the next PM – whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak wins the Tory leadership contest on Monday – must understand the scale of intervention needed over the cost of living crisis.

“With the spiralling cost of living already hitting those on lower incomes the hardest, it’s essential that the government take urgent action to help make ends meet,” Mr Khan told The Independent.

Adam Forrest reports.

Sadiq Khan calls for ‘Covid-style’ support package to ease pain of energy bills

Truss promises energy bill action 'within one week' if made prime minister

Sunday 4 September 2022 23:59 , Joe Middleton

Refugees minister quits government and declares his job ‘essentially complete’

Sunday 4 September 2022 23:00 , Joe Middleton

Lord Harrington, who was appointed refugees minister in the wake of the war in Ukraine, has quit the government before a new leader takes over.

In government since March, Lord Harrington stressed his resignation is no reflection on either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak and he instead feels it is the right time to leave a “temporary” position.

Boris Johnson was among those to pay tribute to his efforts, with the outgoing prime minister saying that the government would miss his “wealth of experience”.

Refugees minister quits government and declares his job ‘essentially complete’

Liz Truss warns she will make unpopular decisions as prime minister and defends tax cuts for wealthy

Sunday 4 September 2022 22:00 , Joe Middleton

Liz Truss has warned she will make unpopular decisions as prime minister and defended tax cuts that benefit the wealthy as “fair”, despite growing calls to ditch them.

She pledged immediate action will be taken on soaring household bills if, as expected, she wins the keys to No 10 on Monday, with the promise of a plan within her first week.

But despite the gathering storm clouds and warnings her response to the crisis could have to run to tens of billions of pounds, she said: “Britain has been through worse, frankly.”

Kate Devlin reports.

Truss warns she will make unpopular decisions as PM and defends tax cuts for wealthy

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky heaps praise on Boris Johnson as ‘true friend’ leaves office

Sunday 4 September 2022 21:00 , Joe Middleton

Volodymyr Zelensky has heaped praise on his “true friend” and ally Boris Johnson, as the prime minister enters his final few days in office.

In an indication of the esteem in which the Ukrainian president holds Mr Johnson, Mr Zelensky has written a piece in the Mail on Sunday and spoken to the Sunday Times about his gratitude to the outgoing British premier.

In both, Mr Zelensky expressed his hope for future “close relations” with Mr Johnson’s successor, who could be in line for an invitation to visit Kyiv.

Zelensky heaps praise on Boris Johnson as ‘true friend’ leaves office

Where does Boris Johnson stand in the pantheon of modern British prime ministers?

Sunday 4 September 2022 20:30 , Joe Middleton

He’s clearly not in the Churchill or Thatcher first class, and his personal flaws and precipitate fall from power means he’s demoted below the likes of Blair and Wilson in the second division. However, Brexit and his election success put him above May and Cameron, writes Sean O’Grady.

Where does Boris Johnson stand in the pantheon of modern British prime ministers?

Tax cuts that could give high earners nearly £2,000 are ‘fair’, Truss says

Sunday 4 September 2022 20:00 , Joe Middleton

Liz Truss has described as “fair” tax cuts which could hand nearly £2,000 to high earners, as a former Conservative chancellor warned they would stoke already soaring inflation.

Lord Hammond said that cuts were “simply not the answer” and “not the right thing to do”.

Many Tory MPs privately also admit they fear Ms Truss’s plans will exacerbate inflation at a time when experts already predict it could reach as high as 22 per cent.

Kate Devlin has the details.

Tax cuts that could give high earners nearly £2,000 are ‘fair’, Truss says

The 10 best Boris Johnson cartoons from his time as prime minister

Sunday 4 September 2022 19:30 , Joe Middleton

The premiership of Boris Johnson has been the most controversial in recent memory. From the prorogation of parliament, through Brexit and Covid-19 and Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, it has been a time of upheaval.

Monday, however, marks the end of the Johnson era. Whether it is Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak who claims the leadership of the Conservative Party and enters Downing Street, they will be hard-pressed to provide such fertile material for cartoonists.

Over the last four years, The Independent’s Dave Brown has been at the forefront of those chronicling one of the most exceptional periods in UK politics. Below is a selection of his very best work, telling the story of Johnson’s time leading the country.

The 10 best Boris Johnson cartoons from his time as prime minister | Dave Brown

Liz Truss: Who is the foreign secretary hoping to become prime minister?

Sunday 4 September 2022 19:00 , Joe Middleton

When foreign secretary Liz Truss formally launched her bid to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister and Conservative Party leader in July, she pledged to set the economy on an “upward trajectory” by the time of the next general election in 2024.

“We have to level with the British public that our economy will not get back on track overnight,” she said, with commendable frankness.

“Times are going to be tough, but I know that I can get us on an upward trajectory by 2024.”

Positioning herself as an economic libertarian, Ms Truss outlined plans to cancel ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak’s rises in corporation tax and National Insurance, pledged to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade and endorsed home secretary Priti Patel’s widely loathed Rwanda deportation scheme for asylum seekers.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Liz Truss: Who is the foreign secretary hoping to become prime minister?

Andy Burnham says government let Avanti West Coast 'off the hook'

Sunday 4 September 2022 18:30 , Joe Middleton