The Standard

A total of eleven Conservative MPs have officially launched campaigns to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

In various campaign videos from the likes of Tom Tugendhat, Sajid Javid, Suella Braverman, and Rishi Sunak we have seen promises around tax cuts, delivering Brexit and tackling immigration.

On Monday Environment Secretary George Eustice said he expected the number of candidates to be whittled down to just two within a fortnight.

The Evening Standard’s Deputy Political Editor David Bond discusses his ‘top 5’ candidates; those most likely to become our new PM, and the most important policies during their campaigning.

Plus we speak with Tory MP for the Isle of Wight Bob Seely about his views on the candidates, who he believes are most likely to win, and what the conservative party is looking for in a new leader.

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Euan Blair’s company Multiverse, which offers apprenticeships as an alternative to University, has been valued at $875 million. The son of former PM Tony Blair has built an enormous, multinational, firm that’s disrupting how companies like Morgan Stanley and Microsoft are finding, and keeping, the best staff. 

To listen to the full episode click here.

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The Queen’s had a working relationship with 14 prime ministers during her 70-year reign, beginning with Sir Winston Churchill from 1952 to 1955.

Now, this week as the Downing Street psychodrama unfolded, the monarch and her staff will have keenly followed developments.

After all, our monarchy remains woven into matters of state happening just down the road from Buckingham Palace in Whitehall and the Palace of Westminster.

Could the Queen get dragged into the fallout from the Johnson premiership, and what was her relationship like with the outgoing prime minister? 

We look at the Queen’s role in times of national political flux and has the latest on the race to succeed Boris Johnson after his resignation speech.

It comes as Johnson defies calls to leave No.10 immediately as the hunt for his successor hots up, with senior Tories looking to September for getting a new prime minister installed following shortlist selection, voting by party members and Parliamentary summer recess.

To give us a glimpse into the protocols and legal practicalities of the Queen’s rapport with Boris Johnson, we’re joined by the Evening Standard’s royal editor Robert Jobson.

The Leader also discusses whether there’s appetite for constitutional reform under future monarchs Charles and William.

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After more than 50 MPs’ resigned in a painful 24 hours for Boris Johnson, he’s going, going...gone.

At about 12.30pm, the ominous Downing Street lectern was carried out into the road, for a speech marking the end of two years and 348 days since Johnson became resident of Britain’s most famous address - the same as Neville Chamberlain.

And while his innings weren’t as long as Theresa May or David Cameron, he does beat the likes of Gordon Brown and Sir Anthony Eden.

So what, or who, did for the scandal-ridden PM in the end?

The knife was certainly twisted by Nadhim Zahawi, who called for Johnson to go just a day after being made Chancellor - with the request made on Treasury-headed notepaper.

The pound had a small bounce and while the Conservatives seek to anoint a successor, Labour are calling for an election to let the British public decide.

So, who’s the best person to get our country back on an even keel?

We’re joined by the Evening Standard’s deputy political editor David Bond and ES columnist Ayesha Hazarika to examine today’s bombshell developments.

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The Prime Minister’s nightmare day started with more resignations following the shock news that chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid had quit.

Nadhim Zahawi, the former education secretary, was parachuted in to the chancellor’s role at number 11 Downing Street, and was promptly dispatched to defend the Johnson administration on breakfast news.

As the Chris Pincher groping scandal marked a watershed moment for Boris Johnson's leadership, a stream of ministers handed in their red brief cases.

The exodus includes children’s minister William Quince and party vice chairman Bim Afolami.

For increasing numbers of Conservative politicians, poor judgment in the appointment of Pincher as deputy chief whip was just another embarrassment following Partygate, the Downing Street flat refurbishment, the Arcuri scandal and the curious case of the disappearing Times news story.

Now the vultures are circling and one newspaper this morning suggested this government was one “destined to devour itself”.

Johnson's tumultuous day also included prime minister's questions and a session before MPs on the liaison committee.

So can the PM hold on for a few more months, weeks, days - or even hours?

To make sense of an intense week full of intrigue in Westminster, the Leader’s joined by Evening Standard deputy political editor David Bond.

We also look at what the pollsters are saying about Johnson's popularity, or lack of it, and whether Sunak's suggestion his government was not “conducted properly, competently and seriously” offers Labour a political advantage.

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An estimated 117,000 people have died while on NHS waiting lists as the devastating knock-on effect of Covid-19’s many waves on hospitals is revealed.

Now the treatment backlog stands at 6.5 million people, as coronavirus rates spike and the health service struggles with staffing problems.

It came as Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North and shadow health secretary, returned to Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital to thank medics who spotted a cancerous tumour during a routine kidney scan.

To make sense of the shocking new death rate figures, revealed in Freedom of Information requests by Labour, we’re joined by Evening Standard health editor Ross Lydall.

We discuss how London’s waiting times compare to the trusts elsewhere in the country, and which surgical specialisms have been hardest hit.

At the same time, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s been speaking about how his government prepared for the wrong sort of pandemic.

The Department of Health and Social Care called the data “deeply misleading” and said the deaths “may be completely unrelated” to the treatment for which the patient was waiting.

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The entire 38th floor of the City’s ‘Cheesegrater’ skyscraper is set to be turned into an escape room game for stressed office workers to blow off steam.

The building’s owner, CC Land, says the idea is for co-workers to better collaborate and “have fun” together as they compete to win Crystal Maze-style tasks. 

Meanwhile at 22 Bishopsgate, the Square Mile’s newest tower, bosses are offering “puppy yoga” - stretches plus dog cuddles - to try and boost colleagues’ serotonin between IRL meetings and crunching spreadsheets.

They are among strategies to try and tempt working-from-home staff back to the Covid-era physical office.

That’s on top of street food stalls, ice cream deliveries, craft classes and massages in what’s the Times reports is the “hotelification” of workplaces, or “office 2.0”.

It’s no longer tech giants bringing high-end freebies to blur the lines between nine to five - now, many of traditional City firms are spending big on renting space with wellbeing extras.

But does these techniques actually improve productivity or job satisfaction, and does anyone really want boss-approved good times in a “vertical village”?

To find out more about stress-busting ideas being designed into offices of the near future, The Leader’s joined by workplace wellbeing consultant Emma James, chief operating officer at Kamwell, an employee wellbeing company.

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This is a bonus episode with Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor.

Sarah told the Evening Standard's How to be a CEO podcast us about the challenges of building a multinational company whose entire purpose is keeping things local. 

To listen to the full episode click here.

For all the latest business news, features and analysis go to standard.co.uk/business. 

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After a two year hiatus, Pride is back for 2022. It’s just in time to mark a monumental milestone - 50 years since the first-ever Pride march took place in London.

We hear from Peter Tatchell, one of the organisers of the original march as well as Stuart Feather, both activists and then members of the newly-formed Gay Liberation Front. Britain’s first movement of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

Peter and Stuart take us back to what is was like to be gay men living in the UK in 1972, why they created Pride… and essentially, how they made history.

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A typical London home now costs nearly ten times the average local income, as surging house prices reduce affordability to the lowest level on record.

It comes as the latest figures from Nationwide Building Society show the capital’s house price growth has slowed from 7.4 per cent to 6 per cent.

But with hybrid working and the Covid-era race-for-space still driving many people’s property decisions, is it still possible to bag a relative bargain well inside the Zones?

Research from Savills estate agents shows a typical flat in Zone 4 costs over £610,000 but in Zone 2, an equivalent home costs about £364,000.

In New Cross, also in Zone 2, one of the best value deals is a flat for about £324,000, and Peckham is reportedly best value for terraced house at about £590,000.

But go a little further out to Zone 3 and to East Ham for flat at around £238,000, while in Zone 4’s Ilford, the savviest buyers can find an apartment for about £177,000 and a Thamesmead terraced house for around £337,000.

We discover more about the new factors driving property price growth, whether it’s sustainable and why the Elizabeth Line could be a game-changer for home prices.

There’s also analysis of the latest plans to try and tackle London’s cladding scandal affecting flats and why the rental market is red hot again with sealed bids after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

To examine the latest data, The Leader’s joined by Evening Standard business editor Jonathan Prynn and Homes & Property editor Prudence Ivey.

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