We will have a new Prime Minister by lunchtime today

By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight

We will have a new Prime Minister by lunchtime today. At 12.30pm, the returning officer for the Conservative leadership election, the chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs, Sir Graham Brady, will announce whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak has won. The odds are stacked in favour of Liz Truss, who, if she wins, will be automatically catapulted into No. 10 Downing Street.
 
Russia says it will not reopen the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which supplies natural gas to Europe. The move follows an agreement made on Friday by G7 finance ministers who agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports to “make it harder for Russian President Vladimir Putin to fund his invasion of Ukraine”. The decision by Gazprom, a Kremlin-controlled firm, not to reopen the pipeline, will no doubt add weight to claims by the EU and the US National Security Council that Russia is using gas as a "weapon against consumers". Gazprom, however, said the pipeline would remain closed because of a leak in the main gas turbine, although Siemens Energy - which usually services the turbines - said such a leak should not prevent operation. Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi backed the imposition of a price cap, saying it would bring global price stability and "protect our citizens from oil price shocks next year and beyond," adding that: "It will mean that Putin can't profiteer from excessively high oil prices". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has consistently called for tougher sanctions on Russia, said the move "will not only limit the flow of petrodollars and gas euros to Moscow, but also, importantly, restore justice for all Europeans, whom Russia is trying to blackmail with artificially inflated prices on the energy market". However, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram that Moscow would retaliate by turning off supplies to Europe completely, saying: "There will simply be no Russian gas in Europe." Germany, one of the EU countries most reliant on Russian energy, has warned citizens and industry to cut consumption. Wholesale gas prices have climbed 400% since August last year, and this latest news has caused prices to surge again, by some 30%.  
 
The German DAX opened more than 3% down on the back of Russia's decision, while the FTSE 100 in London opened 1% lower.
 
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has told The Times that he is preparing a multibillion-pound package of emergency tax cuts to help save companies on the brink of collapse because of soaring energy costs. According to the newspaper, Zahawi believes the government can learn from the pandemic and introduce targeted cuts in VAT and business rates to protect the retail and hospitality sectors. Failing to act, Zahawi has warned, could lead to a wave of bankruptcies and economic scarring. The chancellor could also give further tax breaks to energy-intensive industries such as steel, paper, glass, ceramics and cement producers. The outgoing chancellor is thought to be in line for a top job should Liz Truss become Prime Minister later today, Sky News says. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) says almost 15% of small and medium-sized firms expect they could be compelled to close or downsize as a direct result of the spiralling energy bills, according to a poll it has run.
 
Over 76% of employees want flexible working hours more than other benefits such as a company-sponsored retirement plan or finishing early on a Friday, according to research by global HR and payroll experts Remote. The study asked 10,000 employees across the UK, US, Germany, France and Holland to reveal what employees value the most when it comes to "work perks" and looked at how these differ across locations, industries and generations. Around 2,000 of the participants were from the UK. Some 57% of Gen Z and 59% of millennials favoured in-person team building events. Younger workers also led the way in desiring access to mental health coaching, with 58% wanting this. On the other hand, baby boomers saw a company-sponsored retirement plan or pension as their ideal "work perk". Almost half (47%) of UK workers wanted virtual mindfulness sessions — the highest of any country in the survey.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council has launched a legal challenge against the Home Office to stop asylum seekers being housed at the Hotel Victoria in the seaside resort. There had been a "lack of dialogue" from the Home Office and the hotel, the local authority said in a statement which suggested the hotel did not apply for “the correct planning permission before any asylum seekers were housed" as the council had not received any application for change of use. It would "pursue appropriate enforcement action where necessary," the council added, saying it was “concerned about placing further strain on core services in an already highly populated and prime tourist area". However, the Conservative-led council said it would "provide humanitarian support where necessary". The Home Office said it would not comment on individual hotels and the Hotel Victoria declined to comment to the BBC.
 
Barristers in England and Wales have begun indefinite, uninterrupted strike action today. Members of The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) are seeking a 25% rise in legal aid fees for representing defendants who could not otherwise afford lawyers, at a time when there are already court delays, with tens of thousands of cases waiting to go to trial. Kirsty Brimelow, who chairs the CBA, says it is an attempt to "hold up the criminal justice system from complete collapse". Justice Minister Sarah Dines has called the escalation of strike action, which began with intermittent walkouts at the end of June, "irresponsible".
 
Waitrose has admitted to conspiring with landlords to block rival supermarkets from opening nearby between 2010 and 2019, following an investigation by The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The practice breached competition laws, the CMA said, and Waitrose has now agreed to rewrite its land agreements. The CMA uncovered evidence that Tesco was stifling competition in the same way in 2020, stopping landlords from letting property to rivals through its own land agreements, although in a statement Tesco blamed "administrative errors".
 
The government has extended a national security probe into the fire-sale of a leading British mobile phone technology provider whose owners include Roman Abramovich. Sky News has learnt that officials at a division of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are to take up to 45 additional working days to scrutinise the purchase of Truphone assets by Hakan Koc, a billionaire German technology entrepreneur. The extension - which prohibits the sale from being completed - has been ordered by the Investment Security Unit (ISU) under the National Security and Investment Act (NS&I). Truphone is a mobile virtual network operator in nine countries, focusing on international corporate clients such as investment banks. The company holds an embryonic remote SIM provisioning contract with BT Group, which sources told Sky triggered potential concerns in relation to the takeover. In July, Sky reported that Koc and his fellow acquirer, Pyrros Koussios, were prepared to exclude that contract from their purchase of Truphone's assets. The delay to the sale of Truphone's assets comes during a fraught period for the company, the broadcaster says, as it is said to have been within weeks of running out of cash. More than 400 people work for the company in the UK and overseas.
 
Adult subscription platform OnlyFans has had a huge jump in revenues this year as users flocked to the site for its amateur pornographic content, Sky News says. The company’s revenues increased by 160% from £309m to £805m over the year, as the site’s popularity soared throughout the pandemic. Sex workers are able to post pictures and videos to the platform and users pay a direct subscription fee to the creator, with OnlyFans taking a 20% commission fee. Performers on the site have earned more than £6.92bn since 2016, according to the company. In its financial filings, OnlyFans boasted of how much money it had paid in taxes: as of last month, HM Revenue & Customshad received more than £147m from the company, which included £76m in UK corporation tax on global revenues in the past year alone. OnlyFans was founded by the British entrepreneur Tim Stokely in Essex in 2016. Subscribers have rocketed in recent years, rising from 82 million in 2020 to 187 million last year.
 
FTSE 250 housebuilder Vistry said this morning that it has agreed to buy fellow FTSE 250 housebuilder Countryside Partnerships in a £1.25bn deal.
 
Reckitt Benckiser CEO Laxman Narasimhan, will step down on 30^th September 2022 to relocate to the United States for ''personal and family reasons''. Nicandro Durante, current Senior Independent Director, will step into the CEO role whilst the board looks for a long-term replacement. Hargreaves Lansdowne says the news “took the markets by surprise” as “Narasimhan steered Reckitt through a turbulent three years and was a steady head at the helm”. Reckitt’s FTSE 100 shares are down 5.5%.  
 
FTSE 250 investment bank Close Brothers says that Philip Yarrow, CEO of its broking arm Winterflood Securities will retire on 20^th September after 22 years.
 
Credit Suisse is reportedly considering cutting around 5,000 jobs as part of a cost reduction drive, Reuters said on Friday. The bank declined to comment, although it has already said it will cut costs below CHF15.5bn (£13.72bn) in the medium term, versus an annualised CHF16.8bn (£14.87) this year. So far, it has not outlined job cuts. Swiss newspaper Blick reported earlier that more than 3,000 jobs would be shed.
 
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc's (BBB) chief financial officer Gustavo Arnal fell to his death from New York's Tribeca skyscraper known as the "Jenga" tower on Friday afternoon, police said yesterday. Arnal was one of the defendants listed in a class action lawsuit brought by shareholders who alleged they had lost some $1.2bn (£1.06bn) because Arnal and others had artificially inflated the household goods firm's stock price in a "pump and dump" scheme. Last week, BBB announced it was closing 150 stores and laying off workers in an attempt to turn around its money-losing business. It forecast a bigger-than-expected 26% slump in same-store sales for the second quarter.
 
A lawsuit against rock band Nirvana, by a man who claimed his depiction as a naked four-month-old baby swimming towards a dollar bill pierced with a fish hook on their album cover was child pornography, has been dismissed. Los Angeles US District Judge Fernando Olguin said Spencer Elden had waited too long to claim Nirvana sexually exploited him, having sued more than 10 years after learning about the cover for the band's seminal 1991 album Nevermind. Elden was interviewed in 2003 at the age of 12 by Rolling Stone magazine about the photo, saying he was "probably gonna get some money from it," and recreated the image as an adult in 2016 with "Nevermind" tattooed on his chest. He nevertheless claimed in his lawsuit, which began in August 2021, that he met the statute of limitations because of his injuries which included emotional distress, lost earning capacity and "loss of enjoyment of life" continued into adulthood. The judge rejected that argument, saying it would effectively permit Elden to sue Nirvana indefinitely.

Why Media is an award-winning design, marketing, digital communications and PR agency offering tailored solutions to companies on a global scale. We have extensive experience in delivering design and marketing services to a spectrum of companies including professional services, property companies, financial institutions and shopping centres. We have offices in London UK, Hertford UK, Finestrat ES & Brescia IT.

Marketing Contact

Name:  Claire White
E-Mail:  claire@whymedia.com
Telephone:  01992 586 507