Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has said he is backing Rishi Sunak to be the next Prime Minster.
The odds on Richmond MP Mr Sunak winning shortened overnight to 4/7, according to betting site Oddschecker.
Boris Johnson has slipped slightly to 79/40 and Penny Mordaunt remains the outsider at 16/1.
Mr Jones did not respond to questions from the Stray Ferret about who he was supporting but told his Community News website:
“I’m backing Rishi because he has the experience, ability and energy to tackle the problems facing our country.
“He instinctively reaches for the right solutions and now, more than ever, we need someone who will bring those qualities to our national politics. He has demonstrated proven, economic judgement in unprecedented times.
“I admired how he dealt with the Herculean challenges which faced the country when covid hit. He worked at pace to save businesses and jobs and to provide the cash our NHS needed to get us through the pandemic.
“This vote is about the future. That future needs energy and ability at the top of our politics. It needs someone who can assemble and lead a broad-based team. For me, that person is Rishi Sunak.”
Read more:
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Mr Jones joins fellow local Conservative MP Julian Smith, who represents Skipton and Ripon, in backing the former Chancellor.
However, Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams has thrown his weight behind Mr Johnson, who he served as a Cabinet Office minister.
Mr Adams has said Mr Johnson is the only candidate with a mandate to be Prime Minister and if anyone else is elected it will increase the likelihood of an early general election.
Second Harrogate district MP declares support in Conservative leadership battle
A second Harrogate district MP has declared his support for Rishi Sunak in the race to become the next Prime Minister.
Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, has publicly backed the former Chancellor of the Exchequer for the first time.
In a post on Twitter today, he said:
“Rishi has a proper plan to get us through the tough times ahead. He is committed to rebuilding the economy and delivering for our area.
“Only Rishi can unite our country and defeat Labour and he will have my full support in doing so.”
— Julian Smith MP (@JulianSmithUK) July 21, 2022
Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has already given his support to Rishi Sunak.
Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams has yet to declare his allegiance. He has been a close ally of Boris Johnson, having publicly supported the outgoing PM on several occasions in recent months.
It has been reported that Mr Adams could be handed a peerage following Mr Johnson’s departure, which would then trigger a by-election in his constituency.
Mr Sunak will compete with Liz Truss to be elected leader of the Conservative party in September, after its members cast their votes.
The pair will take part in hustings events around the country over the next few weeks.
Read more:
- Harrogate district MP Nigel Adams to step down at next election
- Andrew Jones MP: ‘I’m backing Rishi Sunak’
Hot Seat: A bold new approach at Black Sheep
Masham is the small town in the Harrogate district with a big reputation for beauty and beer.
Set in sumptuous Wensleydale, it is home to two major breweries — Theakston and Black Sheep.
The breweries, which boost the town’s economy and provide jobs, have been around so long it’s hard to imagine Masham without them. But the future at Black Sheep looked far from rosy a few years ago.
The company, which was founded by Paul Theakston in 1991 when he became the black sheep of the family by setting up a rival to the brewery created by his family in 1827, was running at a loss.
The chairman asked Charlene Lyons, who had set up her own consultancy at the age of 29 in 2007, if she would consider becoming chief executive.
Ms Lyons knew what she was getting into: her consultancy had been brought in to help Black Sheep in 2016 and she had joined the board in 2018. She says:
“It was a business that had not had much external objectivity. It had been making a loss for four or five years.”
Charlene Lyons
For Newcastle-born Ms Lyons, it was an appealing new challenge.
The daughter of a market trader, she grew up fiercely determined to be a successful businesswoman. She cut her teeth as a fashion buyer for Marks & Spencer in London and her career was flying but her dad’s sudden death when she was just 23 had a profound effect.
Gradually her mindset changed and by the time the top job at Black Sheep became available the prospect of working in the Dales appealed more than corporate city life.
Ms Lyons, who sleeps for just three or four hours a night, now enjoys the scenic commute to work from Leeds at 5.45am. She says:
“It’s the most beautiful drive to an incredible part of the world, for a business that is deep rooted in the most amazing heritage and culture.”
Future planning
There was plenty to occupy her mind on those early morning drives when she started the job. Weeks after becoming chief executive, covid struck.
Black Sheep was quick to respond, staging regular coronavirus planning meetings from January 2020, when much of the world was laughing it off.
As the situation worsened, the company instigated a raft of measures, such as improving its online shop, securing third party packaging to reduce its reliance on one supplier and alerting supermarkets to the availability of its products. Online sales increased from about £100,000 to £800,000 during the first covid year.
Black Sheep also offered a ‘brew to you’ delivery service, which involved delivering beer to the end of people’s drives and provided a local food delivery service in Masham. A future strategy team was set up to plan for life after covid. Ms Lyons said:
“So many businesses didn’t have the bandwidth to think about the future during covid.”
Ms Lyons’ bold and forward thinking approach helped the company recover at a time when covid had a devastating impact on the hospitality trade. Besides furlough, Black Sheep received no business rate freeze or grants despite the catastrophic impact of pub closures.
Read more:
The latest annual accounts, for the financial year ending March 31, 2021, revealed the company made a profit of £1m but an operating loss of £1.1m due to exceptional items, such as redundancy payments.
Considering the circumstances, this was an impressive set of results. The accounts also reveal how much covid changed the business model. They state: “Our off trade business grew its turnover from £6,864,988 to £9,547,261, our on trade turnover was decimated, reducing from £9,838,810 to £2,245,457.”
The current strategy focuses on providing a direct route to market, rather than relying on third parties, and ‘owning Yorkshire’, which means getting its products in every pub, bar and other retail outlet selling beer in the county.
The brewery in Masham.
Black Sheep exports to 12 countries but overseas trade is a very small part of its business.
Its fresh approach to marketing is epitomised in its recent drink cask beer campaign, featuring comedian Maisie Adam, which aims to break down what Ms Lyons calls the “ridiculous stereotype” that only men aged over 55 drink cask beer.
Ms Lyons is rather tired of another cliché: that being a female chief executive in the world of beer is frowned upon.
“It’s not been an issue at all. The perception is more in the eye of the beholder. People always ask ‘what’s it like to be a CEO in a make dominated brewery?’ But in my experience everybody is taken at face value. It doesn’t occupy even a tiny bit of my thinking.”
Outside work she enjoys travel, food and wine. Being the mother of three sporty children, she also spends a lot of time driving them around.
Masham may seem a long way from corporate life but managing a team of 146 staff in such difficult time is no easy task, particularly when you throw in challenges like the cost of living crisis and rampant inflation.
But Ms Lyons looks back on the last two-and-a-half years at the helm with satisfaction.
“We’ve done an exceptional job. Many businesses have just folded.
“Hospitality has been one of the most affected sectors and we had no government support except furlough.
“You have two choices with challenges: slump your shoulders and let things overtake you or rally the troops and do something about it.”
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones MP named as Tory ‘rebel’
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has been named in a Daily Mail article today about Conservative MPs plotting to oust Boris Johnson.
Mr Jones has told constituents asking about partygate that his “anger is not going to lessen”.
His also said:
“I understand the anger people feel. I feel it too. Most of all I feel intensely depressed that senior people in our political system have pretended, or somehow genuinely believed, that tables groaning with bottles of wine, as we have now seen pictured, were in some way allowed work practices.”
But Mr Jones has not called for the Prime Minister to resign and has not revealed whether he has submitted a letter calling for a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson to Sir Graham Brady, chair of the backbench 1922 committee. Fifty-four Tory MPs must do so to trigger a leadership contest.
Mr Jones has declined to respond to questions about the matter from the Stray Ferret.
Nevertheless the Daily Mail includes him in a list of 41 Conservative MPs in an article about Tory ‘plotters’.
Read more:
- Andrew Jones MP tells constituent he feels ‘anger’ over partygate
- Andrew Jones MP says Harrogate and Knaresborough train cuts’a bad mistake’
York Outer MP Julian Sturdy is also named, along with former Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom and former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis.
The article claims the ‘rebels’ could get enough support for a confidence vote next week.
It quotes Home Secretary Priti Patel urging them to “concentrate on doing our jobs” rather than creating a “distraction”.
She adds:
“Writing letters is a sideshow, quite frankly, rather than focusing on the real challenges that we have to find solutions to.’
“Our job is to deliver on the people’s priorities. They won’t thank the Conservative Party for talking about itself at a time when people have anxieties, concerns, apprehensions. Our job is deliver for them.’