What did we learn from the Tory party conference?  

Welcome to Thursday’s Early Edition from i.

Rishi Sunak used his keynote speech at the Tory party conference to promise an end to the era of “politicians saying things and then nothing ever changes”, as he laid out some of his bigger policy announcements. It certainly has been a week where politicians from his party have said all kinds of things – from bizarre rants about a fantasy “meat tax” and “kicking woke ideology out of science” to apologies for “all dogs out there” and demands for “hormone-injected beef from Australia”. They’ve done, and changed, things too – brandished flip flops on stage, danced with Nigel Farage and scrapped the most significant part of Europe’s biggest infrastructure project. They’ve stirred up the culture wars, inflamed tensions over migrants and even ejected one of their own members from the hall. What did we learn, though? We’ll take a look, after the headlines.

 Today’s news, and why it matters

 The UK Government has given up hope of a free-trade deal with the US and is instead pushing for smaller agreements which boost economic ties, i understands. The two sides are starting talks a deal to help each country’s companies do business across the Atlantic, which they want to finalise within a year.

The average rental property is currently receiving 25 enquiries from prospective tenants despite rents being at an all-time high. A report by Rightmove, the largest property portal, published today showed that the number of viewings has trebled since 2019 as agents tell i that they are seeing queues of tenants arriving to open-house viewings.

Scrapping HS2 to Manchester will lead to fewer local services on the West Coast main line and could result in higher rail fares, experts have warned. Rishi Sunak confirmed the northern leg of the high-speed rail project from Birmingham is being cancelled due to escalating costs in his speech at the Conservative conference.

GB News presenter Laurence Fox has been arrested by police and sacked after footage on social media showed officers searching his home. The Met Police said a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.

Just Stop Oil protesters took to the stage during a performance of Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End, halting the show. The protesters entered the stage during a performance of the show’s song “One More Day”. The Met police said five people had been arrested.

Scientists have identified three genes that, when mutated in a certain way, make a person more likely to stick to a strict vegetarian diet – and a further 31 genes that may also play a role. These genes are not thought to influence whether a person wants to be a vegetarian, instead, they are concerned with a person’s ability to stick strictly to the vegetarian diet, once they start.

Three things we learnt from the Tory party conference:

The big policy announcements: After days intense speculation, and silence from the PM, Mr Sunak finally confirmed he would ditch the northern leg of HS2 and spend the £36bn saved on improving regional transport links. He is also understood to have agreed on the Euston extension to the line following pushback from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. But HS2 wasn’t the only bold plan being unveiled in Manchester. Banning children from smoking, using a model pioneered in New Zealand, came as a surprise announcement. “That means a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette,” Mr Sunak said. He also announced plans to scrap A-levels and replace them with a new-style qualification that would mean students in England taking more subjects until the age of 18. Other ministers also revealed new policies, a lifetime ban on sex offenders changing their name and gender, and that transgender hospital patients in England will be banned from being treated in female- and male-only wards. Read the full list of big policy announcements here.

There are fears of a right-wing takeover: The clues for this have not been subtle. In her speech, dubbed “Suella uncut”, the Home Secretary said: “The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming.” She also referred to “woke” policy, “anti-British history”, “gender ideology” and “white privilege”. In another clear sign, not only was Nigel Farage spotted dancing at the conference (with Priti Patel), but Rishi Sunak also suggested he would be open to the former Brexit Party leader joining the Tories. And perhaps if that wasn’t enough, Ms Patel herself welcomed GB News to the conference saying: “Thank you for absolutely everything you do, because this isn’t breaking news, but I think it’s fair to say that our country needed a new disruptor when it came to the broadcast media to take on the establishment. The Tory-hating, Brexit-bashing, free-speech deniers at the BBC and the so-called mainstream media.” One Tory MP told i that Rishi Sunak has been tempted by right-wing ideology as a defensive strategy to get the party’s core vote out, but warned that this could end up shrinking it. “It looks as if there is a determined effort by some to move the party off the centre and common ground towards the right,” the former minister said. A second Tory MP said simply: “Suella is a f**king idiot. And if we think the answer to winning over the public is Suella, we’ll lose.” And one foreign diplomat said Mr Farage’s very conspicuous outing at Tory conference would be what he will be reporting back to his seniors. “For me it’s the biggest story of the conference. It shows just how much the party is drifting to the right.” Read that full story here.

There were some really weird moments: In terms of speeches, it probably didn’t get stranger than the one delivered by Penny Mordaunt, who urged her party members to “stand up and fight” at least 12 times, while jabbing her finger in the air. It was clearly a rallying cry – but for what precisely? A significant number of Tories became obsessed with meat. There was Thérèse Coffey, who said: “Fake meat may be OK for astronauts, but when people think of a meat feast I want them to be thinking of our great Welsh lamb.” As Ian Dunt put it: What was she talking about? No one knows. What would come next from her mouth? No one could possibly guess. (Read his very good piece here). Claire Coutinho said in her speech: “It’s no wonder Labour seem so relaxed about taxing meat. Sir Keir Starmer doesn’t eat it and Ed Miliband is clearly scarred by his encounter with a bacon sandwich.” Even when Sophy Ridge pulled her up on it, the Secretary of State for Energy couldn’t provide a coherent response. And Jacob Rees-Mogg also joined in with proclamations about animal flesh. “I want cheaper food. I want hormone-injected beef from Australia. I’ve eaten beef in Australia, it’s delicious. There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said, in comments farmers described as “morally bankrupt”. The most embarrassing, moment, however was reserved for Suella Braverman, who shortly after delivering an incendiary speech about migrants, then went and stood on a guide dog’s tail.

 Around the world

 Global temperatures soared to a new record in September by a huge margin, beating the previous record for that month by 0.5°C, the largest jump in temperature ever seen. One scientist described it as “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas”.

Giant pandas teetered on the edge of extinction for years before breeding programmes pulled them back from the brink, but now politics threatens to make them a rare sight in the West. Zoos across the US, Australia and in the UK are having to hand back their pandas to China as they appear to bear the brunt of increasing tensions between China and the West.

Singer Grimes has filed a legal petition over parental rights of the three children she shares with Elon Musk. Court records show that Grimes, whose legal name is Claire Boucher, filed a petition “to establish parental relationship” on 29 September. Mr Musk has at least 11 children with three women.

For Chris Morton, the sun-kissed beaches and mountains of Barcelona and Catalonia offer far more than Brexit Britain, which he believes is in decline. The half-British, half-French expat runs a tech business based in the Spanish city and in Bristol, but Brexit has made expanding the British side a challenge.

A robot has been designed using artificial intelligence to detect skin cancers in seconds without invasive surgery. The AD-Derma robot, developed in Spain, could also help doctors to prioritise patients on waiting lists for surgery and save money for health services.

 Watch out for…

 Rutherglen and Hamilton West, where a by-election is taking place after former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier was ousted in a recall petition. 

 Thoughts for the day

 Rishi Sunak’s dreadful smoking ban is his most dangerous policy yet. It’s authoritarian, legally muddled, pointless and potentially self-harming, says Ian Dunt.

What I learnt from my many encounters with the Beckhams. Posh & Becks, like Coca-Cola, Rolls Royce and the Royal Family, just are what they are, reveals Martin Townsend.

The “fit but fat” research finally validates what women like me knew: Being obese does not mean unhealthy. Fat people have been on the receiving end of jokes and prejudice about our weight for too long, writes Emily Morris.

Culture Break

 “Yes I’m Jon Richardson’s wife – but I was a stand-up first”. As her new tour kicks off, Lucy Beaumont talks to Rachael Healy about starting stand-up, misogyny in the TV world and appearing on Taskmaster.

The Big Read

 The Covid Generation: more children are anxious, immature – and some are starting school in nappies. Teachers and parents tell Elisa Bray about the “devastating” long-term impact of the pandemic on young people.

 Sport

 This could be the last ever ODI Cricket World Cup – unless India win it. Test cricket, for the financial powerhouses of India, England and Australia at least, has some level of protection from T20’s unstoppable march, writes Chris Stocks.

Something to brighten your day

 While everyone is talking about meat this week, it’s time to consider the impact of that eaten by the common pet. Scientists have calculated that if all the world’s dogs went vegan it would save more greenhouse gas emissions than those produced by the UK, free up a larger land mass than Mexico and feed another 450m people. If the world’s cats gave up meat, it would save more emissions than those produced by New Zealand and feed about 70m additional people. “Pet owners who care about the environment or their animals’ health should consider nutritionally sound vegan pet food,” Professor Andrew Knight, the veterinary academic who led the study, said.