Back me or get Rishi, says Liz Truss in warning to rivals on the Tory Right as they battle each other… and Sunak still won’t commit to instant tax cuts
- Truss fears no one on Tory Right will make the last two if support is split too thinly
- It came as Priti Patel debated whether to join a crowded field of contenders
- Right candidates include Nadhim Zahawi, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch
- While poll puts minister Penny Mordaunt as the favourite among Tory grassroots
Liz Truss last night warned the Tory Right it risks handing Rishi Sunak the keys to No10 unless it unites behind her.
The Foreign Secretary’s allies urged her rivals on the Thatcherite wing of the party to end their campaigns and back her.
The dramatic plea came as Priti Patel debated whether to join a crowded field of contenders from the Tory Right – it already includes Nadhim Zahawi, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch.
Jacob Rees-Mogg had been rumoured to be set to stand but last night ruled himself out, saying he did not want to ‘further fracture the Right’. Leading backbencher Steve Baker has warned colleagues on the Brexiteer wing over the ‘grave danger of fragmentation’.
A poll of the Tory grassroots last night put Penny Mordaunt, who has faced controversy for her views on trans rights, as their new favourite. The shock result raises the prospect of her facing Mr Sunak in the final run-off vote by party members.
Miss Truss fears no one on the Conservative Right will make the last two if support is split too thinly among them all.
Liz Truss (pictured yesterday as she left her London home) has warned the Tory Right it risks handing Rishi Sunak the keys to No10 unless it unites behind her
An ally said: ‘The Right of the party needs to make its mind up fast. If the Right don’t want Rishi Sunak to be prime minister then they need to unite behind a single candidate and that candidate is Liz. Liz is the only one who can keep the PM’s 2019 coalition together, who will take us back to properly Conservative principles on the economy and who has the experience to hit the ground running.
‘But there is a real concern that if the Right splinters then Rishi and his supporters will be able to manipulate the contest and ensure that he faces someone to the Left of him in the final two.’
Miss Patel was still last night debating whether to stand to replace Boris Johnson. But she told hardline Brexiteers that she was the best candidate to win the ‘hearts and minds of the party’.
Mr Sunak is poised to officially launch his bid to be Tory leader and PM today, while unveiling former chancellor Lord Lamont as backer. Despite a blizzard of tax-cutting pledges by some of his rivals, Mr Sunak will insist he won’t start to cut taxes until inflation has been ‘gripped’ and brought under control. In response to attacks on his economic record, he will insist he had to make some of the ‘most difficult choices in my life’.
In the next nine days, Tory MPs will whittle down the candidates to the two who will go on the ballot paper for party members.
Attorney General Suella Braverman has already attracted the support of key Brexiteers in the race to become PM
Late last night, Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, said the first ballot of Tory MPs would take place tomorrow. Candidates will need the support of at least 20 MPs to stand – and then at least 30 votes to get through to the second round. He said the winner would be unveiled on September 5.
I’m not a contender, says Mogg
Jacob Rees-Mogg last night ruled himself out of the Tory leadership race.
It came after rumours that he was set to announce himself as a shock contender, standing as a ‘Continuity Boris’ candidate.
He had reportedly been contacting MPs to ask them if they thought he should join the field of candidates.
But Brexit opportunities minister Mr Rees-Mogg last night told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I am not standing. I want to unite rather than further fracture the Right.’
An MP admirer had earlier said: ‘He would be brilliant and probably the only person all the pro-Boris MPs could support.’
A second MP said Mr Rees-Mogg had made contact and was considering standing to provide a rallying point for the Right.
However, fellow Conservative Steve Baker had warned: ‘I love Jacob like a brother, but he wouldn’t win an election.’
Former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten had sung the praises of Mr Rees-Mogg, 53. He told TalkTV: ‘I love that “World War Two Respect, Put Britain First” attitude he has.
‘And in every interview I’ve ever seen him do, he has been on the floor with his humour. And I think he’s just genuinely a nice person.’ At the age of 12, Mr Rees-Mogg said he would ‘love’ to be PM by the time he was 70.
On another tumultuous day in the race to be the next PM:
- A Savanta ComRes poll showed that the Tories have fallen further behind Labour with Sir Keir Starmer’s party now 15 points ahead;
- Mr Zahawi pledged to slash 2p off the basic rate of income tax, cancel a planned rise in corporation tax and temporarily axe VAT and green levies on energy bills;
- Sajid Javid pledged to bring forward the planned 1p cut in income tax to next year and warned the Conservatives faced ‘electoral oblivion’ if they do not change;
- The former health secretary dodged questions on whether he had once used a tax haven;
- Miss Truss vowed to start cutting taxes ‘from day one’ as she officially launched her leadership campaign;
- Miss Mordaunt and Miss Badenoch came top of a survey of party members conducted by the ConservativeHome website;
- Mrs Braverman told her party’s MPs: ‘Don’t vote for me because I’m a woman, don’t vote for me because I’m brown, vote for me because I love this country and would do anything for it’;
- An ally of Miss Patel admitted sharing a ‘dirty dossier’ on WhatsApp about Rishi Sunak but insisted he hadn’t written it;
- The first live television debate of the Tory leadership race will take place on Sunday night on ITV;
- Mr Johnson insisted he ‘wouldn’t want to damage anybody’s chances’ by offering his backing to a candidate to replace him.
During the 2019 Tory leadership race, there were suspicions that Mr Johnson’s campaign team asked some backers to lend votes to Jeremy Hunt to ensure he got into the final two because they believed he would be easier to beat.
Sir Gavin Williamson, who was a leading figure on Mr Johnson’s team, is now working on Mr Sunak’s campaign. A Tory source said: ‘Gav will try and get another no-hoper on the ballot with his man … he could even make sure it is Jeremy again.’
Mrs Braverman’s team last night joined calls for the Tory Right to unite behind a ‘Stop Rishi’ candidate, but she declined to withdraw herself. The Attorney General stole a march on her rivals by announcing her candidacy live on TV last Wednesday. An ally said: ‘The Right of the party need to come together on a single person who both backed Brexit and who party members actually really like. It would be a catastrophe if they can’t.’
Ex-minister Steve Baker urged Mr Rees-Mogg to abandon any thought of adding himself to the long list of Conservative candidates
It has been suggested Jacob Rees-Mogg would put himself forward as the ‘continuity Boris’ candidate but he withdrew
Mr Baker, who is Mrs Braverman’s campaign manager, said it was ‘a nonsense to have candidates standing all over the place’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘There’s a danger of fragmentation. Kemi Badenoch has decided to stand, I’m afraid as much as I am fond of Kemi, it’s a bit improbable.
‘She hasn’t been in the Cabinet; Suella has been in the Cabinet.’
Rival campaigns last night said they believed that Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg was preparing to back Miss Truss.
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