Rishi Sunak’s team goes postal over mail-in ballots amid fears he will lose time to woo Tory grassroots in leadership bid
- Rishi Sunak’s team angry about timing of postal ballots sent to Tory members
- Due to be sent out in first week of Aug, giving Sunak less time to woo voters
- Recent poll suggests Mr Sunak would start behind Liz Truss in present voting
Rishi Sunak’s team is said to be angry that postal ballots will be sent to Tory members in the first week of August, giving him less time to win them over.
Sources say the former chancellor’s team complained about the timing because he trails Liz Truss among the grassroots who make the final decision.
It means Mr Sunak has just a fortnight to turn around the contest to beat her to the top spot and become party leader and prime minister.
The timetable was overseen by new Tory chairman Andrew Stephenson – a Boris Johnson loyalist installed after Mr Sunak’s ally Oliver Dowden quit the role.
Mr Johnson is believed to be supportive of the Foreign Secretary who stayed in his Cabinet when Mr Sunak quit. A Tory source said: ‘Rishi’s team are really p****d off at how early the ballots are going out and made that very clear to CCHQ. He’s behind with the members and they’d been counting on more time to claw that back.’
However, sources close to Mr Sunak said the team was ‘very relaxed’ and pointed to party rules which mean members can vote twice and only their last attempt will count.
Rishi Sunak’s team is said to be angry that postal ballots will be sent to Tory members in the first week of August, giving him less time to win them over because he trails Liz Truss among the grassroots who make the final decision
A YouGov survey of Tory members for The Times indicated that Mr Sunak would start the membership phase of the leadership election behind his opponent.
Presented with a run-off between the pair, 35 per cent chose Mr Sunak and 54 per cent chose Miss Truss.
Although the result of the election will not be announced until September 5, ballots will be distributed to members between August 1 and 5, with many expected to vote straight away.
Presented with a run-off between the pair, 35 per cent of a recent YouGov survey respondents chose Mr Sunak and 54 per cent chose Miss Truss (pictured)
It means early events in the contest could take on a disproportionate significance. Both finalists will be invited to a live debate to be broadcast by the BBC in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday, with the first hustings expected to take place three days later in the North of England.
The rest of the campaign will feature two hustings a week around the country.
Mr Sunak is expected to make new commitments on reducing income tax.
Miss Truss has said she will reverse the national insurance and corporation tax rises he instituted. Mr Sunak’s supporters have suggested he might propose bringing forward a 1p cut in income tax to next year, or raise the thresholds.
Although trailing, the latest poll shows signs of modest progress since last week’s YouGov poll in which Mr Sunak was 24 percentage points behind Miss Truss, rather than 19 points.
A ConservativeHome survey published at the weekend also suggested the former chancellor would lose, but by the narrower margin of 42 per cent to 49 per cent.
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