In the words of the BBC, which seeks to remain neutral in the Tory leadership contest, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss “rubbished” each other on taxation, Brexit, China and even the schools they attended when they clashed in their first head to head TV debate on Monday night before a group of Tory party members in Stoke.
Conservative party elders feared that these “blue on blue” attacks will only help the Labour leader Keith Starmer win the next election. Starmer said the debate “showed just the two contenders taking lumps out of each other, talking over each other. If ever there was an example of a party that has absolutely lost the plot, lost any sense of purpose then it was that debate last night”.
A snap poll by Opinium, based on a sample of 1,032 voters, found that overall 39 per cent believed the former chancellor had performed best in the BBC TV debate compared to 38 per cent for Truss. However, Tory voters split 47 per cent to 38 per cent in favour of the foreign secretary. An Indian member of the House of Lords urged The Telegraph “not to raise expectations” among people in India about Sunak becoming Britain’s next Prime Minister. He took this correspondent aside and showed him his mobile phone with pictures of Sunak addressing party members in a particular constituency. The images had been sent by a Tory MP.
The peer said: “This MP supports Rishi and wanted him to address a meeting of party members he had summoned. Look at their (unsmiling) faces — all white and middle-aged or elderly.” Sunak was accused of interrupting Truss “20 times in 12 minutes” and being overly aggressive. Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary and another cabinet supporter of Truss, told the Financial Times: “People don’t like the interrupting … it started to look a bit like mansplaining.” And the culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who has the reputation of being a loose cannon, tweeted: “Liz Truss will be travelling the country wearing her earrings which cost circa £4.50 from Claire Accessories.
Meanwhile… “Rishi visits Teeside in Prada shoes worth £450 and sported £3,500 bespoke suit as he prepared for a crunch leadership vote.” Angela Richardson, the MP for Guildford and a Sunak supporter, responded by telling Dorries: “FFS (For F***’s Sake) Nadine! Muted.” Simon Clarke, who as chief secretary to the treasury was Sunak’s deputy for ten months, told Times Radio: “I think it’s fair to say that there was genuine frustration at the tone Rishi struck in the opening 20 minutes or so of the debate and the way he kept interrupting Liz when she was trying to set out her side of the story.” Clarke went even further on LBC, saying that Sunak had been “extremely aggressive in the early moments of the debate”.
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, dismissed the claim that Sunak had been “mansplaining” as “spin”. He told Sky News: “Sometimes it’s important to intervene in debates. When we’re in the Commons we have these comparatively fierce exchanges lots of times, all the time.” Davis, who had previously backed Penny Mordaunt, added: “We need the person who a) knows what he stands for, b) is courageous enough to take the difficult decisions and c) determined enough to do it. And that’s Rishi Sunak.” The two candidates will face off in a second debate hosted by TalkTV and The Sun. They then have their first of 12 hustings before party members on Thursday in Leeds.
