Sunak ‘not fit for office’, says Truss in leadership debate

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss exchanged a series of bitter personal attacks during a live television debate yesterday as the Conservative Party leadership contest descended further into acrimony.

Despite calls from Tory grandees for a cessation of ‘‘blue on blue’’ hostilities, Truss accused Sunak of ‘‘scaremongering’’ and being part of ‘‘project fear’’ while Sunak countered by highlighting her vote for Remain.

Sunak was applauded by the studio audience after an impassioned defence of his private education, which he claimed Truss had turned into a leadership issue. Truss refused to disown jibes by Nadine Dorries, a leading supporter, about Sunak’s wealth.

As the two swapped blows, a spokesman for Truss claimed that Sunak was ‘‘not fit for office’’, adding: ‘‘His aggressive mansplaining and shouty private school behaviour is desperate, unbecoming and a gift to Labour.’’

Shortly after her spokesman’s claim, the foreign secretary said on stage that she would ‘‘love’’ Sunak to be part of her team if she wins.

The leadership candidates clashed repeatedly during a badtempered debate over tax cuts, the economy and foreign policy. They frequently spoke over one another as they tried to score points in front of an audience of Tory voters in Stoke-on-trent.

In other developments:

Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, criticised Sunak for wearing a £3500 (NZ$6700) suit and said that Truss’s earrings that she has worn during the campaign cost £4.50 from Claire’s Accessories.

Sunak’s policy to accommodate Channel migrants in cruise ships was ‘‘laughed off the table’’ by cabinet ministers and officials when he first proposed it in 2020, government sources told The

Times.

Truss pledged to curb ‘‘militant action’’ by trade unions within a month of becoming prime minister, saying she would guarantee a minimum level of service on railways during strikes.

Some of the most aggressive confrontations during the BBC debate were over Truss’s plans to make £30 billion of tax cuts. Sunak claimed that her plans for increased borrowing would, according to her own adviser, mean interest rates could soar to 7%, which Truss said was simply ‘‘not true’’.

Sunak said it was ‘‘not moral to ask our children to pick up the tab for the bills that we’re not prepared to pay’’, as he repeatedly compared Truss’s plans for greater government borrowing to spending on ‘‘the country’s credit card’’.

Truss hit back that countries including the US, Canada and Japan all had higher levels of debt than the UK, but said that under Sunak the government would pursue ‘‘policies that will lead to recession’’. – The Times