Gloves are off as would-be leaders enter the ring in battle for No10
Mud-slinging has already begun in Westminster as the contenders jostle for position in race to be PM
THREE days after the starting gun was fired, the battle to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader is shaping up to be one of the bloodiest in the party’s history.
Liz Truss, a frontrunner, is accused by potential rivals’ supporters of being a “Remainer in Brexiteer’s clothing” whose victory would risk another “Theresa May experience”, with similar concerns expressed by Brexiteers about Jeremy Hunt.
Rishi Sunak is facing claims that he is a tax-raising technocrat who was “captured by the Treasury”, while Nadhim Zahawi, Mr Sunak’s successor as Chancellor, is being privately criticised for allegedly allowing civil servants to “reign supreme” at his previous department – a claim allies adamantly deny.
Detractors of Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, are attempting to shred his professed opposition to lockdowns, while one ally of Boris Johnson described Tom Tugendhat, the former Army officer, as “that guy who made one beautiful speech that a proper professional soldier would never have made”.
Meanwhile, Penny Mordaunt, the trade minister, who has yet to formally declare her candidacy, is facing claims that she is too “woke” to win an election for the Conservatives. Supporters of one candidate have been quietly resurrecting reports about Suella Braverman’s membership of a Buddhist order that has drawn controversy over claims its founder was a sexual predator.
In the 2019 leadership contest, then candidates Dominic Raab, Matt Hancock and Mr Javid irked Mr Johnson’s team by signing a “clean campaign pledge” to which they failed to invite rival candidates to sign up before publicly announcing the move. It remains to be seen whether any of the growing field to succeed Mr Johnson will initiate a similar move.
But with much of the mud-slinging being conducted anonymously, behind the scenes, there would appear to be little hope of enforcing such a pledge.
The sources of at least some of these claims are also insistent that they are motivated by genuine worries about the candidates they concern.
Ms Truss, 46, whose trip to Indonesia for the G20 has meant her campaign is now playing catch-up with Mr Sunak’s efforts, will bill herself as an experienced minister with a “clear philosophy” based on low tax, free markets and supporting women’s rights. Today, declaring his support for Ms Truss, Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, writes in this newspaper that the Foreign Secretary would “build on Boris Johnson’s achievements” and “unite the party behind a clear Conservative agenda, which would turn the British economy into a high-growth, highly productive powerhouse”.
Mr Clarke emphasises that Ms Truss, who campaigned for Remain in 2016, has “shown her resolve” to make the most of Brexit in her approach to negotiations with the EU and says she will “drive forward regulatory divergence” from Brussels.
But a senior pro-Brexit MP backing another candidate claimed that, with Ms Truss, Conservatives would get “the Theresa May effect ... another Remainer who reads the room and concludes, ‘I need to sound like a Brexiteer’.
“I think she’s a Remainer in Brexiteer clothing at heart and she knows the membership want a Brexiteer. Did she speak out against Theresa May’s deal? “No, she voted for it three times.” In an interview with this newspaper, Mr Hunt defends himself against similar claims, insisting that he can be trusted on Brexit. A source close to Ms
Truss said: “I don’t think anyone seriously thinks Liz Truss is like Theresa May. In trade and the Foreign Office, she’s been one of the leading Cabinet ministers in promoting Brexit and delivering on the opportunities of it.”
Yesterday, Mrs Braverman, whose latest backers now include Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of MPs, and Julian Lewis, the former chairman of the Commons defence committee, warned that “some people want to” unpick Brexit, which would “destroy the party and deservedly put us out of office for a generation”. Mr Clarke responded: “Absolutely out of the question.”
Mr Sunak launched his campaign on Friday with a slick video in which he described himself as the “serious” candidate who would eschew “comforting fairy tales”. A steady stream of declared supporters since Friday include Mark Spencer, the former chief whip, who appeared to suggest that some rivals may harbour “secrets”. With Mr Sunak, “there are no skeletons in that cupboard”, Mr Spencer said.
Mr Sunak’s National Insurance hike, opposition to income tax cuts before 2024 and planned corporation tax increase have, however, been drawing flak from elsewhere. Last week, Jacob Rees-Mogg described him in a Cabinet meeting as the “much-lamented socialist chancellor”.
Separately, a minister close to a leadership rival claimed that during his time at the Treasury, Mr Sunak was more akin to a competent chief secretary – the number two role in the finance department – than a visionary chancellor. Mr Sunak was, the minister said, “captured” by civil servants who were instinctively opposed to tax cuts.
Last night a source close to Mr Sunak said: “Rishi is the chancellor who successfully steered the economy through a pandemic, saving tens of millions of jobs and setting up the furlough scheme in a matter of days.”
‘Some want to unpick Brexit, which would destroy the party and put us out of office for a generation’
Mr Sunak’s team are relieved that the revelations that his wife, Akshata Murty, held non-dom status, and that he held a US green card during his time as chancellor, came to prominence some months before the contest, rather than now. But they are braced for renewed scrutiny, as are aides to Mr Javid, who slipped out details of his own former non-dom status while headlines were focused on Mr Sunak in April.
Today, Mr Javid declares his candidacy in an interview with this newspaper in which he pledges radical tax cuts. In his first interview of the campaign, however, he also had to defend himself against claims that he wanted lockdown measures over Christmas and mandatory Covid vaccines for companies with more than 100 staff, following briefing against the former health secretary following his resignation on Tuesday.
Ms Mordaunt, 49, is also gathering support ahead of formally declaring her candidacy, with endorsements from Andrea Leadsom, the former business secretary, and Michael Fabricant, a diehard loyalist to Mr Johnson. But the Brexiteer trade minister is being privately traduced by figures on the Right of the Conservatives who believe she would pursue a “woke agenda”.
Mr Zahawi, the 55-year old former education secretary, is preparing to bill himself as a tax-cutting former businessman who would “steady the ship” and focus on policy delivery. He is being advised by Mark Fullbrook, the campaign guru who helped Mr Johnson win the 2019 leadership contest.
But he is struggling to shake off a claim that he was hoodwinked by officials after signing off legislation containing clauses that would have reversed part of the Government’s academies programme.