Badenoch team appeal to rival’s backers to switch to their woman
Showing in first televised debate changes dynamic in bid to stop Mordaunt from making the final two
SUPPORTERS of Kemi Badenoch are urging Brexiteer supporters to move over from Liz Truss’s camp, claiming that their candidate is best placed to beat Penny Mordaunt to take second place in the Tory leadership contest.
MPs backing Ms Badenoch have been emboldened by what was seen as a poor showing by Ms Truss in the first televised debate on Channel 4, with the Foreign Secretary ranked by pollsters as the weakest performer.
The charm offensive was bearing fruit last night when Adam Afriyie, one of the 28 “Spartan” Tories who fought Theresa May’s Brexit deal on all three votes in Parliament, announced he was backing Ms Badenoch.
A further three Brexiteer MPs – who had backed former European Research Group chairman Suella Braverman before she backed out – are understood to be considering switching to Ms Badenoch. Ms Badenoch’s supporters are hoping she can build on that momentum with a strong performance tonight in the second televised debate on ITV.
The news came as a new poll of Tory supporters made Ms Badenoch the clear favourite after her strong showing in the first television debate.
The poll of 850 Tory party members by the Conservative Home website put Ms Badenoch in the lead on 31 per cent, up from 19 per cent last Monday. Liz Truss was on 20 per cent while backing for Penny Mordaunt fell from 20 to 18 per cent. Rishi Sunak was fourth on 17 per cent with Tom Tugendhat on 10 per cent.
Lee Rowley, the Tory MP helping to run Ms Badenoch’s campaign, said: “Kemi enjoyed last night’s debate. Of course she’s having lots of conversations with colleagues as she wants them to support her message of change.”
Ms Badenoch made an unashamed pitch to Right-wing Tories in an article in today’s Sunday Telegraph, calling for a cut in immigration to ease the pressures on housing and the NHS.
One red-wall Tory who backs Ms Badenoch said Ms Truss’s poor performance in the Channel 4 debate had forced a rethink for some Tories who were trying to stop Ms Mordaunt making the final two.
The MP said: “The feedback I am getting from colleagues is that Liz was incredibly poor. A lot of the new voters who jumped across last week are now having second thoughts. The pro-Liz lot who do not like Penny went to Liz to stop Penny from getting into the final two – now they are having second thoughts.”
Four MPs are understood to be switching sides to Ms Badenoch.
The MP said: “There is going to be movement from Liz towards Kemi. Liz would have liked to be in the position this weekend where she can squeeze the Kemi vote – now the Kemi campaign is more likely to be on the offensive in going after Liz Truss’s supporters.”
The MP added: “She [Truss] was the
worst performer – all the polling shows that. There is concern she is going to be the next Theresa May. Her performance was incredibly wooden and there is a sense she is least likely to win a general election out of the five candidates.”
One Brexiteer Tory MP who has decided to back Ms Badenoch rather
than Ms Truss said: “Liz was just c--p. It was scary. Kemi wins on all fronts. In front of Keir Starmer, he says ‘racist Tories’, she says ‘that doesn’t work’. He says ‘rich Tories, they don’t understand working class families’.
“That doesn’t work – she [Kemi] has three kids. She just says ‘well, Sir Keir’
and it is game set and match.” Mr Afriyie, the MP for Windsor since 2005, said: “Kemi is our only hope for connecting with people and winning an election.” Ms Badenoch is best placed to pick up votes when Tom Tugendhat is expected to withdraw from the contest tomorrow, he said.