Self destructing
»»Tory leadership rivals run away from ‘damaging’ debate »»Tugendhat is voted out in third round of bitter contest
The divisions, smears and personal attacks have been disgraceful
TORY MP COMMENTING ON TELEVISED LEADERSHIP DEBATES
JITTERY Tory MPs fear the contest to take over from Boris Johnson is “ripping the party apart” and could damage their chances at the next election.
Tonight’s live leadership debate was cancelled by Sky News after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss pulled out, over worries “blue-on-blue” attacks were inflicting serious harm on the party.
The contest shifted further to the right after Tom Tugendhat, the most moderate candidate, was eliminated last night on 31 votes.
Rishi Sunak gained 14 votes to get through with 115.
Penny Mordaunt lost one vote but was in second place on 82.
Liz Truss gained seven votes to take third place on 71, while Kemi Badenoch gained nine votes, with a total 58.
The remaining candidates to be the new PM are now battling for the votes of Tory MPs whose favourites have been eliminated.
The candidates had laid into each other during acrimonious TV debates at the weekend.
Foreign Secretary Truss criticised ex-Chancellor Sunak for raising taxes to their highest level in 70 years.
He accused her of peddling “something-for-nothing economics”, that amounted to “socialism”.
But sources told the Times that at the end of Friday’s debate on Channel 4, Sunak turned to Ms Truss and asked: “Why are we doing this?” Both campaigns have since privately questioned where the debates will leave the party in the long-term.
One Tory MP said: “The division, smears and personal attacks this weekend have been disgraceful. Nothing will kill our party more than blue on blue.”
Another told colleagues: “We have an 80-seat majority and have spent time infighting and bringing down the party, fighting publicly. It’s shameful. I can’t believe it’s happening”. A source in the Sunak campaign said: “We are very happy to do more debates if we are lucky enough to get to the next stage, including Sky News.”
A Team Truss source said: “It is not the right time to be doing more debates when this part of the contest only has 358 voters.”
But the attacks on other candidates did not stop. Trade Secretary AnneMarie Trevelyan, who backed Tugendhat, claimed Mordaunt had missed key meetings in her role as a junior minister.
She told LBC Radio: “Penny has for the last few months spent some of her time focused on her leadership campaign.
“There have been a number of times when she hasn’t been available.”
Former Treasury minister Lord Agnew, backing Badenoch, said he was “very surprised” by Sunak’s claim that Covid fraud was lower than anticipated.
He said Mr Sunak’s Covid fraud estimates were a “fairytale”.