Truss backed by Wallace for top job

LIZ Truss has said she is not “complacent” about her prospects in the race for No 10 after winning Ben Wallace’s backing.

The Tory leadership hopeful’s campaign was boosted by a major endorsement from the Defence Secretary, after she and rival Rishi Sunak faced a grilling from voters in the first official hustings with Conservative Party members in Leeds.

Asked during a visit to Norfolk yesterday if she was confident she was now set to win the leadership contest, she said: “I’m not at all complacent. I’m fighting for every vote across the country.”

She added: “I’m delighted to have the support of Ben Wallace. We’ve worked very closely together. He’s been a fantastic defence secretary for our country.”

Meanwhile, in a thinly veiled swipe at the former chancellor’s record, she warned it would be “risky” for the country to continue along the current economic path.

Ms Truss insisted the way to get growth is to “help people and businesses keep more of their own money”, saying the “number one priority should be avoiding recession”. She said: “What is risky is carrying on on the same economic path, which is currently forecast to lead us to recession. That is the risk.

“What I’m talking about is unleashing opportunity, unleashing growth, keeping taxes low. That will see the economy grow, and it will see us being able to pay back our debt quicker.”

Ms Truss also committed to “challenging the current orthodoxy around investment spending”, with more going into “left-behind areas”.

Mr Sunak was set to face veteran political journalist Andrew Neil for an interview last night – an opportunity Channel 4 said Ms Truss had so far declined earlier this week.

Asked if she will be watching, Ms Truss said she will be celebrating her wedding anniversary.

She told reporters: “It’s my wedding anniversary today. So I’ll be celebrating 22 years of being married to my husband.”

Earlier, Mr Wallace accused Mr Sunak of trying to block “vital” defence money during his time as chancellor. In a series of interviews yesterday, the defence secretary explained why he had thrown his support behind Ms Truss.

He told Sky News she recognised “the threats we face every day need to be funded properly”, pointing to her commitment to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. He also said that without any prompting or asking, Ms Truss wrote a letter to the Prime Minister saying that defence needed more money.

But Mr Sunak, the defence secretary said, tried to block “vital” defence money in 2019, only to find himself overruled by the PM.

Mr Wallace was asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari how obstructive the former chancellor was in granting more money to the Armed Forces.

He replied: “I don’t think he was obstructive...” When pressed further, he said: “I mean, the multiyear settlement that we got was not what the Treasury had wanted.

“They wanted a one-year settlement. This was back in 2019, I think. It was vital that we got a multi-year settlement.”