It’s a drama that has everyone in Westminster grabbing for the popcorn as Boris Johnson loyalists very publicly target the politician they seem to blame most for the current prime minister’s death. Mr. Johnson may have told me on Monday that he did not want to engage in reflections on treason, fearing that it might hinder the fight for some, but his supporters are doing so on his behalf in a contest that is ill-tempered, vicious and ugly. Pictured: (Clockwise from top left), Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Nadhim Zahawi, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt and Tom Tugendhat Leading the way is Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who put the conflict out in the open on Tuesday night as she publicly weighed in on rumors that the Rishi group helped Jeremy Hunt get on the ballot describing them as “dirty tricks/stitch/dark arts”. . It was all designed to get Mr Hunt to the bottom two. It was an accusation that prompted a pushback, as a supporter of the Sunak camp told me that kind of behavior was not how Mr. Sunak ran things: “This behavior is not happening. It’s a dirty story being run by people against Rishi. “ Jacob Rees-Mogg, Ms Dorris and James Cleverley, a trio of Johnson loyalists, fell into the Truss camp on Tuesday as the foreign secretary became the anointed pick of Operation Johnson. Mr Rees-Mogg told me he was backing Ms Truss over Mr Sunak because of policy issues, around Brexit and taxation, rather than raw politics. He then said the following: “It is very interesting that someone should start a campaign, according to reports, in December of last year.” There is no doubt that Boris Johnson’s supporters believe that Mr Sunak played a key role in his downfall. Read more: Who are the candidates for the next prime minister? How many supporters does each candidate have so far? The tax cuts and spending promises of leadership hopefuls What is less clear is how this will be done. For now, it looks like Mr. Sunak is most likely to make it to the bottom two, with Ms. Truss and Penny Mordant vying for second place. For Ms Truss, there is an expectation that the right wing of the party, and supporters of Mr Johnson, will join her campaign against Ms Mordant and Mr Sunak. But it is also true that there is a “stop Liz Truss” campaign – perhaps fueled by Johnson’s hostility – on the backbenches which could benefit Mrs Mordaunt in the final round. This is because several MPs are concerned that while Ms Truss may appeal to party members, she will not appeal to the wider public. Mrs. Mordaunt is then a safer bet. But on the other hand, and this is where the dark arts come into play, the Sunak camp knows that Mrs. Truss is easier to beat in the final two than Mrs. Mordaunt. A poll of members of the Conservative Home website on Tuesday put the trade secretary ahead of the former chancellor by 58% to 31%. So could Sunak’s team try to prevent a Sunak/Mordaunt runoff by lending votes to Liz Truss? All these are questions to which we will get the answers in the coming days. But what stands out most in the early stages of this race is how bitter the divisions in the party have become and how open the battle to become prime minister is now.
