As a range of candidates toured the TV studios for Sunday’s broadcast rounds, Hunt, Grant Shapps, Tom Tugendhat and Sajid Javid repeated pledges to cut taxes, saying it could be funded by efficiency or economic growth . In a further sign that even more moderate candidates are aware of the need to appeal to Tory MPs, who will be decided by the bottom two in the race, Hunt also confirmed that if elected leader he would continue his controversial policies Boris Johnson. deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda. Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday Morning show, Hunt sought to broaden his appeal by saying he was in league with McVey, the former Work and Pensions MP, a strong Brexiter who created the influential Tory Conservative group in Blue Collar. Hunt argued that as a former secretary of state and health minister he had more experience than his rivals. “I also recognize that the leader of a political party has to win an election, and that means broad appeal, so just as Tony Blair asked John Prescott to broaden his appeal as deputy prime minister, I will have Esther McVeigh as my deputy. minister,” he said. “He’s won a lot of elections against Labor in the north, I’ve won them against the Lib Dems in the south and I think we’re going to be a formidable campaign team.” Esther McVey could extend Hunt’s appeal to other areas of the party. Photo: Michael Mayhew/Sportsphoto/Allstar McVey won one election against Labour, when she took the Wirral West seat from them in 2010. However, she lost it again in 2015 and moved to the safe Tatton constituency in Cheshire, which she has represented since 2017. McVey is nevertheless a notable contrast to Hunt and could expand his appeal to other areas of the party. But she faced controversy, accused of lying to parliament when she was work and pensions secretary, and argued that parents should be able to take primary-age children out of same-sex lessons. It comes as Penny Mordaunt, the former defense secretary, entered the race with a campaign video featuring long-shot images of the UK countryside. Also standing is former chancellor Rishi Sunak. Javid, the former health secretary. the MP of the back Tugendhat; Shapps, who is transport secretary. the attorney general, Suella Braverman; former minister Kemi Badenoch and Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Sunak as chancellor. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST A number of other candidates, including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, are currently set to launch campaigns. Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, former minister and veteran MP David Davies said Truss, Sapps and Hunt were “the ones I’m thinking of” as potential winners. He said: “Everyone has some experience, which is very important. Ability is critical.” Shapps, Tugendhat and Javid, like Hunt, have made plenty of promises about tax cuts but have so far been slightly vague about how they will be funded. Hunt and Tugendhat said they aimed to pay for the tax cuts by growing the economy in the long term, while Shapps said it would improve efficiency, for example by using less paper in Whitehall and reducing the number of civil servants. Hunt has not committed to personal tax cuts, only corporate tax. Appearing for Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the contest, triggered by Johnson’s decision to stand down as the Tory leadership on Thursday, as a “chaotic catwalk”. He said: “I think everyone is really part of that list of failures. All of them are letting the country down.”
