The International Trade Minister said that while she had held a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act, she had never been in favor of identification. I take it as a great compliment that no one wants to hold it against me “I can’t imagine why people don’t understand what I’m saying and have been regurgitating this issue for weeks and weeks,” he said.
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“I’m a woman, I’m a biological woman in every cell of my body,” she said, adding that a man who had moved in “wasn’t the same as me.” But Ms Badenoch, a former equalities minister, said she found it difficult to accept her opponent’s account. “When I took over as equalities minister in 2020, what was pushed was self-identity. I don’t see how this would have changed if someone else didn’t. My understanding was that the previous minister who held the role had asked for (Ms Mordaunt) ID,” he said. (PA Graphics) / PA Graphics Ms Mordaunt replied: “That is not right. All this will be recorded.” However, Ms Truss, who also had equalities responsibility alongside her role as Foreign Secretary, said there was a plan to move forward with self-identification. “I believe in women’s rights. I also believe that trans people should be treated with respect, so I changed the result so that we can make the program more simple and kind, but not go ahead with self-identity,” he said. Earlier, Ms Mordaunt said the attacks showed she was the candidate to win. “I take it as a great compliment that no one wants to face me,” he said. There were further clashes over taxation as former chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his record at the Treasury as he attacked Mr Mordaunt and Ms Truss over their promised cuts. Stressing the need to tackle inflation, he said: “We cannot make it worse, inflation is the enemy that makes everyone poorer. “I don’t think the responsible thing to do right now is to go on an unfunded borrowing spree and more debt, which will only exacerbate inflation, prolong the problem.” Ms Truss blamed the Bank of England, saying “we have inflation because of our monetary policy, we haven’t been tight enough with the money supply, that’s how I would deal with that issue”. Mr Sunak told her: “Borrowing your way out of inflation is not a plan, it’s a fairy tale.” Ms Truss replied: “I think it’s wrong to raise taxes.” Earlier, Tom Tugendhat tried to make a virtue of being the only candidate without ministerial experience. “We need a break from the Johnson years. That’s why I’m here. We need to make sure we can trust our politicians,” he said. He won a standing ovation from the audience when – alone among the candidates – he answered the question that Boris Johnson was an “honest man” with the single answer “No”.
