About 24 percent of those polled by Opinium thought the former chancellor had performed better, followed by Tom Tugendhat at 19 percent. Kemi Badenoch performed the worst, according to the poll, with 12 percent of the vote. Penny Mordaunt came third with 17 per cent of the vote, followed by Liz Truss with 15 per cent. The five candidates clashed over taxation, Brexit and parenting during the heated debate on ITV this afternoon. The candidates clashed over tax, Brexit and parenting during the televised debate on ITV (Jonathan Hordle/ITV/EPA) Liz Truss launched a series of attacks on Rishi Sunak – suggesting he had no growth plan and was responsible for setting Britain on the path to recession. “Rishi, you have raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years. This is not going to lead to economic growth,” he said. Ms Truss added: “If he has a plan for growth, why haven’t we seen it in the last two years?” Mr Sunak replied: “I would love to stand here and say, ‘I’m going to lower this tax, I’m going to cut this tax and everything will be fine.’ But you know what? It won’t… This thing without anything economics is not conservative – it is socialism.” Among the promises he made, Mr Sunak said he would bring honesty to the role of prime minister. He told the ITV debate: “I want to be honest with the country about the economic challenge we face and what it will take to address it. “And I’m not comfortable with that politically, not just saying the easy stuff, but I think it shows people that I’m going to be honest with them about what’s next and I’m going to be responsible for dealing with it, even if it’s not politically easy.” None of the Tory leadership candidates said they would give Boris Johnson a cabinet job if he became prime minister, and all five have ruled out calling an early general election if they win the contest and enter No 10.
