The foreign secretary, who came third in yesterday’s leadership vote with 50 votes, pledged to “make Britain a high-growth economy over the next ten years” and put the economy on an “upward trajectory” by 2024. Promising to cut taxes, tackle energy costs and control government spending, she said: “We have to be honest with the public, this will be difficult, it will take time, but I am determined to get it done.” Asked if she was too close to Boris Johnson, Truss said she was a “loyal person” and that was why she did not quit when other cabinet colleagues did. He said he had spoken out privately against the planned increase in national insurance and said: “The change we need to achieve is change in the economy.” He promised to “overhaul family taxation to ensure people are not penalized for taking time out to care for children or elderly relatives”. The six hopefuls in the Tory leadership race will be narrowed down further at 3pm. MPs vote again today, with the candidate with the fewest votes eliminated. Penny Mordaunt came second behind Rishi Sunak in the first ballot yesterday, with 67 votes to 88. Suella Braverman won 32 and Tom Tugendhat 37. The cutoff was 30. Sunak, who looks likely to field the final two candidates in Conservative MPs in the summer, said this morning he believed in “hard work and ambition”. He said Today on Radio 4: “If I’m prime minister, then I’ll support it vigorously.” This morning Lord Frost, the former Brexit secretary, launched a scathing attack on Mordaunt, his former deputy in EU negotiations. He said he had “serious reservations” about becoming a front-runner for the Tory leadership and challenged if he could “make tough decisions”.
Number crunchers watch as MPs vote
To succeed in politics, you must learn to count (writes George Grylls). Judging by the number of drafts in the corridor outside committee room 14 in the House of Commons, this is a lesson that Conservative MPs have really taken to heart. Each of the six candidates has at least two cashiers outside the room with a spreadsheet in front of them. • Who could replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister? According to their estimates, more than 90 percent of the party has already voted. Voting closes at 1.30pm. Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch are among the candidates who have already submitted their ballots in person, although Tory MPs are allowed to use a proxy. Ben Wallace, the defense secretary, and Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, are among those who turned up in the final minutes to vote, with a cursory nod to their colleagues sitting on the benches outside. A public endorsement from one of them could prove decisive in a very close race. Yesterday, the last person to vote – with three minutes to spare – was one Sir Gavin Williamson. The former chief whip is in Team Rishi and has been the subject of updates from other campaigns, who suspect him of dirty tricks. He has yet to vote today. . .
Opponents move away from the Frost attack on Mordaunt
Opponents of Penny Mordaunt’s leadership have refused to be drawn into publicly attacking her after a scathing broadside by former Brexit minister Lord Frost. Mordaunt’s control was strengthened today after she came second to Rishi Sunak in the first round of voting yesterday. But Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said today she would not make “any disparaging comments” about either candidate when asked if she was concerned about Mordaunt’s success. “I think, actually, the Conservative race shows what a wide range of talent we have in the Conservative Party,” he said. “I propose a positive agenda.” This did not stop Truss supporters from attacking her opponents. After Frost told TalkTV this morning that Mordaunt was too inexperienced to be prime minister, Simon Clarke, the Truss-backed chief secretary to the Treasury, retweeted a video of the clip. Tom Tugendhat, at a press conference this morning, said his fellow candidates should be prepared for criticism. Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch made a public show of unity in Westminster yesterday STEVE BAKER He said: “It’s not always easy, but I think it’s fair because if you’re running for an office like this, it’s only fair that those who know you have an opinion. Some of them will be nice, some less so. This is a very short interview round for a big job.” The candidates have publicly tried to keep their campaigns clean. Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch were pictured cuddling up in Westminster last night. The private briefings have grown increasingly bitter, prompting Jeremy Hunt, who along with Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, quit the race yesterday, to warn: “Spots and attacks may bring short-term tactical benefits, but always yield long-term results.” Sunak has defended the involvement of Sir Gavin Williamson, the former education secretary general and whip, in his campaign following accusations of “dirty tricks”. He persisted Today on Radio 4 that it was Mel Stride, the chairman of the Treasury committee, who ran his campaign, not Williamson. On Williamson’s role, Sunak said: “Like all the MPs who are in my group, they are talking to colleagues and supporting my candidacy because they think I am the best person to beat Keir Starmer and the Labor Party and I am truly grateful for all their support.”
I feel like a prom queen, says Tugendhat
Tom Tugendhat has vowed to continue fighting in the Tory leadership contest as he said running made him feel like a “prom queen”. The chairman of the foreign affairs committee is languishing in the leadership race behind front-runners Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. He secured the support of 37 Tory MPs yesterday to go through to the second round of the contest and is hoping to avoid finishing in last place later today, which will allow him to go ahead with the televised debates starting on Friday. Tugendhat held a question and answer session with reporters this morning. “I’m not giving up,” he said. “A lot of people are looking at their options today and thinking differently.” Tugendhat, who has no ministerial experience, also defended the right of Lord Frost and Simon Clarke to attack Mordaunt’s record in government after the pair criticized her lack of diligence as a minister. Tom Tugendhat has dismissed claims he is courting climate change skeptics in the Conservative Party TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS “If you’re running for office like this, it’s fair for those who know you to express their opinions. Some of it will be nice and some of it won’t be,” he said. Asked how she felt about the competition, she said: “I feel like a prom queen.” Tugendhat also reaffirmed his commitment to the government’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The senior member of Tory MPs’ One Nation Group surprised many when he appeared to argue for a delay to the target date at a rally last night, in a move interpreted by some as an attempt to appeal to the right of the Conservative party. Tugendhat, 49, denied he had “shown a bit of a leg up” to climate change skeptics in the party. “I’ve got a lot of flashing legs, but when you get to my age nobody wants to see that,” she said.
Trans talk gives Mordaunt a headache
Penny Mordaunt’s stance on transgender rights could be the biggest obstacle to her winning peers’ votes in today’s second ballot, as further scrutiny was applied to her past comments (Geraldine Scott writes). Last night she was tasked with her beliefs on the 1922 Commission’s missions, while other MPs want her to move on and stop talking about the divisive issue. Mordaunt has previously said she believes trans women are women, but early in her campaign she posted a late-night Twitter thread trying to set the record straight after being accused of being a “woke” candidate. Mordaunt was asked “by an elderly MP about being woken up” during rallies by the Group of 92 right-wing dignitaries. Julian Knight, who supports Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said Mordant repeated a joke from her launch event, based on Margaret Thatcher’s statement that “every prime minister needs a Willie [Whitelaw, her deputy prime minister]”. Knight said this gave him “the chills” and added: “I’m not sure I have a satisfactory answer to that question.” Suella Braverman, the attorney general, criticized a bill that replaced the word “women” with “pregnant people”. Penny Mordant participated, but claimed she only had a day to read it HENRY NICHOLLS/REUTERS In the 1922 committee, Mordaunt was asked about a bill she was involved in which replaced the word “women” with “pregnant persons”. Sky News reported that Mordaunt, who was paymaster-general at the time, told soldiers she “had only a day to read the bill”, which is said to have left MP Sir John Hayes “furious”. Hayes had tried to amend the bill to bring back the words mother and wife, and this was later achieved in the House of Lords. Suella Braverman, the attorney general and a competitor in the leadership contest, was able to take maternity leave under the bill. She said the row over language made her pregnancy “unnecessarily” stressful, and while she did not name Mordaunt it was interpreted as an attack on her involvement. Another MP in the room said Mordaunt was now focusing too much on the issue and was beginning to sound like a “broken record”. Identity politics have become a key point of discussion and Mordaunt has said she has always “stood up for women”. Lord Frost, the former…
