Liz Truss will try to reinvigorate her campaign to be the next prime minister by promising a “nation with aspirations” on Thursday, after Penny Mordaunt unexpectedly defeated her in third place in the first round of voting.
Long considered one of the favorites to be the next leader of the Conservative party, the Secretary of State has the support of the super loyalists of Boris Johnson, Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
But he came in third after the secret ballot of Conservative MPs, with 50 votes to 67 in favor of Mordaunt, Minister of Commerce and former Secretary of Defense, who had launched his own campaign at a packed event yesterday.
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak came first, with 88 votes. This was less important than Johnson in the early stages of the 2019 contest.
Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi were removed from the contest. Zahawi accepted the job last week, before urging Johnson to resign just over 24 hours later.
Truss will say in his speech this Thursday, “My mission is to make our country a nation with aspirations, where every child, every person has the best chance of success.”
She will underline her modest upbringing, saying: “I grew up in Paisley and went to a full school in Leeds. I saw children failing and falling for low expectations. They will never be disappointed with my watch again.”
Truss will also reiterate its promise to cut taxes, even reversing the recent increase in national insurance, which is intended to pay for social care. In an interview with the viewer, he suggested that tax cuts could be paid through additional loans.
The chairman of the Independent Office of Budgetary Responsibility, Richard Hughes, warned on Wednesday of the impact on the treasury coffers of the storm of tax cuts promised by Conservative leadership candidates.
“A loosening of fiscal policy will not improve the sustainability of public finances. It will make it worse, ”he told members of the Treasury select committee.
In a YouGov poll among Conservative members, which was quickly widely shared by Mordaunt’s campaign on Wednesday, she emerged as the candidate most likely to beat Sunak if MPs place her in the last two. When asked to rank the two head-to-head, 67% of the grassroots members chose Mordaunt and only 28% opted for the former chancellor.
On Wednesday night, Hunt shattered hopes of centrist MP Tom Tugendhat’s team that would support his candidate, instead of issuing a statement saying he would support Sunak.
The former chancellor was “one of the most decent, heterosexual people with the highest level of integrity I have ever known in British politics,” Hunt told the BBC. “At a time when we need to rebuild trust with the electorate, this shows that we are in tune with modern Britain.”
At her launch event where she was introduced by former business secretary Andrea Leadsom, Mordaunt promised a “relentless approach to the problems of the cost of living” and claimed she was the candidate most feared by Labor.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis, who supports it, called it “the best release I’ve ever seen.” “The character of the candidate was found,” he added. “None of the other candidates have been willing to give the kind of forceful answers he gave.”
At one point, when asked about her definition of a woman, Mordaunt tried to dispel claims that she was too “awake” to be a conservative leader.
“I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said every prime minister needs a Willie. A woman like me doesn’t have one,” she said. Thatcher’s famous comment referred to his de facto deputy, Willie Whitelaw.
Davis claimed that Mordaunt’s strong performance in the YouGov poll suggested that “the party wants a re-establishment.”
The vote on the Conservative leadership race came after Johnson hinted that these would be his prime minister’s last questions, saying he was “proud of the leadership I have given and that I will soon get out with my head held high.” .
Downing Street had asked tentative questions about an international trip for Johnson next week, which would mean he would miss his last outing. But sources said they were now unlikely to get it, meaning Johnson will face Keir Starmer for the last time next week before parliament rises for the summer break.
Labor and Liberal Democrats have complained that the government’s business has effectively been paralyzed since Johnson announced his intention to resign last week, despite the urgency of the cost-of-living crisis.
A Tugendhat supporter, who garnered 37 votes on Wednesday, said they expected to win at least half of Hunt’s 18 sponsors and Zahawi’s 25.
They stressed that Tugendhat would not leave the contest because the main goal was to get to the TV debates, starting on Friday on Channel 4, so that he could “make a David Cameron” and prove that he was the best candidate to connect with the audience. .
Meanwhile, Sunak’s sponsor, Gavin Williamson, was accused by a person from the Tugendhat camp of trying to persuade him to leave his weight behind the former chancellor.
The staunch Brexiters Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, who got 40 and 32 votes respectively, insisted that they would stay in the race, although there were rumors that one or the other could be done side by side, perhaps in exchange for a position in the cabinet of one of the favorites.
“I think you’ll see some movement,” a Conservative MP said. “The pressure will be on Suella, at 32, to fold: he could also take a job.”
A second round of voting will be held on Thursday, with the elimination of the lower candidate. Then on Monday there will be another round, after two televised debates between the remaining candidates. Once the field has been reduced to two, the grassroots Conservative members will make the final choice.