Tom Tugendhat accused Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak of only supporting the National Insurance increase because “the boss wanted it”. In a crushing blow, Mr Tugendhat claimed that Boris Johnson had effectively pressured Mr Sunak into imposing the tax hike. The clash broke out when Mr Tugendhat pointed out that he was the only candidate not to vote for tax increases on the National Insurance.
Mr Sunak defended the rise in National Insurance, prompting Mr Tugendhat to reveal details of a private conversation.
He said the couple had a lengthy discussion about the proposal with Mr Sunak trying to persuade Mr Tugendhat to vote for the increase.
Mr Tugendhat suggested that Mr Sunak agreed to raise taxes only because the Prime Minister wanted to.
The Tory candidate said, “The reason you gave was that the boss wanted it.”
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This caused an audible gasp from the Channel 4 leader’s debating audience.
@JBermondsey tweeted: “’The boss wanted it’ #TomTugendhat put #RishiSunak in his place.
“Sunak has been up to his neck in the past two years of government but is trying not to get involved unless Sunak looks good.”
Remainer campaigner Femi tweeted: “Tom Tugendhat just told Rishi Sunak he only increased national insurance because ‘the boss wanted it’.”
Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Tom Tugendhat all took part in tonight’s debate hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The five faced questions from an audience that Channel 4 described as “floating voters”, whom they recruited in recent days.
This is because a TechneUK survey conducted exclusively for Express.co.uk shows that Ms Mordaunt has seen the biggest increase in popularity among Britons in the last three days.
Nineteen percent of the 1,645 Britons polled this morning said they believed she would become the party’s top leader, an eight percent increase from a similar poll on July 12.
Rishi Sunak remains the favorite with 22 percent.