COMMENTS DAILY MAIL: Tory MPs should go for substance over style

Just to be clear: The Mail believes this Tory leadership contest should not take place.

in our sight Boris Johnson was and remains the prime choice for prime minister, and his political assassination shames the tawdry conspirators who wielded the knives.

The charges against him were largely trivial and grossly exaggerated by his enemies, choreographed by his evil former assistant Dominic Cummings.

If his MPs had had any fraction of the courage their leader showed over Ukraine, he could have easily weathered the storm of outrage and continued his mission to make this country a better place.

Instead, they had a fit of collective hysteria, defending their best electoral asset. A herd of lemmings would have shown a better sense of self-preservation.

On Wednesday, as the pretenders scrambled for his crown, he showed why we will miss him so much. In a great performance by the Commons, he made his opponents seem small and irrelevant and defused their puny attacks with his usual wit and flair.

Meanwhile, after making an appalling error of judgment in turning down Boris, Tory MPs are equally clueless that they are looking for his successor.

An astonishing number have fallen for Penny Mordaunt, with no indication that she could even take the job in the first place. Indeed, the evidence is piling up to the contrary.

In a scathing critique, her former boss and Brexit champion Lord Frost said he was forced to replace her because she lacked grip and application ability.

Now it appears she has left a previous job as head of PR at Kensington and Chelsea Council, alleging incompetence.

There were already concerns about her support for trans-right extremists and external regulation of the press. Tory MPs have to look long and hard at her track record before convincing herself that she is capable of running the country.

Not everything is bleak, however. In Kemi Badenoch, the competition has raised a star of the future. Smart, down-to-earth and captivating, she would make a wonderful addition to the next cabinet. For the top job, her inexperience counts against her.

This paper believes that two candidates are head and shoulders above the rest – both have proven their credentials at the highest levels of government.

Rishi Sunak was an outstanding chancellor and will always be admired for the way he led the economy through Covid.

Some of his more recent decisions have infuriated traditional conservatives, most notably increasing national insurance – a kamikaze decision that the Mail has fought hard against.

Under his supervision, we now have the highest tax burden since the 1940s. And many will never forgive him for shoving the stiletto in the back of his leader.

The other candidate with proven ability in a range of cabinet posts is Liz Truss.

As she showed during last night’s debate, she’s not as polished a public performer as some of the others. Call us old-fashioned, but in this article we put content over style.

She has consistently shown her courage in that department. She has negotiated trade deals around the world, has stood up to the EU in Northern Ireland and has been unerringly determined about Ukraine.

Today, she unveils imaginative plans to ease the financial burden on hard-pressed families and carers with targeted tax cuts. Along with pledges to reverse the rise in National Insurance, keep corporate taxes low, and do away with some green taxes, she offers real Tory solutions to real problems.

She is not only the candidate with the most impressive resume, but also the one who most embodies the conservative principles of aspiration, family values ​​and low taxes. To exclude her from the final vote would be an unforgivable breach of trust.