llast week, Edward Malnick, our political editor on Sunday, noted that the Conservative leadership race will be “one of the bloodiest ever‘ and that certainly seems to be the case.
Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt have seen the most sustained criticism from allies of Liz Truss, Suella Braverman and Boris Johnson.
Today’s Times reported that Johnson has urged the leadership’s rivals to support “everyone but Rishi”, with a source saying: “The entire No 10 team hates Rishi. It’s personal. It’s vicious. They give Saj not to blame [Sajid Javid] to take him down. They blame Rishi. They think he’s been planning this for months.”
But Penny Mordaunt’s backers, Maria Miller and John Lamont, have today distanced themselves from the mud-throwing of rival camps.
“This leadership contest is going along a number of lines and I think people want it to be a positive campaign,” Ms Miller told Sky News.
“We are colleagues, together we are not opposed in a fundamental political sense.”