The five aspiring prime ministers clashed on live television (Image: PA/CHANNEL4)
About 36 percent thought Tugendhat did the best according to the Opinium Research poll, with Rishi Sunak second at 25 percent. Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch came in third with 12 percent, with Secretary of State Liz Truss last with 6 percent.
When asked to define her stance on gender identity as opposed to claims that she previously supported gender self-identification, Ms Mordaunt said she has “never been in favor of self-ID”.
“I can’t imagine why people don’t understand what I’m saying and have been spitting this issue out for weeks and weeks, but I’m glad I can give my point of view and evidence to back it up,” Ms Mordaunt said.
“I had a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act, I have never been in favor of self-ID. I would have made the system much better, but I would not have separated it from health care.”
Penny Mordaunt was attacked for her attitude to women’s rights and transgender people (Image: PA Images)
All five candidates traded blows when the future prime ministers clashed in the first of three live TV debates.
The gloves came off when Penny Mordaunt was attacked by Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch during Channel 4’s leadership debate over her stance on women’s rights and transgender people.
When asked to define her stance on gender identity as opposed to claims that she previously supported gender self-identification, Ms Mordaunt said she has “never been in favor of self-ID”.
“I can’t imagine why people don’t understand what I’m saying and have been spitting this issue out for weeks and weeks, but I’m glad I can give my point of view and evidence to back it up,” Ms Mordaunt said.
Kemi Badenoch clashed with Penny Mordaunt over transgender issue (Image: PA Images)
“I had a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act, I have never been in favor of self-ID. I would have made the system much better, but I would not have separated it from health care.”
When asked if she accepted this account, Ms Badenoch said: “I find it difficult because when I took over the position of Minister of Equality in 2020, the policy being pushed was self-ID. So I don’t understand how that would have changed unless someone else did it in between.
“I didn’t work with Penny, but I understood that the previous minister who had filled the role wanted self-ID, and that was something I turned around with Liz.”
Mrs. Mordaunt hit back and said, “That is not correct and this will all be documented in the government.”
Liz Truss said there was a plan to move forward with self-ID (Image: PA Images)
Mrs. Badenoch remarked sharply, “It is certain.”
However, Ms Truss, who was responsible for equality in addition to her role as Secretary of State, said there was a plan to make progress on self-ID.
“I believe in women’s rights. I also believe that transgender people should be treated with respect, so I changed the outcome so that we made the program simpler and friendlier, but no further with self-ID,” she said.
Earlier, Ms Mordaunt said the attacks showed she was the candidate to beat.
“I take it as a big big compliment that no one wants to compete with me,” she said.
There were further clashes over taxes when former Chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his record with the Treasury when he attacked Mr Mordaunt and Ms Truss over their promised budget cuts.
Stressing the need to tackle inflation, he said: “We can’t make it worse, inflation is the enemy that makes everyone poorer.
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his record in the Treasury (Image: PA Images)
“I don’t think it is responsible right now to start with an unfunded deluge of loans and more debt. That will only make inflation worse, it will make the problem longer.”
Ms Truss blamed the Bank of England saying: “We have inflation because of our monetary policy, that we haven’t been tight enough on the money supply, that’s the way I would tackle that problem”.
Sunak told her, “Borrowing your way out of inflation is not a plan, it’s a fairy tale.”
Mrs. Truss replied, “I think it is wrong to levy taxes.”
Previously, Tom Tugendhat tried to make a virtue of being the only candidate with no ministerial experience.
“We need a break from the Johnson years. That’s why I’m here. We need to make sure we can trust our politicians,” he said.
He received applause from the public when he – only among the candidates – answered the question of whether Boris Johnson was an “honest man” with the single word “No”.
And the 49-year-old channeled his inner wizard, quoting Albus Dumbledore during the debate.
The former military officer quoted JK Rowling’s character from her beloved Harry Potter series after an audience member asked him, “Why should the public trust you?”
Mr Tugendhat echoed Dumbledore’s sentiment when he told the debate: “It’s easy to stand up to your enemies – it’s sometimes harder to stand up to your friends.”
In another inflammatory conversation, Mr Tugendhat accused Mr Sunak of supporting the National Insurance increase only because “the boss wanted it”.
Mr Tugendhat alleged 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.”
A second live TV debate will be held on ITV on Sunday.
Sky News is hosting a third debate on Tuesday evening at 8pm – after more candidates were eliminated by another round of voting in Westminster the day before.