The campaign teams of the remaining Tory leaders assessed the impact of the first TV debate that saw: Penny Mordaunt come under fire for her plans for tax cuts and her track record on transgender issues.
Amid a series of blood-curdling exchanges, the international trade minister said her rivals’ attacks showed she was the candidate to beat in the race to succeed Boris Johnson.
“I take it as a great compliment that no one wants to compete with me,” she said after taking an unexpectedly strong second place in the first two rounds of voting by MPs.
A quick poll of viewers after the debate suggested Tom Tugendhat – who was in fifth place in the final vote – came out on top, with 36% saying he was the strongest performer.
The poll of 1159 British adults by pollsters, Opinium, put Rishi Sunak in second place at 24%, with Ms Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch in third place with 12% and Liz Truss fifth at 7%.
Tugendhat received the first round of applause from Channel 4’s studio audience when he was the only candidate to answer “no” to the question of whether Boris Johnson was an honest man.
He also clashed with Mr Sunak over the latter’s decision to increase national insurance premiums to fund the NHS when he was chancellor.
“To be honest, Rishi, we’ve had a long talk about it. You stated your point of view and I asked why on earth it was necessary and you told me because the boss wanted it,’ he said with applause.
Afterwards, Mr Sunak’s team claimed he had “unequivocally won” the debate, while the Brexit Chances Minister Jacob Rees-Moggwho supports Mrs Truss, insisted that the Secretary of State had done an “excellent performance”.
In the evening’s first flashpoint, Ms Truss joined Kemi Badenoch in accusing Ms Mordaunt of pursuing a policy of gender self-identification while responsible for equality – something she vehemently denied.
Ms Badenoch said she found her denial “difficult” to accept, as that was the policy she had put in place when she became minister for equal treatment in 2020.
“So I don’t understand how that would have changed unless someone else did it in between,” Ms Badenoch said.
“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.”
Ms Mordaunt replied: “That is not correct and this will all be documented in the government.”
Her campaign team later pointed to comments made by Jayne Ozanne, a former government adviser on LGBT issues, who said Ms Mordaunt was “spoken” and accused Ms Truss and Ms Badenoch of “distorted facts”.
Ms Mordaunt subsequently came under fire from Mr Sunak after she said her economic platform was not based on “tax and expenditure” but on “growth and competition”.
The former chancellor said the campaign promises she made to cut VAT on fuel and raise income tax thresholds would cost £15 billion.
“Even the pledges you’ve made are double-digit billion dollar promises,” he told her.
“The best way to help everyone, the best way to make sure they have money in their pockets, is to get a handle on inflation.”
Ms Mordaunt replied: “Next April we will be one of the most uncompetitive countries in terms of our tax competitiveness. That may not happen.”
Sunak, who topped the first two polls, also attacked Ms Truss – who also promises tax cuts – after she blamed rising inflation on the Bank of England.
“I don’t think it’s responsible at this point to start borrowing and putting on even more debt. That will only make inflation worse and prolong the problem,” he said.
“Borrowing your way out of inflation isn’t a plan, it’s a fairy tale.”
Mrs. Truss replied, “I think it is wrong to levy taxes.”