Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have battled it out in the first head-to-head debate of the Tory leadership contest – continuing the bruising rivalry which saw both pull out of a similar contest just days earlier.
Facing each other in front of television cameras for the first time since voting by Conservative MPs whittled the field of contenders down to a final two, the foreign secretary and ex-chancellor clashed on a range of subjects, including Brexit, China and the economy.
With the deciding vote on who should replace Boris Johnson lying in the hands of tens of thousands of Tory members, the pair are increasingly forced to pander to the tastes of their selectorate, with the party faithful generally believed to sit considerably to the right of its MPs.
This effect was on display during the “Our Next Prime Minister” leadership debate hosted by BBC One in Stoke-and-Trent on Monday night – just hours after their colleague Johnny Mercer criticised the “puerile” nature of the contest and warned that, on their current trajectory, the Tories will be “out of power in two years”.
With many of the estimated 160,000 or so members expected to make their choice before departing for overseas holidays – weeks before the winner is announced on 5 September – the pressure on the two candidates to rapidly shore up their support was evident in Monday’s debate, even despite an unprecedented rule change which could see members alter their votes.
Here are some of the key moments from the debate:
Sunak hints at further help with energy bills – as Truss vows ‘immediate’ action
In the first audience question, the two candidates were asked whether they would provide more help with soaring bills if they become prime minister.
Mr Sunak pointed to his record as chancellor, saying: “When we get in we will have to see what happens to energy bills, as the situation changes on the ground, I am always going to support people through it.”
He added that as the situation changes on the ground, he is “always” going to support people through it.
Ms Truss opted for more emphatic language, vowing to put an economic growth plan in place “immediately” if she becomes prime minister, reverse the planned National Insurance hike, and impose a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy “which would help cut money from fuel bills”.
Truss accused of planning £40bn of ‘unfunded’ tax cuts
Liz Truss claimed that, under her plans, the UK would start paying back the national debt built up during the Covid pandemic “in three years’ time”, adding: “So I’m not putting it on the never never.”
But Mr Sunak interrupted saying “that’s simply not right”, adding: “You promised almost £40bn of unfunded tax cuts … that is the country’s credit card.”
While the foreign secretary insisted that this was “not true”, Mr Sunak went on to take aim at the fact that her own economic adviser had admitted that her tax cuts could see interest rates rise by 7 per cent.
Mr Sunak urged viewers to “think what that means for all of your mortgages”, before claiming that Ms Truss had “no chance of winning the next general election”.
Rivals row over ‘Project Fear’
As the debate on the economy grew even more heated, the pair clashed over the Brexit campaign slur “Project Fear”.
Retorting to the former chancellor’s warnings about the impact of her economic plans on mortgage rates, the foreign secretary said: “I’m sorry, this is scaremongering. This is Project Fear.”
But Mr Sunak replied: “I remember the referendum campaign and there were only one of us that was on the side of Remain and Project Fear, and it was you, not me.”
As Ms Truss remarked that “maybe I’ve learned from that”, he added: “Your proposals would mean that we get this short-term sugar rush of unfunded borrowed tax cuts, but that would be followed by the crash of higher prices and higher mortgage rates.”
Truss distances herself from Raab’s ‘worst idlers in the world’ comments
Pressed by the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason that she and her fellow authors of the 2012 book Britannia Unchained had described the British people as “amongst the worst idlers in the world”, Ms Truss responded: “Every author wrote a different chapter and I wrote the chapter on education.
“That particular chapter was written by Dominic Raab, who’s actually supporting Rishi’s campaign, just to be absolutely clear.”
The BBC reported that Mr Raab, the justice secretary, “sighed loudly” in the spin room as the book was brandished.
Rivals clash over China …
Pressed on the subject of the UK’s relationship with China, which has been a flashpoint of the contest in recent days, Mr Sunak and Ms Truss both sought to paint each other as having previously been too cosy with Beijing.
Mr Sunak said: “Liz has been on a journey – there was a time when Liz was talking about having a golden era of relationships with China and the mission there was talking about having deeper collaboration with things like food security and technology.”
The ex-chancellor then labelled China a threat to the UK’s national and economic security, as he boasted that the government’s National Security Investment Bill “gives us the powers as a country to protect ourselves against countries like China who are trying to infiltrate our companies and steal our technology”.
However, Ms Truss interrupted, saying: “As recently as a month ago you were pushing for closer trade relationships with China … I’m delighted that you’ve come round to my way of thinking, but it’s been driven by the Foreign Office.
“We have led on that, and frankly, what we’ve heard from the Treasury is a desire for closer economic relations with China,” she said, adding: “My view is we should not repeat the mistake we made with Russia, of becoming strategically dependent on Russia and we’re now facing the cost of that on energy.”
… as Truss talks tough over TikTok
Asked about the influence of Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, Ms Truss said the UK must take a “tougher stance” on technology companies based in authoritarian countries.
“We absolutely should be cracking down on those types of countries and we should be limiting the amount of technology exports we do to authoritarian regimes,” the foreign secretary said, adding that she has “been talking to our G7 allies about this”.
In notably strong language for a foreign secretary to use with regards to Beijing, she added: “I don’t think it’s inevitable that China will be the biggest economy in the world … we’ve been enabling that to happen, but I’m very clear after the appalling abuses in Xinjiang, after the terrible actions in Hong Kong, and after the most recent outrage which is China working with Russia and essentially backing them in the appalling war in Ukraine, we have to take a tougher stance.
“We have to learn the mistakes we made of Europe becoming dependent on Russian oil and gas, we cannot allow that to happen with China.”
Truss insists she was a ‘teenage eco-warrior’
When the candidates were asked about their positions on the environment, Ms Truss – a former Liberal Democrat activist – said: “I was an environmentalist before it was fashionable.
“I was a teenage eco-warrior campaigning against damage to the ozone layer, and I’ve always taken the view that we should save our resources. I’m naturally a thrifty person, I like saving money and it also helps the environment.
“So it’s about using less, particularly wasting less – which I think is a massive problem in this country – but also the innovation that we need to get the new technology that can help us do things better”, citing electric vehicles and better home insulation.”
The foreign secretary said, however, that she would look for “better ways to deliver on that net zero”.
‘I wasn’t born this way,’ Sunak says in response to Dorries earring row
The contenders were also pressed on a Tory row sparked earlier on Monday by culture secretary Nadine Dorries – a Truss supporter – as she pointed out the difference in cost between Mr Sunak’s Prada shoes and Ms Truss’s “circa £4.50 Claire’s Accessories” earrings.
Ms Truss drew a laugh from the audience – comprised of 2019 Tory voters – as she joked that she wasn’t sure whether the BBC’s political editor had ever been to Claire’s Accessories before.
But she later failed to explicitly disown personal attacks such as the one made by Ms Dorries, adding that she is a “great admirer” of Mr Sunak’s dress sense.
Asked whether it mattered, Mr Sunak said: “In the Conservative Party we judge people by their character and their actions … I wasn’t born this way. My family emigrated here 60 years ago.
“I talked about my mum. She ran the local chemist in Southampton. That’s why I grew up working in the shop, delivering medicines. I worked as a waiter at the Indian restaurant, down the road.
“And I’m standing here because of the hard work, the sacrifice and love of my parents and the opportunities they provided to me, and that’s why I want to be prime minister because I want to ensure that everyone, your children and grandchildren have the very same opportunities that I had.”
Truss rules out deploying British troops to Ukraine
Asked whether as prime minister they would deploy troops to Ukraine, Ms Truss said: “I am not prepared for the United Kingdom to become directly involved in the conflict.
“We have done as much as we can – we were the first European country to send weapons to Ukraine, we’ve put the toughest possible sanctions on Russia, we’re actually helping with areas about maritime insurance, in helping getting that grain out of Odesa, and an agreement has been reached.
“But Ukraine is not a Nato country, and I think it would be wrong to directly deploy our troops and our resources.”
Mr Sunak did not directly answer the question, referring to having “put together one of the strongest set of economic sanctions that the world has ever seen” and supported Kyiv with arms.
Truss says Johnson’s mistakes were not ‘sufficient’ for him to be removed
On the subject of the outgoing prime minister, Mr Sunak said that his resignation as chancellor – which partially sparked the implosion of Mr Johnson’s Cabinet – came after he decided that “enough was enough”, adding that he would not employ the “remarkable” Mr Johnson in his own Cabinet.
Ms Truss, however remained loyal to Mr Johnson, insisting that the mistakes which he made – including attending lockdown-breaking parties in No 10 and promoting Chris Pincher to a role in charge of MPs’ welfare despite misconduct allegations – were not “sufficient” for the Tory Party to “reject” him.
Asked whether she would give Mr Johnson a role in her Cabinet, Ms Truss said that “I just don’t think it’s going to happen” as he “needs a well-earned break from what has been a very difficult few years”.
In a quick-fire round, they were asked which marks out of 10 they would give Mr Johnson – to which Ms Truss said “seven”, and Mr Sunak initially refused to respond, before saying that on the subjects of winning an election and delivering a Brexit solution he would give the prime minister a 10.
Truss wins snap poll of Conservative voters
As the debate came to an end, a snap poll of Conservative voters by Opinium found that 47 per cent thought Ms Truss had performed better than Mr Sunak, as opposed to 38 per cent who favoured the former chancellor.
In the eyes of the general electorate, the candidates were far closer, with Mr Sunak on 39 per cent – just one point ahead of Ms Truss, while Labour voters were split 41-30 in favour of Mr Sunak.
