Mr Sunak appeared to come out well from last night’s Tory leadership debate but allies of Liz Truss have claimed the Sky News audience was stacked with supporters of the former chancellor.
They said the audience appeared hostile to the Foreign Secretary with one of the harshest critics identified as the former chief of staff to MP Anna Soubry, who quit the Conservative Party over Brexit.
Tom Harding, who previously worked for Ms Soubry, quizzed Ms Truss over her U-turn on regional pay for civil servants, urging her to apologise for the “offensive” policy.
Here is a reminder of where both candidates stand on the key issues.
Budget on day one
One of the reasons the cost of living crisis has dominated the Tory leadership campaign has been because of what is happening with house prices.
Property values have started to fall as the market takes a hit from people having less money to spend and higher interest rates aimed at combating inflation.
The average house price fell £365, or 0.1pc, in value over the last month after years of high growth.
House prices could fall by up to 10pc over the next year, according to industry forecasts.
Home buyers also face hitting a bottleneck in taking out new loans as lenders pull mortgages at the fastest rate since the pandemic-induced housing market shut down.
With interest rates raised to the highest level since the financial crisis of 2008, Matthew Lynn details why Ms Truss will need an emergency Budget on day one if she is to stop a recession.
Betraying Thatcher
Another topic raising its head in the campaign has been the candidates’ commitment to Britain’s target of reaching net zero by 2050.
“Our fields shouldn’t be full of solar panels, and I will change the rules,” said Ms Truss, to hearty applause, at least from one segment of her Tory audience, the clips now going viral on social media.
The latest polling from UK Onward shows that 51pc of committed Conservative voters wish to stay the course on net zero, against 34pc who wish to scrap it.
Yet that has not stopped both candidates bashing renewable energy at various points.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard sets out the reasons why the Tories are doomed if they betray Margaret Thatcher and retreat from net zero.
Comment and analysis
Around the world: China sends warships over border
Chinese warships and fighter jets crossed the unofficial border line in the Taiwan Strait today, prompting Taipei to blast its “evil neighbour next door” as Beijing conducted a second day of unprecedented military drills. The median line has been an unofficial buffer line between China and Taiwan for decades. Crossing it is sensitive because the Taiwan Strait is only 130-kilometre wide at its thinnest point, and military incursions raise the risks of accidents. This burst of belligerence is the most serious show of force by the Chinese since the 1995-6 Taiwan Strait Crisis. Read why Taiwan has once again become a flashpoint in global tensions, whether Chinese invasion is imminent and how their forces compare.
Friday interview
‘Britain was nirvana for me. But now…’
Source: Telegraph
