Katy Balls Katy Balls

Liz Truss enters the leadership contest

Liz Truss has become the tenth candidate to enter the Tory leadership race. Announcing her intentions in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph, the Foreign Secretary has promised if successful to ‘fight the election as a Conservative and govern as a Conservative’. As for her pitch to MPs and members, Truss joins the list of Tory leadership hopefuls promising tax cuts.

She says she would take ‘immediate action to help people deal with the cost of living’ which would mean cutting taxes from ‘day one’. A supporter of Truss goes further: ‘Liz is the tax cutting candidate who can actually lead the country from day one, help ensure Putin loses in Ukraine and the candidate with a track record of delivery in government’.

So, how is Truss’s campaign doing so far? Ahead of announcing, she was on 12 MPs publicly backing her – putting her behind Rishi Sunak, the frontrunner on 33, and Penny Mordaunt who is currently at 20 endorsements. There is a growing sense among MPs that Sunak will be in the final two. It means the race is on among those on the right of the party to get behind a candidate.

Unlock unlimited access, free for a month

then subscribe from as little as £1 a week after that
SUBSCRIBE

Team Truss believe she would stand a good chance of beating Sunak should she get to the membership. They hope to win MPs on side by arguing that Truss has the experience along with the values that means she is best placed.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in