Fights! Drama! Blue-on-blue attacks and not-so-subtle jibes! Last night’s Conservative leadership debate had it all. But perhaps it was the sheer level of exposure on Channel 4 and ITV which has convinced two of the Tory candidates not to repeat the experience. For this morning, both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have pulled out of the final leadership debate on Sky which was scheduled for tomorrow evening. The broadcaster has now cancelled the debate as a result.
Both rivals were thought to have concerns about the prospect of knocking yet more lumps out of each other on national television. One source on Team Truss told the Huffington Post that:
It is not the right time to be doing more debates when this part of the contest only has 358 voters. The broadcasters should stop squabbling amongst themselves. The C4 debate in particular was a massive mistake and candidates were wrong to take part in it.
Team Sunak were briefing that their man was ‘unlikely’ to do it either, as ‘two in the last three days is enough for this stage.’ Such a decision will come as a blow to the three lesser known candidates in the race: Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch. All three have benefited from the increased exposure.
Badenoch in particular impressed on Friday night with her feisty performance being a strong contrast to that of the more muted Truss. In the aftermath of that debate, there were some suggestions that right-wing Tories could waver and instead support Badenoch in place of Truss. The latter’s decision to pull out therefore can be seen as an attempt to turn a pretty open race into a closed shop.
Sunak and Truss clearly think they have now got all they need from these debates. Last night’s clash between the pair framed the contest as a straight Rishi v Liz run-off. This benefits both candidates: Team Truss get their woman into the final two while Team Sunak thinks the Foreign Secretary is the most beatable opponent. They’ve both done the bare minimum of scrutiny and can now prepare for the two-horse race that many have anticipated for months.
Such Machiavellian calculations raise a multitude of questions – if only the candidates would answer them.
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