Former Brexit minister David Frost has called on Cammy Badenoch to withdraw from the Tory leadership race to strengthen Liz Truss’s position in the race.
Lord Frost also stepped up his attacks on second-placed candidate Penny Mordaunt, saying she was “absent on parade” when he worked with her on post-Brexit negotiations last year.
Truss won Tory support immediately after Attorney-General Suella Braverman was eliminated in an increasingly bitter leadership race that saw former chancellor Rishi Sunak come out on top and Mordaunt second in the latest round of MPs’ votes.
The race is heating up as the candidates prepare for the first televised debate on Channel 4 on Friday night.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Frost said: “Kemi and Suella Braverman have set out compelling agendas, with different emphases, for change.
Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch outside Parliament. Braverman was knocked out of the leadership race after receiving 27 votes in the second round. Photo: Twitter/Matt Goodwin
“But Liz’s depth of experience, her energy and ideas – and the simple fact that she has the most voices of the three – put her at the top.
“It is time for pragmatism. I call on Kemi to step down in exchange for a serious job in the Truss administration.”
But Badenoch’s campaign said she was “in it to win”.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who also supports Truss, declined on Friday to directly criticize Mordaunt, but highlighted Truss’ experience.
He told LBC: “We can’t just pick someone because in a short period of time they can look better than others. What we actually choose is not in any sense a popularity contest. We’re electing someone who has to govern for probably two years with a huge array of crises.
Braverman was kicked out of the race after receiving 27 votes in the runoff. She immediately attacked Mordaunt on the issue of trans rights and later announced that she would support Truss’ bid.
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Rival camps shared a video of Mordaunt debating legislation in the House of Commons at the time, in which she said: “Let me say, suggesting from this dispatch box, that trans men are men, trans women are women.”
Since launching her campaign, Mordaunt has tried to play down the idea that she is too “woke” for the tastes of Tory members.
The contentious issue of trans rights is likely to be raised in tonight’s 90-minute debate in the BT studios, which will be moderated by Channel 4 news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The candidates will be questioned by a London audience of 50 to 100 people, most of them voters, with Guru-Murthy asking follow-up questions.
Candidates will take turns answering, followed by eight to 10 minutes of debate among themselves. They will each have 45 seconds for closing statements at the end.
Dame Maria Miller, a Mordaunt supporter, said issues of transgender rights and identity should not be part of the “political battle”.
She also dismissed criticism from Frost, telling Sky News he was wrong about Mordaunt.
“I have seen her as a very effective activist. She is indeed one of the leading supporters of Brexit and was throughout the campaign.
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