Liz Truss’ bid to become prime minister has been given a much-needed boost after leading Eurosceptics, including Attorney General Suella Braverman, backed her campaign.
Truss also won the support of Braverman supporter Steve Baker, the former Brexit secretary, and Lord David Frost, who launched a scathing attack on Truss’ rival Penny Mordaunt, the trade secretary, in the process.
The foreign secretary is the preferred candidate of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s supporters and has tried to appeal to the small-state, low-tax, pro-Brexit wing of the Conservative Party.
But she is struggling to build momentum in her bid to become the next Tory leader. Mordaunt made a surprise success in the leadership campaign with a message combining Brexit, social liberalism and a proposal for a “fresh start”.
Trots remains in third place behind former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Mordaunt, making the next few days crucial for her campaign as she tries to gain ground on her rivals.
Braverman, who was eliminated from the leadership race in a second round of voting by Tory MPs on Thursday, said she would back Truss to get Brexit done and take a tough line on immigration, tax cuts and shrinking the state. Braverman, who describes herself as the only “authentic” Brexiter, secured just 27 votes.
Truss won 64 votes in the runoff, trailing Mordaunt with 83 and Sunak with 101. She will be hoping to pick up many of Braverman’s 27 votes in the next round of voting on Monday.
In his column in the Daily Telegraph, Frost called on another Brexit candidate, Kemi Badenoch, to stand down “in exchange for a serious job in a Truss administration” to allow the Tory right to unite.
Badenoch, who won 49 votes on Thursday, said she had no intention of withdrawing from the race and was in it “to win it”.
Frost also renewed his criticism of Mordaunt, with whom he worked on Brexit as a cabinet minister. He said she was “not fully in charge or always visible” during talks with Brussels.
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Badenoch, who has also gained momentum in the race, and Tom Tugendhat, the moderate One Nation candidate who won 32 votes, hope to use a series of television appearances to raise their profile.
Channel 4 will host a debate on Friday night, with ITV hosting a second event on Sunday and Sky News early next week.
If Tugendhat is knocked out in the next round of voting on Monday, Sunak will be hoping to take many of his votes; he needs the support of 120 colleagues to make sure he makes the final list of two, which will be presented to party members in the summer.
If Badenoch is eliminated next, then Truss and Mordaunt will be locked in a desperate battle to win the support of her supporters to reach the final run-off. A new Tory leader and Prime Minister will be elected on September 5.
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