Wannabe Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were challenged over Boris Johnson, schools and Love Island in a hugely mixed hustings event in Leeds last night.
The Tory duo, both vying to be the next Prime Minister, need to get the backing of an estimated 160,000 Conservative Party members - around 0.3% of the UK population - to be successful.
They set out their case at an event in Leeds, where Ms Truss said the UK must channel the spirit of football manager Don Revie - who oversaw huge success at Leeds United but did not last long as national team manager.
Meanwhile Mr Sunak claimed he was "having the time of my life" on the trail - and said despite being behind in the polls the contest would not be a "coronation".
Broadcast by LBC and hosted by Nick Ferrari it was the first of 12 official hustings for party members across the country to put their questions to the final two candidates before voting for the next party leader and Prime Minister closes on September 2.
Many within the party still think Boris Johnson should carry on
More than 14,000 Tory members have signed a petition calling for Boris Johnson to be on the ballot.
One keen supporter challenged Mr Sunak over perceived disloyalty to the outgoing PM, chastising him: "He's the man that made you a senior politician" and accused him of being on "another planet".
Reference to the petition was met with clapping and cheers from the audience.
Asked what he would say to those members, Mr Sunak said: "I'd say to them that I think close to 60 people resigned in Parliament and it's incumbent on the Prime Minister to have the confidence of the parliamentary party, and that wasn't there at the end.
"So whether he's on the ballot or not, ultimately you need to be able to command the confidence of your MPs in Parliament, and we got to a point where close to 60 of them had resigned from Government."
Liz Truss isn't a fan of Love Island
The Foreign Secretary said she had tuned in with her daughter, but swiftly switched off.
Asked what she made of the series by LBC host Nick Ferarri, Ms Truss said: "All I can say is I watched it for about 10 minutes with my teenage daughter and I was horrified and turned it off."
The latest series of the show has been hampered by allegations of misogyny behaviour by male contestants.
As The Mirror reported yesterday, ITV boss Kevin Lygo has said the broadcaster will “sit down and review” Love Island when the series ends this year, following a barrage of viewer complaints to Ofcom.
But she does think the UK should channel the spirit of Don Revie
Ms Truss has made much of her upbringing in Leeds - after being accused of having a 'pop' at her former school.
In a bid to impress locals she said: "I do want us to channel the spirit of (football manager) Don Revie."
Voters will be hoping she isn't too similar herself - while Mr Revie enjoyed an incredible period of success with Leeds United, he had a harder time with the national team.
He took over from 1966 World Cup winning boss Alf Ramsey, but had a hard time - failing to qualify for the European Championships in 1976 and the World Cup in 1978.
Mr Sunak denied his plans to remove VAT on energy was a U-turn
The chancellor - who announced a screeching U-turn when he said he would scrap VAT on fuel bills despite previously opposing it - was asked: "Last week it was unconservative, now it's a policy, are you flipping and flopping?"
He said: "Oh gosh no. Definitely not."
"Now, as you can see in the news, people's expectations of what will happen to energy bills in the autumn has gone up. And so it's reasonable that there is more than we can do. And that is the policy that I would put in place if I was elected PM. But that is a temporary and time-limited support," he said.
He added: "What's unconservative is permanent unfunded tax cuts. There is a big difference between things that are temporary to help a short-term problem and permanently borrowing £40 billion, £50 billion every year and not paying for that."
Grammar schools backed by Mr Sunak
Asked if he would "support the return of grammar schools", Mr Sunak said: "Yes."
He added: "I believe in educational excellence, I believe education is the most powerful way we can transform people's lives. But I also think there's lots we can do with the school system as we have it.
"Now what Michael Gove did several years ago was transformative. And Michael took on some vested interests, challenged consensus, brought in some reforms that mean that millions of our children now are better off.
"But that's a Conservative way to do it. It's not about throwing more money at the problem, it's about reforming the system to get better outcomes. And that's what I would do with education as well."
It is understood Mr Sunak supports existing grammar schools expanding in local areas.
Ms Truss thinks there is a 'real need' to improve discipline within the Tory Party
The Foreign Secretary said there is a "real need" to improve discipline within her party - saying she would return the whips' office to No 12 Downing Street.
"What we know is there is a real need to improve discipline in the Conservative Party, but also to support the welfare of our MPs," she said, adding "I want to support our MPs more.
"But also I want to make sure that when there is a problem we deal with it early and we deal with it quickly. And one of the things I would do as prime minister is move the whips' office back into Number 12 Downing Street.
"They were moved out of Number 12 Downing Street by Alastair Campbell, and replaced by the press office, which shows the priorities of the Blair government.
"But we need to show that parliamentary democracy is what matters to us, and MPs who are important, and we need that restoration of standards, discipline but also support."
They're still squabbling over tax
This isn't a massive revelation, as the two have been squabbling about this for weeks, and claiming the other would cause economic disaster.
Mr Sunak told the hustings: "We will cut VAT on fuel. But what I won't do is embark on a spree borrowing tens and tens of billions of pounds of unfunded promises and put them on the country's credit card, and pass them on to our children and our grandchildren to pick up the tab.
"That's not right. That's not responsible, and it's certainly not Conservative. But of course, once we grip inflation and ensure that mortgage rates don't rise and cripple people, I'm going to cut taxes."
Meanwhile Ms Truss criticised windfall taxes - something Mr Sunak imposed as a one-off on energy companies as chancellor.
Ms Truss said: "I don't believe in windfall taxes, because they put off future investment. What we should be doing is encouraging Shell and other companies to invest in the United Kingdom, because we need to get our productivity up, we need capital investment.
"What I would do is create low tax investment zones, encouraging those companies to invest in our country.
"I think windfall taxes send the wrong message to the world. They don't send the message that Britain is open for business. And actually what we need to be doing now is using more of our North Sea reserves to help people with the cost of living, and that's what I would do alongside having a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy to really help people with their bills."
'It's not a coronation' says Mr Sunak as polls show him struggling
Mr Sunak told voters he is "having the time of my life" on the leadership trail, as he battles to overtake Ms Truss, who polls suggest is ahead among Tory members.
But he said: "I know the polls say I'm behind in this race, I know people say this should be a coronation but you know what - I've heard that before.
"Seven years ago when I arrived in Richmond (his constituency in Yorkshire) and ultimately the members gave me the greatest honour of my life and selected me as their candidate."
