Rishi Sunak
(Picture: PA Wire)Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has accused Tory leadership contender Chancellor Rishi Sunak of being out of touch with ordinary voters as he and Liz Truss prepared to go head-to-head in the first of 12 hustings of Conservative activists.
Culture Secretary Ms Dorries, who is supporting Ms Truss, caused controversy earlier this week when she tweeted newspaper reports that the former Chancellor wore a bespoke suit worth £3500 and Prada loafers worth £450 when he attended a campaign event in the north east of England.
At the same time she contrasted Mr Sunak’s wardrobe with Ms Truss’s own choice of earrings which she said came from Claire’s Accessories and cost £4.50.
Asked about her comments on BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning, Ms Dorries said she stood by them and added: “It’s about judgments and about who voters can relate to and who voters think have walked in their shoes and understand their lives.
“I believe the polling has shown...that voters do believe that Liz Truss is somebody who is more in touch with their lives. You can be the richest man in the world or woman, that doesn’t stop you being Prime Minister at all. But what you do have to do is understand and relate to the lives that people lead.”
According to a YouGov poll of Tory party members after Monday’ night’s fiery BBC TV debate, 63 per cent said Ms Truss was more in touch with ordinary people compared to 19 per cent for Mr Sunak. Fifty-four per cent said she was more likeable compared to 35 per cent for Mr Sunak while 51 per cent said Ms Truss was more trustworthy compared to 35 per cent for Mr Sunak.
The Culture Secretary, one of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s closest allies, also criticised Mr Sunak for “mansplaining” during the BBC debate.
She told LBC that while Ms Truss handled the interruptions from the former Chancellor well, she added: “It isn’t a good look. In fact it’s a terrible look. And I don't think it will have served Rishi well.”
Ms Dorries’s latest remarks will stoke an already acrimonious leadership contest and come as the two rivals to replace Mr Johnson as prime minister are geting set to make their first direct pitches to more than 1,000 Conservative party members in Leeds on Thursday evening.
The event is the first of 12 being held around the country over the next five weeks before around 160,000 Tory party members choose their next leader and Britain’s new Prime Minister by September 5.
Tax and spending are set to again be the key talking points. Other potential topics up for debate include immigration, identity politics, Brexit, defence, climate change and the NHS.
Mr Sunak will be seeking to regain his footing after he was accused of “flip-flopping” on his fiscal policy, as he pledged to temporarily slash VAT on energy bills despite repeatedly branding Ms Truss’s tax-cutting plans as “comforting fairy tales”.
He said he would remove VAT from domestic energy bills for a year if the Ofgem energy price cap, currently just under £2,000 a year for the average home, exceeds £3,000 as is forecast by experts.
On Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary said she welcomed the pledge but challenged her rival to “do more” and reverse the national insurance rise.
She said during a visit to Romford: “I welcome the fact that he is now saying that we should cut taxes because that’s what we need to do.
“I’d like to see more. I’d like to see him commit to going and reversing the national insurance rise because that national insurance rise has hit families in the pocket.”
Mr Sunak had rejected calls for a VAT cut to energy bills in February, telling the Commons “there would be no guarantee that suppliers would pass on the discounts to all customers”.
Some Tory activists are believed to favour Ms Truss over Mr Sunak because he resigned as Chancellor, prompting Mr Johnson’s downfall.
Ms Dorries said on Thursday that the Prime Minister had been removed “via a coup” and that his ousting was a “huge mistake”.
But she said: “What I would say in Liz Truss we have somebody who has both integrity and loyalty and is able to pick up the baton using those very important qualities to take the country forward.
“What’s happened has happened, we have to look to the future now. I am looking to Liz Truss who will be able to step ion to the role as Prime Minster from day one and deal with some of the very complex problems we are facing as a nation.”
