The Tory leadership race has lurched further to the right as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss battle to win over party members.
Their campaigns spent the weekend trying to outdo each other by promising hard-line approaches on issues such as immigration and Brexit.
Amid the vitriol and nasty turn to the right, the two Tories are due to lock horns on the BBC tomorrow in the first head-to-head TV clash.
Ms Truss and Mr Sunak have been announcing “red meat” policies to win support with Tory members, who will decide the contest.
The two candidates clashed over immigration, although they both committed to Boris Johnson’s controversial Rwanda deportation plan.
It has been condemned as immoral, unworkable and costly – with charities, church leaders and opposition parties among those who have expressed their dismay.
Mr Sunak said he would do “whatever it takes” to get the stalled plan “off the ground”, as well as striking migration deals with other countries.
The ex-Chancellor said “no option should be off the table” to make the Rwanda asylum scheme work.
He published a 10-point immigration plan including capping the number of refugees the UK accepts each year and scrapping asylum hotels.
Trashing Mr Johnson’s record, Mr Sunak said: “We do not have control of our borders.”
He also said immigration should be legal, orderly and controlled, but added: “At the moment, it’s none of those things.”
Ms Truss also vowed to strengthen the Rwanda scheme and to reach deals with other countries for similar schemes.
She would increase Border Force by 20 per cent so there could be more Channel patrols to curb the number of small boat crossings.
Ms Truss last night tried to boost her Brexiteer credentials with a promise to boost UK growth rates with “full-fat freeports”.
She has promised to cut red-tape and boost investment in an attempt to steal a march on Mr Sunak, a keen advocate of freeports since his days as a backbencher.
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The ex-Chancellor last night labelled China the “biggest long-term threat” to Britain and accused it of “stealing our technology and infiltrating our universities”.
He promised to ban the controversial Confucius Institutes from the UK, which claim to focus on Chinese culture and language but have been labelled propaganda tools.
Mr Sunak would review all research partnerships which might assist China technologically or have military applications.
And he would expand MI5’s reach to provide greater support to British businesses and universities to counter alleged Chinese industrial espionage.
He would also examine whether there is a need to limit acquisitions of key British assets, amid concerns about the scale of Chinese investment in key industries.
It would all signal a major hardening of government policy following pressure from a vocal group of hawkish Tory backbenchers.
But former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who is backing Ms Truss, attacked Mr Sunak’s record on China during his time as Chancellor.
“This ‘tough on China’ announcement is surprising. After all, over the last two years, the Treasury has pushed hard for an economic deal with China,” he said.
“This is despite China brutally cracking down on peaceful democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, threatening Taiwan and committing genocide on the Uyghurs.
“After such a litany, I have one simple question, ‘where have you been over the last two years?’.”
In recent months, Ms Truss has also taken an increasingly hard-line approach on China in her role as Foreign Secretary.
