Suella Braverman has issued a direct appeal to her supporters in the Tory leadership contest to rally behind Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
The Attorney General, who was eliminated in the second round of voting on Thursday, said that, out of the remaining candidates seen as coming from the right of the party, Ms Truss is best-placed to make it into the final ballot of party members.
She heaped praise on Kemi Badenoch, the former equalities minister, describing her as a “great woman” who could do a fantastic job as prime minister “one day”.
But she said Ms Truss, who has been in the Cabinet for eight years, is ready to take the reins of power and would not need to “learn on the job”.
Ms Braverman’s appeal will come as a welcome boost to Ms Truss, who needs to pick up a significant slice of her 27 votes from the second round if she is to make up ground on the frontrunners Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.
In her message to supporters, Ms Braverman said: “Kemi is a great woman and a friend. She could do a fantastic job as PM one day but we need to look realistically at the numbers.
“Liz and Kemi are not both going to make it into the final two. So a decision needs to be made to back one of them. The one we should back, I’d argue, is the one who can get to the final round. Liz can, Kemi cannot.
It’s exactly our common beliefs which must come before the ambitions of any one of us— Suella Braverman
“Liz is undeniably the better placed candidate to get to the voluntary party round and fight there for the things that all three of us believe. And it’s exactly our common beliefs which must come before the ambitions of any one of us.
“Liz, additionally, is ready now to be PM. She won’t need to learn on the job. And the job is hard and needs to be done properly. The party has had a difficult six years and stability is urgently and swiftly needed.”
In what appeared to be a further swipe at Ms Mordaunt – who she has criticised for her views on transgender rights – Ms Braverman praised Ms Truss for her stance on identity politics.
“From personal experience, Liz has consistently and sincerely been on the right side of the identity politics argument,” she said.
“She has been in public and in private, and I personally have always been able to rely upon her to stand up for the truth and the facts – however unpopular or unfashionable that has momentarily been.”
