Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has said Boris Johnson is not honest, receiving loud applause as the candidates go head-to-head in the first televised debate.
The five contenders to become the UK’s next prime minister clashed in a debate that could determine who wins the backing of Conservative MPs and members.
Rishi Sunak, who came out on top of Thursday’s voting, hit out at Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt on how they would pay for their economic plans.
He told the Channel 4 debate: “I wanted to be honest with you and everyone else in the country about the challenges we face economically with inflation, and be responsible about dealing with them, even if it wasn’t politically convenient for me.”
But Mr Tugendhat sought to undermine Mr Sunak’s assertions when he claimed the ex-chancellor had told him privately that he had only increased National Insurance because Mr Johnson wanted him to.
A snap Opinium poll found 36 per cent of viewers believed Mr Tugendhat performed best – while just 10 per cent of Tory voters said the same of Ms Truss.
