Flagging Rishi Sunak’s allies today insisted there is still “everything to play for” in the Tory leadership race as the first ballots hit doormats on Monday.
The ex-Chancellor was wounded by more MPs backing rival Liz Truss, NHS chiefs blasting his plan to fine patients £10 for missed appointments, and Nadine Dorries comparing him to Brutus stabbing Julius Caesar in the back.
As bookies gave Ms Truss a 90% chance of winning, one Sunak ally told the Times they were “fed up” and “waiting for the Truss-mobile to move in to No10” while another told the Mail on Sunday: “It’s over”.
But Mr Sunak - who admitted he was “playing catch-up” - fought back by visiting 10 Tory associations in the south of England over the weekend.
As a Savanta/ComRes poll of 511 Tory councillors put Truss and Sunak on 31% and 29%, a campaign spokeswoman added: “This contest is all to play for… The race has only just begun.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss added it was a "very, very close race" despite enjoying support "from right across all parts of the Conservative Party ".
Both candidates unveiled a flurry of new policies as ballot papers to hit 160,000 members’ doormats between Monday and Friday this week.
In a frantic week the pair will face hustings in Exeter on Monday, Cardiff on Wednesday and Eastbourne on Friday - plus a head-to-head Sky News debate on Thursday.
Many of the Tory members who’ll choose the next Prime Minister are set to vote early, but the ComRes poll suggested 32% had not made up their minds.
The vote only closes on Friday 2 September. Members can choose between an online or paper ballot - and change their minds by overriding one with the other.
Mr Sunak announced he would fine NHS patients £10 for each “second or subsequent” appointment they miss until backlogs reduce to “manageable levels”.
The NHS Confederation, Royal College of GPs and British Medical Association condemned the plan, saying it will penalise the poor and cost more than it saves.
A backlogs taskforce would be told to contact everyone waiting over 18 weeks in Mr Sunak’s first 100 days in office.
And 200 Community Diagnostics Hubs would be rolled out using vacant high street shops, while bureaucracy would be cut for overseas doctors and nurses.
Mr Sunak also vowed to cut the number of shuttered shops on high streets, allow tougher punishment for graffiti and littering, and expand police powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Earlier the 42-year-old attacked "left-wing agitators" in a bid to outdo Ms Truss on so-called culture war issues.
He branded the 2010 Equality Act - which protects people from discrimination based on sex, age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or transgender identity - “a Trojan horse that has allowed every kind of woke nonsense to permeate public life”.
Meanwhile Liz Truss promised students who get top A-level grades will automatically be invited for an Oxbridge interview.
But she did not explain how her plan to offer Oxbridge interviews to all top students would work in practice.
Critics questioned whether it will mean pushing A-levels earlier - or cramming the entire applications process into the few weeks between results and the start of university terms.
In a six-point plan for education she also vowed to replace failing academies with "a new wave of free schools" and improve maths and literacy standards.
And she said there will be no second referendum on Scottish independence "on my watch”, appearing to out-do Boris Johnosn’s ‘now is not the time’.
Ms Truss won new big-name backers in the form of former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis.
And the right-winger was backed by ousted leader hopeful Tom Tugendhat - weeks after he vowed to give the Tories a moderate “clean start”.
In a light-hearted interview, Ms Truss revealed she was nicknamed “haggis basher” when she moved to Leeds from Paisley - and Push It by Salt-N-Pepa is her favourite karaoke track.
But she was accused of "openly admitting" the Tories have failed children and families for the last 12 years as she pitched herself as the "education Prime Minister".
Labour claimed her pitch to "get education back on track" was a "damning indictment of the Government's that she has been a part of", including her time as Children's minister.
Mr Sunak was dealt a blow when Brandon Lewis accused him of blocking efforts to break the Brexit deadlock by overriding parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The ex-Cabinet Minister told Sky News: "One of the reasons I'm supporting Liz is because she has been able to get this work done on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Rishi hasn't been in the same place."
Criticism of Mr Sunak also came from Lord Forsyth, who served as a minister under Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major.
The former Cabinet Minister accused him of a "tendency to be driven by Treasury orthodoxy" and of giving an "impressive and polished technical performance" but lacking "empathy, foresight and vision".
And Mr Sunak was accused of blocking measures to help the poorest families with childcare costs during his time as Chancellor.
Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey wanted to use childcare funding from Universal Credit to pay for activities after school and during the holidays, but the Treasury blocked the move, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Shadow Children and Early Years minister Helen Hayes said: "The Tory leadership candidates are more concerned with attacking each other than prioritising parents' concerns."
Mr Sunak also faced attacks from Nadine Dorries, who accused him of plotting a "coup" against Boris Johnson that was "Tudoresque in its degree of brutality" by resigning as chancellor.
But the Culture Secretary, who also retweeted a doctored image of Mr Sunak stabbing the Prime Minister in the back, faced a backlash from Tory ministers who described her interventions on Ms Truss's behalf as "appalling" and "dangerous".
Welsh Secretary Sir Robert Buckland, a supporter of Mr Sunak, said anyone predicting the outcome "doesn't know the membership of the party".
"I genuinely think there are a lot of members out there who have not made up their minds," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"I do think that the candidates are right when they say that this contest is not determined yet and it's all to play for".
