Rishi Sunak has suggested he would turn down a job in a Liz Truss cabinet if he were to lose the Conservative leadership contest, saying he would not want to disagree with another prime minister on “big things”.
The foreign secretary, who remains strong favourite to win the race and become the next PM, has reportedly earmarked Mr Sunak as a possible health secretary.
Asked on BBC Radio 2 if he would take the health secretary job, Mr Sunak laughed and replied: “I’m not focused on all of that. I’m trying to win this race at the moment – I’m not thinking about jobs.”
But in pointed remarks, the hopeful added: “You really need to agree with the big things, because it’s tough, as I found out, when you don’t. And I wouldn’t want to end up in a situation like that again.”
Mr Sunak also said he “wouldn’t get out of bed” if he looked at successive Tory membership polls putting Ms Truss firmly on course to enter No 10 in early September.
“If I actually spent all my time looking at the polls or reading newspapers, I probably wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning to do all these things,” he told host Vanessa Feltz.
Mr Sunak insisted that he was getting a “very warm” reception on the campaign trail, but admitted that some Tory members remained upset that he resigned from Boris Johnson’s government.
“There are a group of people among our members, and that is understandable, who are upset I resigned from government – and that’s fair enough,” he said.
“It got to a point where I couldn’t stay,” he said. “You can’t have a prime minister and a chancellor on different pages when it comes to the economy. On top of that there was an ethical issue… which I found hard to defend.”
Ms Truss has reportedly lined up Kwasi Kwarteng as the next chancellor, Suella Braverman as home secretary and Jacob Rees-Mogg as levelling-up secretary if she wins. Mr Sunak is being considered for the health secretary job, according to The Times.
But Mr Sunak compared his clashes with Mr Johnson to his current rivalry with Ms Truss, telling BBC Radio 2 on Monday that he was “on a different page” from his leadership rival.
He accused Ms Truss of “promising the earth to everybody” as he appealed to Tory members to carefully consider her promise of tax cuts – arguing that they could fuel inflation and do nothing to help the poorest.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it,” he said. “Liz’s plans are promising the earth to everybody… I don’t think life is that simple and I think her plan risks making everything worse.”
Mr Sunak rejected the suggestion that his campaign strategy was not “politically savvy” compared with that of Ms Truss, adding: “It is being honest and, for better or worse, that is what I am going to do.”
Speaking about the NHS, the ex-chancellor said the country could be “confident I could be trusted with it” if he was to win the Tory leadership race.
Mr Sunak defended his plan to fine people £10 for missed appointments with their GPs as part of a “crackdown on those abusing” the NHS.
“I really want to tackle this issue of missed appointments,” he said. “I’ve said I want to get a bit tougher on that – it’s not about making money for charging people for missed appointments; it’s just about changing culture so people cancel them in advance.”
He added: “The NHS shouldn’t be cancelling appointments at the last minute. We need to think differently and radically about the NHS.”
Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake, a Sunak supporter, said earlier on Monday that people would be “on the streets” without further help to pay energy bills this winter, as he attacked Ms Truss’s decision to prioritise tax cuts over extra help for the poorest households.
Tory MP Mel Stride, another Sunak backer, commented on reports that Ms Truss was not planning to ask the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for a forecast ahead of the measures she was planning for next month, saying she would be “flying blind”.
