Vengeful Tory leadership hopefuls clashed over tax today as the bitter race for No10 entered the weekend.
Contest favourite Penny Mordaunt even admitted public services were “in a desperate state” after 12 years of Conservative rule.
A live TV leadership debate on Sunday is seen as crucial for keeping alive the chances of struggling candidates Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch.
The pair will try to rescue their stuttering bids for Downing Street today in a primetime Channel 4 head-to-head.
Earlier, the five would-be leaders clashed in a hustings for party loyalists organised by the ConservativeHome website.
During the 75-minute showdown, contest favourite Ms Mordaunt, who has been a minister on and off since 2014, admitted: “Many of our public services are in a desperate state, particularly because of the pandemic.
“We have a huge catch up job to do. So we have to recognise that we need to modernise Whitehall to do that.”
As candidates set out their plans to tackle the chronic housing crisis, Mr Tugendhat bizarrely claimed Labour wanted to build “socialist homes”.
“A Labour solution would concrete over the whole country, leave us with socialist homes that are owned by the state and we can rent on a temporary basis,” he said.
“That's not what we want.”
But the rivals for PM turned their guns on each other as the infighting plumbed new depths.
They accused each other of issuing pledges they cannot deliver, attacked rivals for breaking manifesto commitments and battled over tax cuts.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss took a swipe at ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak ’s handling of the economy and public finances.
"We immediately need to start putting money back into people's pockets, we know families are struggling to make ends meet at the moment,” she warned.
“I would reverse the national insurance rise - I opposed it in Cabinet at the time because I thought it was a mistake; I think it's even more of a mistake now when we're facing such strong economic headwinds.
“I would also have a temporary moratorium on the green energy level to cut £153 from people's energy bills, and I would also not do the corporation tax hikes because I think it's vitally important that we're attracting investment into our country."
Ms Mordaunt slapped down siren calls from within the party for widespread tax cuts, signalling she would wait until the autumn Budget to outline a fiscal overhaul.
“This contest is not the right place to do it,” she insisted.
"I'm not going to set out plans for corporation tax or any other of those taxes until we have a proper fiscal event.”
Debate host, ConservativeHome editor and former Tory MP Paul Goodman, told Mr Sunak: “You’re the target of some of this criticism about tax.”
But the ex-Chancellor hit back: "The most pressing economic challenge we are facing is inflation - inflation is the enemy that makes everybody poorer and it must be the Government's priority to get a grip of it.
“I'm not going to do anything that puts that at risk, so I will deliver tax cuts but I will do so responsibly after we've got a grip of inflation."
In another dig at Mr Sunak, who broke election pledges over national insurance and the pensions triple lock, Kemi Badenoch said: “When we put things in our manifesto we need to stick to them.”
Ms Morduant blasted attacks on her from rival camps, warning: “I want a positive contest, I don’t want mudslinging.”
She was the victim of a vicious briefing war earlier in the week, with questions over her commitment and work ethic - and claims she was branded “Part-time Penny” in one of her ministerial roles.
The candidates also opened themselves up to ridicule when they were asked to reveal their greatest weakness.
Multi-millionaire Mr Sunak, who with his heiress wife is worth £730million according to The Sunday Times Rich List, boasted about being too perfect and a workaholic.
“Most people know I probably have a reputation for working hard,” he bragged.
“I think you've got to make sure that in these jobs… that you don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Behind him on the Zoom webinar hustings, a poster for his campaign was misspelt as “CAMPIAIGN”.
In other weakness confessions, Ms Badenoch claimed hers was "allowing my sense of humour to look like I'm flippant about issues".
Ms Truss, whose profile soared in 2014 when a cringing video of her claiming the amount of cheese Britain imported was “a disgrace” went viral, admitted she had previously been "excessively over-enthusiastic and sometimes I have to rein myself in".
Mr Tugendhat, who has made his Army background a central pillar of his campaign and peppers speeches with military references, said: "I know this is going to surprise you but I may talk about the Army a little too much, which is possibly a weakness."
Answering the weakness question, Ms Mordaunt raised fears for the future of Downing Street cat Larry, who has the title Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.
Revealing she already owns a quartet of moggies, she said: "I was tempted to say Burmese cats, as I have four and introducing them into No10 might present some challenges with Larry."
