Former Tory leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has come out in support of Liz Truss in a major boost to her campaign to become the next prime minister.
Ms Mordaunt dramatically announced her endorsement at the start of a hustings event pitching Truss against rival Rishi Sunak in Exeter.
The declaration of support hits a further nail into the coffin of Mr Sunak’s ailing bid to enter 10 Downing Street. Ms Mordaunt won widespread support within the party with a well-received campaign that saw her finish third in the race to succeed Boris Johnson.
The trade minister told Conservative members at the hustings: “I came third in this contest, and I owe it to all of you to be a signpost, not a weather vane. So I've made my choice.”
Insisting that the choice between Mr Sunak and Ms Truss was a “difficult” one to take, Ms Mordaunt said: “This contest is a test – a test that precedes an even greater test.
“So who can lead, who can build that team and deliver for our country? Who has that bold economic plan that our nation needs? Who’s got reach, who can relate to people, who understands that people need help with the cost of living now and who is going to rightly clobber our opponents?
“Who is going to hold seats and win back councils and who most embodies the vision and values the British public had in their heads and in their hearts when they voted in 2016 and 2019?
“At the start of this final phase of the contest, I didn't know the answer to those questions. But I’ve seen enough to know who I’m going to put my faith in. And that is Liz Truss.”
She hailed the foreign secretary for “her authenticity, her determination, her ambition for this country, her consistency and sense of duty”.
And she added: “Seeing her over the last few weeks has made me want to help her win. To help build the team we need to win the country and to give ourselves, as a party and as a nation, the pride and the confidence we need to reach our full potential – in short, to give us all hope.
“She for me is the hope candidate and that is why I am here tonight, to be straight with all of you and to tell you that my choice in this contest to lead us and our nation is Liz Truss.”
Ms Truss welcomed the endorsement of the former defence secretary, whom she described as “a great person, a great politician and a great patriot”.
Ms Truss and Mr Sunak were questioned separately on stage by members at the Exeter hustings, where the former chancellor again challenged the foreign secretary’s plans for immediate tax cut as inflationary.
Mr Sunak was again challenged by a Tory member over his resignation, which triggered the process leading to Mr Johnson’s departure.
“I’d like to know how important loyalty is to you,” a female party member told Sunak. “Because I don’t feel you were too loyal to Boris Johnson.”
He replied: “Well madam, I respectfully disagree because I was loyal to Boris Johnson for two and a half years.”
But he said that he had got to the point where economic differences with the PM meant it would not have been right to continue in the post.
Mr Sunak fiercely rejected his rival’s claim that he represents continuity with long-standing Treasury orthodoxy.
“I’m definitely the change candidate,” said Sunak. “Liz is, I think, the longest-serving minister in the cabinet. She was in the cabinet before I was even an MP, so it’s hard to say I’m the one that’s been around a long time.”
Mr Sunak pointed to his creation of the furlough scheme to support workers during Covid lockdowns, as well as his support for freeports, which he said were “one of the few things we can see visibly as a benefit of Brexit”.
Ms Truss said she was “prepared to break eggs” in taking on Whitehall orthodoxy, and declined to rule out breaking up the Treasury into a budgetary ministry and an economics ministry.
Asked by hustings host and Financial Times journalist Sebastian Payne if that was an option, she replied: “Well, I wouldn’t want to give them any advance warning if I was going to do that.”
She added: “I do think the Treasury needs to change. And it has been a block on progress.”
Ms Truss said she would absolutely rule out a second referendum on Scottish independence, blasting first minister Nicola Sturgeon as an “attention seeker” and saying she would “ignore” her if she became PM.
After watching Sunday’s victory in the Euros final by England’s women’s football team, she said she would “channel the spirit of the Lionesses” in No 10.
Asked in a round of quickfire questions what they would have done if they were not politicians, Ms Truss said she would be a food critic, while Mr Sunak said he would like to run his favourite football team, Southampton.
And asked to name their favourite Labour politician, Mr Sunak revealed he once had a picture of former leader of the opposition Hugh Gaitskell up in his office, while Ms Truss paid tribute to Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield for her resistance to efforts to redefine what a woman is.
