Rishi Sunak has been branded a betrayer of Boris Johnson by powerful Tory cabinet member Ben Wallace.
The Defence Secretary has thrown his weight behind leadership rival Liz Truss in a move that considerably shorten Sunak’s chance of becoming Prime Minister.
Wallace criticised Sunak for “walking out the door” of Johnson’s cabinet, driving home criticisms from Tory activists that the former chancellor stabbed the Prime Minister in the back.
Wallace said some ministers did not have the “luxury” of walking out “because fundamentally we have duties and obligations”.
In a political drive-by shooting the Defence Secretary tore into Sunak claiming his leadership campaign would be more at home in Hollywood and revealing that Johnson had to over-rule Sunak’s Treasury on defence budgets.
In a series of interviews, the Defence Secretary explained the reasons behind his support for Liz Truss, while taking thinly-veiled swipes at Sunak’s record in the Treasury.
Wallace told Sky News the Foreign Secretary recognises that “the threats we face every day” need to be “funded properly”, pointing to Truss’ commitment to increase defence spending to three per cent of GDP by 2030.
He also said that without any prompting, Truss wrote a letter to the Prime Minister saying that defence needs more money.
The Defence Secretary insisted Sunak would be a “fine member of anybody’s Cabinet”, but added: “For me, Liz is the one that I think will do best by defence of this nation, by investing in it.”
He went on: “When I was in Government, without any prompting or asking, Liz, I remember, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister saying that defence needs more money, it’s a more dangerous, risky world.
Wallace’s endorsement is seen as a further boost for the Foreign Secretary, who has come out ahead in polls of Tory party members and was given a comfortable ride compared to Sunak in the first members hustings in Leeds on Thursday.
Sunak was the second cabinet minister to resign, after Sajid Javid, before dozens of ministers followed suit and forced Johnson to quit.
Sunak is facing a tv cross-examination by broadcaster Andrew Neil on Friday evening, an invitation which Truss has turned down.
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