Transport secretary Grant Shapps has denied that Rishi Sunak’s Tory leadership campaign has engaged in “dirty tricks” and “dark arts”.
Culture secretary Nadine Dorries, a Boris Johnson loyalist, accused the former chancellor’s team of trying to “siphon off” votes to ensure Jeremy Hunt got through because they believed Mr Sunak would beat him in a final vote.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Shapps, who dropped out of the race to support Mr Sunak, said: “It just didn’t happen. Jeremy Hunt himself has said everybody on his nomination paper is somebody who is very close to his campaign. So even he has rubbished it.”
The candidates that cleared the first hurdle of the race to succeed Mr Johnson as prime minister are Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahawi and Suella Braverman.
Eight contenders will be on the ballot paper when all 358 Tory MPs begin voting today to elect a successor to Mr Johnson. Another vote will take place on Thursday. The party will continue to hold ballots until two finalists are left, and then Conservative Party members will vote for their choice.
