Vicious backbiting from the right of the Tories turned on Penny Mordaunt today as she surged to become the bookies’ favourite for Prime Minister.
Right-wingers - who are expected to gather round Liz Truss when Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch are knocked out - had focused their fire on ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
But focus shifted dramatically to Ms Mordaunt after she got 67 MPs’ votes in the first round - and Ms Truss got 50. That could put her in the members’ vote against Mr Sunak, or even against Ms Truss.
