Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have battled it out in the first head-to-head debate of the Tory leadership contest – continuing the bruising rivalry which saw both pull out of a similar contest just days earlier.
Facing each other in front of television cameras for the first time since voting by Conservative MPs whittled the field of contenders down to a final two, the foreign secretary and ex-chancellor clashed on a range of subjects, including Brexit, China and the economy.
With the deciding vote on who should replace Boris Johnson lying in the hands of tens of thousands of Tory members, the pair are increasingly forced to pander to the tastes of their selectorate, with the party faithful generally believed to sit considerably to the right of its MPs.
