Liz Truss to set out plans to level up in a ‘Conservative way’ in leadership bid

Liz Truss is set to highlight her experience in the Cabinet and Treasury at a campaign launch event on Thursday, in an apparent bid to portray herself as more competent than rival candidate Penny Mordaunt.

Foreign Secretary Ms Truss is seeking to unite the right of the party, as subsequent voting from Thursday will whittle down the field until two candidates are left.

“Now is the time for colleagues to unite behind the candidate who will cut taxes, deliver the real economic change we need from day one and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine,” a spokeswoman for the Foreign Secretary said.

Ms Truss has the support of Boris Johnson’s remaining loyalists in the Tory leadership race that will select his successor.

She secured her place in the next round of the contest by nabbing the third-highest number of votes in the first ballot of Tory MPs on Wednesday, behind rivals Rishi Sunak and Ms Mordaunt.

In a campaign speech on Thursday, Ms Truss will detail her economic plan, which includes reversing April’s National Insurance rate rise, lowering corporation tax and enacting supply-side reforms.

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She is expected to say: “My mission is to make our country an aspiration nation, where every child, every person has the best opportunity to succeed.

“I have a plan to make Britain a high-growth economy through bold supply-side reform.”

The South West Norfolk MP will also refer to her education at a northern comprehensive school, where she saw children who “failed” due to “low expectations”.

“They will never be let down again on my watch.

“Everyone in our great country should be born with the same opportunities and be able to know that the town they are born in has opportunity”.

The former-Remainer-turned-ardent-Brexiteer’s hard line on Ukraine, insisting Russian forces must be driven from the country, and threats to tear up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU play well with sections of the party.

It comes as Jeremy Hunt threw his weight behind Mr Sunak after being knocked out of the race to succeed Mr Johnson in the first round of voting by Tory MPs.

The endorsement gives the former chancellor a boost ahead of the second ballot on Thursday, which will eliminate the least popular candidate.

Mr Hunt, who along with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi failed to garner the 30 votes needed to progress to the next stage of the contest, described Mr Sunak as “one of the most decent, straight people with the highest standards of integrity” in politics.

Mr Sunak, whose resignation from No 11 helped trigger the Tory leadership race, topped Wednesday’s ballot, as trade minister Ms Mordaunt emerged as his leading rival in second place.

The former defence secretary surged ahead of Ms Truss, despite being seen as a relative outlier before the race began.

Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat and Attorney General Suella Braverman are also among the final six candidates.

Ms Braverman appears most under threat in the second ballot after squeaking through to the round by two votes.

Mr Hunt, who has held the offices of health and foreign secretary, said he is backing Mr Sunak because of his character and approach to the economy.

He said in a statement: “I’ve given this a lot of thought and I’m supporting Rishi Sunak. And that’s for two reasons.

“First of all, the big challenge we face now is economic, and this is someone of formidable ability, who has been thinking about the right thing to do for our economy, for families up and down the country, very hard over the last two years.

“But in the end it’s not about policy.

"I’ve been around long enough to know that politics is really about character and Rishi is one of the most decent, straight people with the highest standards of integrity that I have ever met in British politics and that’s why I would be proud to have him as my next Prime Minister.”

The first round of voting came after Downing Street was forced to deny running a “stop Sunak” smear campaign as the battle grew increasingly bitter.

The caretaker Prime Minister’s press secretary insisted that Mr Johnson is “staying neutral” despite his remaining arch-loyalists throwing their support behind Ms Truss.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries accused the former chancellor’s campaign of deploying “dirty tricks” to benefit his campaign and backed Ms Truss as the Brexiteers’ candidate.

Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Mr Sunak of having implemented “economically damaging” policies.

Mr Johnson’s press secretary declined to say whether Downing Street remains supportive of Mr Sunak, whose resignation helped end Mr Johnson’s grip on No 10.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who abandoned his own leadership bid to back Mr Sunak, denied claims from Ms Dorries that the campaign has engaged in dirty tricks, insisting: “Simply, in this case it just didn’t happen.”