West Yorkshire MP Andrea Jenkyns endorses wrong Liz Truss for Conservative leader

Liz Truss is ahead in the race to be the next Conservative Party leader. Credit: PA

A Conservative MP has inadvertently endorsed the wrong Liz Truss to be the party's next leader – and the country's next prime minister.

Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak are vying for support among fellow MPs ahead of a vote by Conservative Party members which will decide who leads the party after the resignation of Boris Johnson.

Andrea Jenkyns, the MP for Morley and Outwood in West Yorkshire, has already come out publicly in favour of Ms Truss.

But reacting to news that the conservative newspaper the Daily Telegraph was also supporting the current foreign secretary, Ms Jenkyns tweeted: "I'm delighted that the Telegraph has backed @LizTruss to be our next Prime Minister. "With her Conservative vision, experience, and approach, she'll unlock our potential and welcome in a new age of greatness for our nation."

The Twitter account @LizTruss does not belong to the leadership hopeful, but to a woman with 99 followers. In contrast, the MP Liz Truss, who uses the Twitter handle @trussliz, has more than 275,000 followers.

Andrea Jenkyns MP Credit: PA

Other Twitter users were quick to point out the error, with one replying: "Such an endorsement. You couldn't even be bothered to tag her real Twitter account. Shocking... yet not surprising."

Another wrote: "You tagged some random woman LMAO."

Ms Jenkyns is not the first person to have confused the two Liz Truss Twitter accounts.

In the past @LizTruss has often had to point out that she is not the Tory cabinet member, so much so that she posted her own "manifesto", which includes "free ice creams" and "half price cake for NHS staff".

Ms Jenkyns' mistake will do little to harm Ms Truss's campaign, however, after a fresh poll put her firmly ahead of Mr Sunak.

The YouGov poll puts Ms Truss well ahead of her rival in support from Conservative party members, with her lead increasing to 34 points.

It shows 60% of the party members polled between 29 July and 2 August said they intended to vote for the foreign secretary, up from 49% since the period 20-21 July.

The winner is expected to be announced on 5 September.

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