Rishi Sunak claims audience win in Sky News’ Battle for Number 10 programme

But Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak disagreed over recession warning in their latest TV clash

Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have set out competing plans to deal with the economic recession forecast by the Bank of England in their latest TV clash.

Sky News’ Battle for No10 show

Ms Truss said a recession was “not inevitable” if “bold” action was taken.

But Mr Sunak said the foreign secretary’s “unfunded” tax cuts would pour “fuel on the fire” of inflation.

At the end of 90 minutes, Liz Truss had a vision, but there was a reluctance to give all the answers. Rishi Sunak was across the issues, but wasn’t promising a bold new vision to a party fretful about the polls and the economy says Sam Coates, Deputy political editor @SamCoatesSky

Rishi Sunak won the audience, but Liz Truss appears to have a grip on the Tory membership in the country. The audience, made up of Conservative Party members, convincingly backed former chancellor Mr Sunak in a show of hands, rather than Ms Truss.

Latest Polling on Tory Leadership Race

Liz Truss leads Rishi Sunak by 62% to 38% among Tory members, says polling company YouGov

Yougov poll 20-7-2022

The survey said Foreign Secretary Ms Truss was the preferred choice of 49% of respondents, compared to 31% for former chancellor Mr Sunak, with 15% saying they didn’t know and 6% not intending to vote.

Once “don’t knows” and those not intending to take part are taken out, this gives Liz Truss a sizeable 24-point lead.

Head to Head Debate – Who Won

On Monday 25 July, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak took part in a head to head debate on BBC One.

Tory members say Liz Truss triumphed in BBC leadership debate, finds a snap Yougov Poll taken immediately after the debate.

The YouGov poll of 507 Conservative party members who watched last night’s BBC debate between the two Tory leadership candidates shows that Truss is seen as the better performer, with 50% saying so to Rishi Sunak’s 39%.

The two contenders to be the next PM did not hold back from “blue-on-blue” attacks in the hour-long BBC special.

Mr Sunak told Ms Truss her tax cut plan would “tip millions of people into misery” and cost the Conservatives the next election.

Ms Truss said tax rises brought in by him would lead to a recession.

Tory members think Truss came across as more in touch, likeable and trustworthy at the BBC debate, although they are split on which candidate looked more Prime Ministerial

However, on the matter of who looked more prime ministerial, the candidates tied: 43% say that Rishi Sunak did, while 42% give that point to Liz Truss.

Across the multitude of issues covered by the debate, Truss sweeps the board, being seen as better on every single one.

What Happens Next – the Final Two

Hustings for members of the Conservative Party will be held around the country – starting from Friday 22 July.

The winner will be announced on Monday 5 September after a postal ballot, completed by 160,000 Tory party members.

The final two candidates have agreed to take part in a head-to-head debate on the BBC on Monday 25 July.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss make the final two

Conservative MPs have voted for the final two candidates to replace Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss make the final two – Penny Mordaunt is knocked out

The results were:

  • Rishi Sunak – 137
  • Penny Mordaunt – 105
  • Liz Truss – 113

Penny Mordaunt has been eliminated.

4th Round Results

Kemi Badenoch has been knocked out of the leadership race after coming last in the latest round of voting.

Rishi Sunak secured the most votes in the fourth ballot among Tory MPs, with Penny Mordaunt coming second.

The votes were as follows:

  • Rishi Sunak – 118
  • Penny Mordaunt – 92
  • Liz Truss – 86
  • Kemi Badenoch – 59

The three remaining candidates will face another vote tomorrow, where MPs will pick a final two candidates.

Voting will then be thrown open to all Conservative Party members to pick the winner, after a series of hustings throughout August.

The new Conservative Party leader and prime minister will be announced on 5 September.

BBC TV debate announced

The BBC will broadcast a final TV debate called “Our Next Prime Minister” between the final two candidates in the contest on 25 July.

It will be presented by Sophie Raworth, with analysis from BBC Political Editor Chris Mason and BBC Economics Editor Faisal Islam.

The programme will broadcast live from Stoke-on-Trent in front of a 80 to 100 strong audience at 9pm on BBC One.

The first TV debate on Channel 4

TV debates have already taken place on Channel 4 and ITV.

The BBC has confirmed that all three remaining candidates – Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss, have agreed to participate in the debate if they make it to the final two, after Sky News was forced to cancel its own planned debate when Mr Sunak and Ms Truss declined to take part.

Third Round Results

Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out. Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt still make up the top two.

The votes were as follows:

  • Rishi Sunak – 115
  • Penny Mordaunt – 82
  • Liz Truss – 71
  • Kemi Badenoch – 58
  • Tom Tugendhat – 31

The four remaining candidates will face another vote tomorrow, where another contender will be knocked out.

Third Round Voting

The main event today is the third round of voting which will whittle the five Tory leadership candidates down to four. Here are the 5 MPs still in the race:

The vote itself is scheduled to take place 5pm to 7pm on Monday 18th July 2022.

The person with the fewest votes is eliminated from the contest and will then have to decide which of their rivals to support instead. It’s common practice that at least some – if not all – of a former candidate’s backers will be guided by their decision, which could prove vital as we edge closer to the final run-off of two candidates.

The result of the vote is expected at 8pm

The Voting process will be repeated until only 2 remain.

The two remaining MPs will then travel the country and rally support at hustings. They will each have a budget of £300,000, excluding travel, to spend on their campaigns.

The final two candidates will contest a vote among the 200,000 Conservative Party members. This tiny group, which works out to about 0.29 per cent of the population, will decide the next prime minister.

Tory leadership TV debate in Chaos

The next live TV Tory leadership debate on Tuesday has been cancelled, after host Sky News said Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss declined to take part.

The two contenders clashed repeatedly during an ITV debate on Sunday over each other’s economic plans and record in office.