Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt, currently one of the favourites to win the contest, received some harsh criticism this morning from within her own party. In fact, from her boss.
Mordaunt missed key meetings in her role as a Government minister in order to plot her leadership campaign, her departmental boss has claimed.
The trade minister’s absence forced colleagues to pick up the pieces, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan alleged in a scathing attack on the leadership hopeful.
The Cabinet minister is backing Tom Tugendhat for the Conservative Party leadership, but he is at risk of being eliminated from the contest in the next round of voting later on Monday.
Penny Mordaunt missed key meetings in her role as a Government minister in order to plot her leadership campaign, her departmental boss has claimed.
The trade minister’s absence forced colleagues to pick up the pieces, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan alleged in a scathing attack on the leadership hopeful.
The Cabinet minister is backing Tom Tugendhat for the Conservative Party leadership, but he is at risk of being eliminated from the contest in the next round of voting later on Monday.
Asked about Ms Mordaunt’s grasp of details, Ms Trevelyan said: “We all do our jobs in different ways.
“Understandably, perhaps, now it’s clear, Penny has for the last few months spent some of her time focused on preparing her leadership campaign, for which I have utmost respect, that’s how this system works.”
The contenders for the Tory leadership will be whittled down to just four as MPs cast their votes in the third round of the contest to find a successor to Boris Johnson.
Tugendhat had fewer votes than his remaining rivals in the last ballot on Thursday and he would seem to be in the most jeopardy this time round.
Trevelyan said she hopes he will get another chance to run for the leadership if he fails in this attempt.
“He has this extraordinary ability to bring people together to work with him who would not otherwise work together,” she said.
“I think it’s a genuine gift and I wanted the rest of the world to see much more of it. If this isn’t his time, I hope that there will be a future time when he can lead the party.”
The remaining candidates were involved in series of bad-tempered exchanges in the latest TV debate – staged by ITV – on Sunday evening as the battle for a place in the run-off ballot of party members became ever more bitter.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who topped both of the first two ballots, clashed with Ms Mordaunt and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss over the economy.
And former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and Mr Tugendhat – who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the last ballot and are battling to avoid elimination – squared off over who has the record and experience to be prime minister.
Ms Truss will be hoping to pick up votes from Attorney General Suella Braverman, who endorsed her candidacy after she was eliminated in the last round.
Meanwhile Ms Truss seized on analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research which suggested that tax revenues in 2024/25 will be around £60 billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates, partly due to the impact of high inflation.
A spokeswoman for Ms Truss said: “The CEBR analysis shows that there is money for tax cuts whilst still bringing debt down.”