Kemi Badenoch, a candidate for the Tory leadership, attacked her rivals for making extravagant tax cut promises today, alleging that they were acting in a sad macho manner.
As she formally began her campaign, the former equality minister, who has emerged as a well-liked outsider in the race to succeed Boris Johnson, lashed out.
Many of her competitors have come under fire for making implausible promises to cut personal and corporate taxes if they are elected Tory leader and prime minister.
The 42-year-old Ms. Badenoch expressed a desire to ease taxation.
However, she added in a direct rebuke to her rivals—more than half of whom are men—that she would not engage in a tax bidding war and claim that her tax cuts were greater than theirs.
Tax cuts are not the deciding factor in this election; rather, judgment is.
However, she also attacked the “steady as it goes” government in a thinly veiled jab at her favourite Rishi Sunak, promising to make significant changes.
Ms. Badenoch, a mother of three who was born in London to parents from Nigeria, has not yet reached the necessary 20 supporters to vote in the leadership contest.
She only needs five more though, and the deadline is at 6 o’clock.
As more Cabinet heavy hitters backed Rishi Sunak today, Liz Truss pleaded with the Tory right to unite behind her to challenge him.
This served to highlight Sunak’s status as the front-runner for the Tory leadership.
With voting set to begin tomorrow, prospective PMs have just hours left to collect the 20 nominations necessary to appear in the competition’s first round.
As he officially launched his campaign this morning with Grant Shapps, who has given up on his own leadership bid, and deputy PM Dominic Raab, Mr. Sunak already seems to be well over the threshold.
We need to have a grown-up conversation, the former chancellor said, dismissing calls for tax cuts before inflation is under control.
He also praised Boris Johnson at the Westminster event, calling him “one of the most remarkable people I have ever met” with a “good heart”—but that it was “not working” any longer.
Mr. Sunak said his strategy was to “tackle inflation, grow the economy, and cut taxes” but only took a few questions from the media, who were heckled by the audience for their combative questions.
I want to speak with you in a mature manner so that I can be honest with you, he said.
We need a leader who can win, and Mr. Raab is the only one who can, he stated before the speech.
Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat also appear to have achieved the nominations mark, but Ms. Truss has gone above and beyond after receiving support from Boris Johnson allies Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who swore allegiance on the steps of Downing Street.
Other well-known figures, though, are having difficulty; Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahawi, and Priti Patel all lack official supporters.