From Liz Truss’s Thatcher-style pussy bow blouse, to Rishi Sunak’s soft-voiced tribute to his immigrant grandmother, all the candidates in the Conservative leadership race have meticulously honed their public profiles. Sunak’s launch video – in which he began with: “Let me tell you a story” – stressed his humble roots, as if in deliberate riposte to reports earlier this year about his immense wealth and his wife’s tax affairs. Those stories – as well as the botched spring statement, which had to be revisited within weeks – appeared to have killed Sunak’s leadership chances, are now being turned to his advantage, as evidence he’s already been through the media mill. Buzzing about at his carefully choreographed leadership launch was Cass Horowitz, the co-founder of creative agency The Clerkenwell Brothers and the person credited with building up Brand Rishi as his special adviser at the Treasury. When Sunak was chancellor, announcements of Treasury policies such as eat out to help out came stamped with his personal signature. For the back-to-work Kickstart scheme, there were even branded hoodies. By contrast to “Rish”, as aides call him, Truss has focused on bolstering her authority, rather than getting down with the kids. As foreign secretary, she has used the splendour of the Foreign Office and the stage of global diplomacy to underline her stateswomanlike qualities. She had already been accused of trying to ape Margaret Thatcher in a series of photoshoots. Since the leadership race kicked off, the comparisons have looked ever more deliberate, most strikingly when she wore a Thatcher-trademark pussy bow blouse in the first televised debate. Truss has also emphasised the extent to which she would take the economy in a different direction – perhaps partly in an attempt to shrug off the sense that she is the continuity Boris candidate, backed by loyalists such as Nadine Dorries. Truss has been firmly controlled in how much media she has done, however – no broadcast interviews, just a few sit-down chats with favoured journalists. Like Boris Johnson, who did little media in the early stages of the 2019 leadership contest, she is firmly focused on winning over MPs in private calls and meetings. The decision by Truss and Sunak to skip Tuesday’s TV leadership debate – effectively pulling the plug on it – underlines the fact that for candidates with a well-established brand and track record, there is little to be gained from inviting further public exposure. For the other, less well-known candidates, the calculus has been different, however, and closer to the adage that any publicity is good publicity. Penny Mordaunt took more questions and came across as more approachable than the stage-managed Sunak or the wooden Truss – and she also submitted herself to a Sky News interview.
Her leadership video, with soundtrack by Holst, and sweeping shots of heroic service personnel and the Red Arrows, urged MPs to choose a new leader, “not just for ourselves, but for all of us”. With no mention of Mordaunt herself until the last few seconds, it seemed to be aimed at creating a general vibe of patriotism and confidence as the backdrop for her bid. Kemi Badenoch, too, without the platform of cabinet experience to draw on, has aimed at raising her profile. She has stressed her humble backstory (teenage burger-flipping is repeatedly mentioned) and straight-talking approach – with some success, judging by Sunday’s ConHome poll, which put her on top among members. Her campaign website carries this quote from her: “I’m putting myself forward in this leadership election because I want to tell the truth. It’s the truth that will set us free.” Team Tugendhat have embraced every scrap of attention available to the outsider remaining in the race. Realistically, he is aiming more at boosting his profile and securing a cabinet post, than becoming the next prime minister. To that end, Tom Tugendhat held a laid-back press conference last week, happily parrying questions from anyone who turned up; and on another occasion, answered questions sent in by the public in a low-tech, Rory Stewart-style video – including whether he still wears army socks (he does). The cancellation of Tuesday’s debate underlines the extent to which at this point, the best-known candidates are targeting their charm offensive on the very niche audience of 357 other Conservative MPs. But whoever wins the keys to No 10 in six weeks’ time, in the depths of a cost of living crisis, producing slick videos, stirring soundtracks and pithy soundbites will not be the key skills required.