It was only an hour long, but the ITV Conservative leadership debate packed in more than its fair share of controversy – not to mention acrimony. Here are five key takeaways: Everyone hates Rishi Everyone now knows the final runoff of two candidates to be put before the Conservative party membership will come down to Sunak v AN Other. But it was notable that debate centred on him, and when the candidates were given a chance to ask a question of another hopeful, three of the other four picked the former chancellor. The exchanges on taxation and spending were particularly robust, with the others repeatedly attacking Sunak for his tax rises, while he laid into Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt for “fantasy economics of unfunded promises”. At one point he seemed to argue Mordaunt was more leftwing on public borrowing than Jeremy Corbyn, which might come as news to the former Labour leader. Everyone hates Boris even more Again, that is an exaggeration, but only just. Perhaps the most dramatic single moment of the hour came when host Julie Etchingham asked the five to raise a hand if they were willing to have Boris Johnson in their cabinet. Not a hand went up. This is, admittedly, not a prime period for being a Johnsonist, but Sunak, and especially Truss, have previously sung the caretaker PM’s praises. As one observer put it on Twitter, “Et tu, Liz?” The cost of living crisis is not yet being taken seriously The fact that the candidates have first to parade their wares to Tory MPs before getting to show some policy ankle for party members does skew things, but it was notable how general and vague many of the answers were to the first question, about how to tackle the cost of living and energy crisis.
Almost all the candidates used this as a chance to tout their offerings in areas like tax cuts, reducing fuel duty or long-term ideas for the economy, which tend to be either weighted towards the better off, are too slow to work, or both. One of these five will be inside No 10 in early September. They will need some better ideas by then. Heatwave? What heatwave? This is not new in policy terms, but a day before what could well be the first 40C-plus day ever recorded in the UK – part of a wider pattern of extreme weather events that scientists do not doubt is caused by human activity – it was glaring that only one candidate, Sunak, unequivocally backed the net zero by 2050 target for emissions. Two – Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat – were less supportive, especially the former, while both Truss and Mordaunt talked about the target in terms of making sure it did not harm the economy. There is very little sign of the sort of ambition almost every climate scientist believes is needed to transform the economy and stem the crisis. Mudslinging can rebound The overall tone of the debate was not especially edifying, and it was notable that arguably the most uncomfortable moment for both Truss and Badenoch came when Etchingham challenged them over negative tactics. Badenoch stood by her assertion that Mordaunt is either a liar or a fool in their slightly niche disagreement over self-identification for gender, but looked unsettled. As Truss sought to decry dirty tricks, Etchingham helpfully reminded the foreign secretary that her allies are regular sources for hostile briefings about the others. The reputation of rats in sacks rose by comparison.