Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt has been criticized by supporters of her rival Liz Truss, who expressed “serious reservations” about her, as tensions rise in the race for second place in the final leadership ballot.
After Mordaunt usurped Truss to follow Rishi Sunak in Wednesday’s first vote of Conservative MPs, the Foreign Secretary’s allies tried to sow doubts about the Trade Minister’s record on Brexit.
David Frost, who led the UK’s negotiations with the EU, said that when Mordaunt was his deputy “he was not fully responsible or always visible” during talks with Brussels.
“To be honest, I’m pretty surprised that’s where he is in this race,” he told TalkTV on Thursday. “She was my adjunct, theoretically more than really, to the Brexit talks last year.
“I’m sorry to say, she did not master the necessary details in last year’s negotiations. I did not always send difficult messages to the EU when this was necessary and I am afraid it was not fully responsible or always visible. Sometimes I didn’t even know where he was.
“I’m afraid this became such a problem that after six months I had to ask the prime minister to move her and find someone else to support me. From what I saw, I would have serious reservations.”
Simon Clarke, the chief secretary of the Treasury and also a supporter of Truss, said Frost’s warning was “very serious”. “Conservatives, and much more importantly our country, need a proven and prepared leader,” he added.
Another anonymous Truss sponsor said overnight that it was the wrong time to install a prime minister who needed “stabilizers”.
The British public is “fed up” with broken promises, says Penny Mordaunt – video
Mordaunt, who backed Brexit ahead of the 2016 referendum, has tried to rely on those credentials as part of the contest, and told his supporters at the launch of his campaign on Wednesday that he wanted to fully unleash the potential of a ” Brexit dividend “.
Truss is a Brexit convert who was part of George Osborne’s Treasury team during the romance campaign who was accused of placing “fear of the project”.
Truss supporters were surprised Wednesday night because Mordaunt put her in second place with 67 votes, while Foreign Secretary got 50. Sunak was the favorite with 88.
Mordaunt, who had little interaction with the EU during his ministerial career, is not well known in Brussels. Those who have followed his career are not excited about his move to number 10. “We are getting ready [ourselves]Said an EU official. “Not because she was a tough interlocutor. Because her reputation is that she’s totally incompetent. And that won’t help.”
The former defense minister gained prominence in the 2016 EU referendum campaign when he made repeated false claims that the UK could not veto Turkey’s accession to the EU. This week he told LBC that he maintained those comments.
European diplomats are more familiar with other contenders, such as Truss, who has led the push to unilaterally rewrite the Northern Ireland protocol, a step that has taken EU-UK relations to a new low.
Some think the current leader, Rishi Sunak, could take a more pragmatic approach to the protocol, given the potential damage a trade war with the EU would inflict on the already weak UK economy. But few see any prospect of improvement in EU-UK relations.
“We hope that one day it can improve, but we do not see any radical change in any of the candidates,” said a senior EU diplomat. “Even if the style is different, the substance won’t be much different.”
Meanwhile, a battle is being waged between the remaining candidate camps to aspire supporters of those who left: Jeremy Hunt has supported Sunak, but Nadhim Zahawi has remained silent.
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Truss began her leadership campaign with a demonstration on Thursday morning, while the Allies called on contenders Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch to unite behind her.
In an attempt to reinvigorate his campaign to be the next prime minister, Truss was expected to say that his mission continued to be to make the UK “a nation with aspirations, where every child, every person has the best chance of success. “.
Truss has also reiterated his promise to cut taxes, even reversing the recent increase in national insurance, which is intended to pay for social assistance. In an interview with the viewer, he suggested that tax cuts could be paid through additional loans.