Appearing in front of a Channel 4 studio hearing, Ms Truss and Ms Badenoch accused Ms Mordaunt of having supported self-identification when she was responsible for equality issues, which she flatly denied.
The international trade minister said that although she had conducted a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act, she had never been in favor of self-identification.
I take it as a great compliment that no one wants to run against me
“I can’t imagine why people don’t understand what I’m saying and it’s been regurgitating this problem for weeks and weeks,” he said.
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“I’m a woman, I’m a biological woman in every cell of my body,” she said, adding that a man who had made the transition “wasn’t the same as me.”
However, Ms Badenoch, the former equality minister, said she found it difficult to accept her rival’s story.
“When I took over as Minister of Equality in 2020, what was being driven was self-identification. I don’t understand how this would have changed if someone else hadn’t done it. My understanding was that the former minister who had the role that she had wished (Ms. Mordaunt) self-identification, “he said.
(PA Graphics) / PA Graphics
Mrs Mordaunt replied: “It is not correct. All this will be recorded.”
However, Ms Truss, who was also responsible for equality along with her role as foreign secretary, said there had been a plan to move forward with self-identification.
“I believe in women’s rights, I also believe transgender people should be treated with respect, so I changed the outcome to make the program simpler and kinder, but not move forward with self-identification,” she said.
Earlier, Mordaunt said the attacks showed she was the candidate to win.
“I take it as a big compliment that no one wants to run against me,” he said.
There were more tax clashes when former Chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his Treasury record while attacking Mr Mordaunt and Mrs Truss for their promised cuts.
Stressing the need to control inflation, he said: “We can’t make it worse, inflation is the enemy that makes everyone poorer.
“I don’t think the person responsible for doing it right now is to embark on a series of indebtedness without financing and more debt, this will only make inflation worse, it will prolong the problem.”
Mrs Truss blamed the Bank of England, saying “we have inflation because of our monetary policy, we have not been tough enough with the money supply, this is the way I would approach this problem”.
Mr Sunak told him: “Borrowing the way out of inflation is not a plan, it is a fairy tale.”
Mrs Truss replied: “I think it is a mistake to raise taxes.”
Earlier, Tom Tugendhat tried to assess the fact that he was the only candidate with no ministerial experience.
“We need a break from Johnson’s years. That’s why I’m here. We need to make sure we can trust our politicians,” he said.
He received applause from the audience when, alone among the candidates, he answered the question that Boris Johnson was an “honest man” with a single answer word “No.”