A finance minister has said his former boss Rishi Sunak took an “extremely aggressive” approach in the Conservative leadership debate with Liz Truss, after Truss’s allies accused him of “whistling”.
Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury who supports Truss, said Sunak was “certainly extremely aggressive” in parts of the debate. “It was quite a heavy focus in the early parts of last night’s debate,” he told LBC.
But former cabinet minister David Davis defended Sunak, saying he gave sound warnings about the economy.
The two Tory leadership hopefuls traded blows in the BBC debate on tax cuts, China and inflation, with former chancellor Sunak accusing the foreign secretary of seeking “a short-term sugar rush term” cutting national insurance.
Truss accused his former cabinet colleague of raising taxes to their highest level for 70 years.
The exchanges in the BBC debate followed a weekend of deeply personal attacks, with Sunak criticized for his wealth and wardrobe, while Truss faced claims she was financially illiterate and was reminded that it used to be a residence.
Davis repeated warnings made by Sunak that Truss’s economic policies could raise mortgage rates. “I think you have to win the arguments and the arguments that matter, and that’s why the 7% matters,” he told Sky News, referring to Truss’ economic adviser Patrick Minford’s argument in favor of a basic interest rate of 7%. , which could drive up mortgage rates.
“That’s why this matters. It’s very important. The Tory party, in general, is a bit older than average. It’s a bit more middle-class, but not so much these days, but a bit more middle-class. It’s he’s going to worry about things like his kids having to deal with that kind of interest rate in the future, so that matters.”
He defended Sunak’s style of interrupting Truss. “Sometimes it’s important to weigh in on the debates,” he said. “When we’re in the Commons we have these relatively fierce exchanges a lot of the time, all the time.”
Davis added: “This is a debate to find the prime minister of this country. Facing a time when decisions are going to be really difficult… We need the person who a) knows what he stands for, b) is brave enough to take the tough decisions and) is determined enough to do it. And that’s Rishi Sunak.”
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7am
Clarke told Times Radio that Truss believed low taxes would be the route to growth. “Crucially we have to go to the heart of this issue. Do you think tax cuts increase the size of the economy? Do you think they are in themselves something that can create more fiscal space by growing the underlying economy? he told Times Radio.
“The answer to that as a Conservative has to be yes. And that’s the point Liz is making. We need to break with the orthodoxies that have frankly held us back for too long. And we need to get back to the principles that drove government Thatcher, which is that a lower-tax economy is a good in itself, and that’s what Liz is pushing for.”