The end is finally in sight in the Tory leadership race.
After a summer of vicious infighting which has seen two former cabinet colleagues tear strips off each other, Liz Truss is expected to be named Prime Minister early next month.
Her wooing of the Tory party’s right wing is expected to propel her through the doors of Downing Street – but there’s no doubt her rival has landed some damaging blows along the way.
Rishi Sunak has been given plenty of open goals to shoot for during the campaign – not least when Ms Truss announced an astonishing policy to cut the pay of teachers and NHS workers outside London and the South East.
He’s also been scathing of the Foreign Secretary’s economic plans, warning they could force millions into destitution.
And in a race which has seen both pitch their Thatcherite credentials, Mr Sunak could barely contain his glee at having been endorsed by figures close to the infamous Tory PM, including her chancellor Nigel Lawson.
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If Ms Truss struggles to get a grip on the crisis quickly, expect to see Mr Sunak’s words used against her by opponents.
Here are a few of the most damaging things Mr Sunak has said during the weeks of blue-on-blue squabbling.
‘Moral failure’ to support anxious pensioners
The former Chancellor did not hold back about his rival’s lack of a plan to protect pensioners through the difficult months ahead.
Tax cuts, he pointed out, would offer them nothing, and Ms Truss has done little to provide reassurance to those anxious about support on offer.
Mr Sunak said: “Millions of pensioners this autumn and winter are going to have an extraordinarily tough time.
“They don’t have the ability to go out and work more hours. They’re already dipping into their savings in retirement.
“And as I said then and I’ll say it again, if we don’t provide direct support to millions of vulnerable pensioners, it will be a moral failure of this party and the country will never ever forgive us.”
Liz Truss ‘putting millions at risk of destitution’
This is quite an accusation to make against a fellow Tory.
Speaking at a hustings event in Cheltenham, he said: “We are going to, as a Conservative Government, leave millions of incredibly vulnerable people at the risk of real destitution.”
Explaining how the tax cuts could help someone on the Foreign Secretary’s salary, he said: “So scrapping the health and social care levy, as she wants to do, is worth £1,700 to her on her salary.
“For someone working really hard on the national living wage, it’s worth just over a quid a week. And for someone who’s a pensioner, without any earnings, it’s worth zero.
“Now I want to provide direct support to those groups of people.”
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‘Borrowing your way out of inflation is a fairy tale’
This feels like a long time ago now, but people who have been following the contest since the start will remember the first TV debate, when there were five candidates still in the race.
Even then, Mr Sunak had his sights set on Ms Truss, and was clearly appalled at her tax cut plans, which he said would be based on borrowing billions of pounds.
He said: “Borrowing your way out of inflation isn’t a plan, it’s a fairy tale.”
‘People who understand Thatcher’s economics support me’
Both candidates have been bending over backwards to show they’re fans of the Iron Lady.
Ms Truss has made no secret of her admiration for Margaret Thatcher, speaking gushingly about her on several occasions.
It will have been a source of glee for Mr Sunak, then, that some of those close to the controversial former Prime Minister have aligned themselves with him.
In a dig at Ms Truss, Mr Sunak said: “All these people who understand Margaret Thatcher’s economics (referring to her former Chancellor Nigel Lawson and Tory grandee Norman Lamont) are supportive of my economic plan.”
He added: “Millions of people are going to face the risk of destitution this winter, literally millions. And if we don’t do anything to avert that I think it would be a moral failure of the Conservative government.”
‘Dangerously complacent’ to ignore Nicola Sturgeon
One of Ms Truss’s more controversial moments on the campaign trail was to dismiss Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as an “attention seeker”, saying the best way to deal with her was to “ignore her”.
Mr Sunak was quick to point out how dangerously stupid this approach was – saying the Government can’t just “bury our heads in the sand”.
If her lack of diplomacy causes problems in the future, people may point back to Mr Sunak’s remarks.
He said: “Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP pose an existential threat to our cherished union. Arguing that we should ignore them is dangerously complacent. We can’t just bury our heads in the sand and pretend they aren’t there – we need to stop them in their tracks.
“That’s exactly what I would do as prime minister – holding the SNP to account for its failings and personally ensuring that the UK Government has a laser focus on delivering for every part of our United Kingdom.”
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UK ‘needs a Prime Minister who voted for Brexit’
Brexit still looms large over the Tory party.
Mr Sunak probably thought he was on safe ground by pointing out that Ms Truss backed the Remain camp – a decision she later claimed to have regretted.
But her hard line stance since the vote and her support for the controversial Northern Ireland protocol bill earned her the support of Brexit fanatics including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Suella Braverman.
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But will her Brexit credentials be questioned within her party in the future?
Mr Sunak said in July: “If we are to deliver on the promise of Brexit, we are going to need someone who actually understands Brexit, believes in Brexit and voted for Brexit.”
Cost of living plans are ‘as clear as mud’
Mr Sunak’s team has been very vocal about the fact that Ms Truss appears to have no clear plan to tackle the cost of living crisis.
In one scathing statement from his team, the Rishi campaign lashed out at his rival’s apparent flip-flopping about handouts.
A spokesperson said: “Truss’s plan to ease the cost of living squeeze for families and the most vulnerable is as clear as mud. First she said no handouts, but now she is saying she’ll provide handouts.
“She pledged tax cuts for everyone, but is now against using ‘blunt instruments’ that benefit ‘high earners’.
“It’s not good enough to say wait until late September. Families need certainty now – bills are going to go up and wages have taken a hammer blow from rising inflation.
“Liz needs to come clean on her cost of living plans so pensioners and hard working families know now if they will lose out.”
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‘Public would expect us to be scrutinised’
Another area where the two candidates disagree is whether to reappoint a government ethics advisor.
In June Lord Geidt quit the most thankless job in politics, as ethics advisor to Boris Johnson, after a number of fall-outs.
Since then the position has been unfilled, and Ms Truss said she was not minded to appoint anyone to replace him.
Mr Sunak said he would, adding that the public expect the government to be thoroughly scrutinised.
He said: “I would reappoint the independent advisor on ethics and I would make sure they had the power and responsibility to hold leaders to account.”
Sticking to ‘failed orthodoxy’ with tax cut plans
Mr Sunak accused the Foreign Secretary of sticking to “failed orthodoxy” with her planned tax returns.
He told BBC’s Today programme earlier this month: “It’s my opponent in this contest who wants to stick with the failed orthodoxy of having these ultra low corporation tax rates.
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“You know what, they don’t work in increasing business investment in this country. We’ve tried it for a decade. It hasn’t raised growth, it hasn’t improved business investment, it hasn’t improved business innovation and R&D.”
And he rounded off by stating: “What she’s suggesting is entirely sticking with the failed orthodoxy of the last decade.”
IFS drives ‘coach and horses’ through Truss’s plans
After analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) raised serious questions about Ms Truss’s figures, Mr Sunak’s campaign seized on the opportunity to have a dig.
On August 18 a campaign spokesman said: “This drives a coach and horses through Liz’s economic plan. Rishi has consistently made the case that permanent, unfunded tax cuts would cause significant damage to the public finances and push inflation up higher.
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“It is not credible or Conservative to spend £50bn on tax cuts and pay for them through higher borrowing at a time of high inflation.
“Rishi’s plan is the right plan to prioritise temporary, targeted support for those who need it through the winter, grip inflation and cut taxes sustainably and for good.”
Liz Truss’s massive pay cut blunder
Mr Sunak was presented with an open goal when Ms Truss catastrophically put forward a policy that would have seen public servants outside London and the South East forced to a take a pay cut.
The plan to create regional pay boards and slash wages in areas where the cost of living is lower was scrapped amid a major backlash.
Ms Truss blamed the media for “misrepresenting” the policy, but she has yet to explain why she didn’t explain it rather than scrapping it.
On the day Mr Sunak’s campaign put out quotes highlighting just want a bad idea Ms Truss had stumbled on.
In one email, the Ready4Rishi team included a quote from Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, who said: “There is simply no way you can do this without a massive pay cut for 5.5m people including nurses, police officers and our armed forces outside London.”
“ Liz Truss ’s campaign is explicit that their savings target is only possible ‘if the system were to be adopted for all public sector workers’.”
“This is a ticking time bomb set by team Truss that will explode ahead of the next general election.”