Conservative leadership TV debate shelved amid infighting

LONDON • Television bosses yesterday were forced to scrap a third planned debate between contenders for the leadership of Britain's Conservative Party, as MPs voted again to narrow down the field.

The five remaining candidates - Mr Rishi Sunak, Ms Liz Truss, Ms Kemi Badenoch, Ms Penny Mordaunt and Mr Tom Tugendhat - had been due to appear in the televised debate tonight.

But former finance minister Sunak and Foreign Secretary Truss pulled out, said Sky News, which was due to host the programme.

"Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative Party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party," it added in a statement.

Conservative MPs are holding a series of votes to whittle down the candidates to just two, before a wider ballot of the party grassroots. The latest vote was to start at 1600 GMT, with Mr Tugendhat expected to get the least number of votes and be eliminated when the result is announced from 1900 GMT.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on July 7 that he was quitting as Conservative leader after a government rebellion against his scandal-hit administration.

He is staying on as prime minister until his successor is announced on Sept 5.

In the two previous televised debates - on Channel 4 last Friday and the ITV network on Sunday - the contenders clashed notably on whether to cut taxes to help ease a soaring cost of living crisis.

But Sunday's clash turned more acrimonious - and personal - with candidates encouraged to directly criticise one another and their proposals.

Mr Sunak called out Ms Truss for voting against Brexit, her previous membership of the Liberal Democrats, and her position on tax. In turn, Ms Truss questioned Mr Sunak's stewardship of the economy. Ms Truss, who has proposed plans to axe increases in payroll tax and corporation tax at a cost of over £30 billion (S$50 billion) a year, said Mr Sunak had raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years. "Raising taxes at this moment will choke off economic growth," she said in the debate.

Mr Sunak retorted, saying he would "love to cut tax" but it would come at a cost of higher inflation. "This something-for-nothing economics isn't conservative, it's socialism," he said.

Ms Truss' campaign tried to buttress their argument by pointing to a report by the CEBR (Centre for Economic and Business Research), a private think-tank, showing there was more room for manoeuvre from higher tax receipts.

Ms Badenoch attacked Ms Mordaunt for her stance on transgender rights - a rallying call in the "culture wars" that is exercising the Tory right.

Mr Paul Goodman, from the ConservativeHome website, likened the debates to a political version of The Hunger Games and questioned why they agreed to it.

"Tory MPs and activists will have watched in horror as several of the candidates flung buckets of manure over each other," he wrote.

He also questioned why the five candidates would publicly accept to criticise the record of the government that all but one of them had served in or the policies they supported as ministers.

The main opposition Labour Party has called for Mr Johnson to leave immediately. Its leader, Mr Keir Starmer, called the two candidates' withdrawal from the debate a sign of a party that was "out of ideas (and) out of purpose".

"Pulling out of a TV debate when you want to be prime minister doesn't show very much confidence," he added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS