The battle to replace Boris Johnson has been “bruising” and “unpleasant”, the former Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Thursday, as the two Tory leadership candidates prepared to go head-to-head in the latest live TV debate on Sky.
Mr Javid gave frontrunner Liz Truss’s campaign a further boost on Wednesday when he announced he was backing the Foreign Secretary over Rishi Sunak to be the next party leader and the UK’s new Prime Minister
But the ex-minister, whose resignation from Mr Johnson’s cabinet last month, helped trigger a ministerial mutiny which brought down the Prime Minister, admitted the campaign had exposed divisions in the Conservative party that needed to be fixed.
Speaking on Times Radio, Mr Javid said: “The contest itself..at some times has it been unpleasant, a bit bruising? It has been and I think that wherever that comes from, that’s not necessary and people should compete on their policies and then put the best case forward about why they should be the leader.”
In an earlier interview with LBC, Mr Javid explained why he thought Foreign Secretary Ms Truss was best placed to reunite the party. He said the Tory party has not been in a “very good place in the last few months” and added: “We need to fix things and get a new leader in place as quickly as possible but that leader needs to be the right person to deal with the challenges we have.”
The 90 minute Sky debate, being chaired by Kay Burley, is the first time the candidates have taken part in a televised showdown since last week’s debate hosted by The Sun and Talk TV was cut short after host Kate McCann fainted half way through. An earlier BBC debate was marked by acrimonious exchanges between the two rivals which led to accusations from Ms Truss’s allies that the former Chancellor had been “mansplaining” and engaging in “shouty public school behaviour”.
Since then the tone of the debate between Ms Truss and Mr Sunak has improved as the pair work their way through a series of hustings with the party members who will choose the next tory leader around the country.
Ms Truss has also apparently forged further ahead in the contest with a new unweighted poll from ConservativeHome showing she has a 32 point lead over Mr Sunak. A YouGov poll on Wednesday showed Ms Truss had 34-percentage point lead over the former chancellor.
Mr Javid’s endorsement for Ms Truss is seen at Westminster as a major blow for Mr Sunak. The pair worked closely when Mr Javid was chancellor and their double resignation last month was widely viewed as a co-ordinated effort to force Mr Johnson out of No10.
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But announcing his decision in The Times, Mr Javid took aim at his former Treasury colleague, saying the nation risks “sleepwalking into a big-state, high-tax, low-growth, social democratic model which risks us becoming a middle-income economy by the 2030s”.
Challenged about his decision to back Ms Truss he said he believed she was best placed to reunite the party, has a better plan on the economy and is the best candidate to beat Labour at the next general election. But he did warn that whoever becomes the next Prime Minister faced an “unenviable” series of challenges when they eventually enter No10 on September 6.
Asked about the cost of living crisis on LBC, Mr Javid said: “I think it’s just a reminder to us all of the challenges that the new Prime Minister will face. The in-tray for that Prime Minister, is unenviable.
“Whether it’s the economy, cost of living or internationally, if you look at Russia and China, for example. And so it’s about picking the right leader and we’ve got two great credible candidates. But we have to make a choice and for me and I think for many people now the clear choice is Liz Truss.”
