Conservative
leadership
Rishi Sunak seeks to revive faltering No 10 bid
by attacking ‘woke nonsense’
Ex-chancellor vows to stop leftwing agitators
‘bulldozing’ British values as Tugendhat backs Truss
Heather
Stewart and Aubrey Allegretti
Fri 29 Jul
2022 23.51 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/29/rishi-sunak-liz-truss-culture-war-woke-nonsense
Rishi Sunak
will seek to revive his flagging bid for the premiership on Saturday by wading
in to a series of so-called culture war issues, vowing to stop “leftwing
agitators” from “bulldozing” British values.
With Liz
Truss the firm favourite ahead of a critical few days in the leadership
contest, and ballot papers set to be received by Conservative party members
from Monday, Sunak will give a speech attacking “woke nonsense”.
While the
former chancellor came first in a vote of Tory MPs, Truss has consistently led
in party members’ polls and won the endorsement of former favourite Ben Wallace
on Thursday, underlining the sense that her campaign is picking up momentum. On
Friday night it was also announced that her former leadership rival Tom
Tugendhat, who popular among Conservative party members and a senior figure in
the One Nation group of centrist Tory MPs, would back Truss. He praised her
plans for tax cuts, saying they were “founded on true conservative principles”.
Sunak has
taken up a series of increasingly hardline positions in a bid to close the gap
with his rival.
Addressing
members in West Sussex on Saturday, he will say: “What’s the point in stopping
the bulldozers in the green belt if we allow leftwing agitators to take a
bulldozer to our history, our traditions and our fundamental values?
“Whether
it’s pulling down statues of historic figures, replacing the school curriculum
with anti-British propaganda or rewriting the English language so we can’t even
use words like ‘man’, ‘woman’ or ‘mother’ without being told we’re offending
someone?”
Sunak will
say that a government led by him would review the 2010 Equality Act and
associated guidance to make clear that “sex means biological sex”.
He will also
pledge to put guidance on relationships and sex education on to a statutory
footing to ensure children are “shielded from inappropriate material”.
It follows
Truss’s promise, at the first leadership hustings on Thursday, to ensure
schools provide single-sex toilets.
Questioned
about the issue by an audience member, Truss said: “I’ve been very clear that
single-sex spaces should be protected, particularly for young people, as well
as vulnerable people … as prime minister I would direct that to happen, because
it’s a difficult time being a teenager, being a young girl, and you should be
able to have the privacy you need in your own loo.”
While Sunak
will insist “we have zero interest in fighting a so-called culture war”, his
announcement appears to be a fresh bid to enthuse Tory grassroots by talking
tough on controversial issues as he fights to remain in the leadership race.
Already in
recent days, Sunak has promised to ban building on the green belt, cap the
number of refugees the UK will accept and double deportations of foreign
criminals. He also said he would slash VAT on domestic fuel to help tackle the
cost of living crisis, in a reversal of his previous position.
With the
contest to become PM increasingly hard-fought and acrimonious, both campaign
teams issued statements on Friday condemning the leak of government documents
and promising to report any such leaks to the cabinet secretary, Simon Case.
Two sources
suggested Case asked for such statements to be released amid concerns about
sensitive cabinet discussions being used for political purposes.
After Truss
was widely viewed as having performed more strongly in Thursday’s hustings in
Leeds, a senior supporter of the foreign secretary claimed some of Sunak’s
backers were now turning on him.
The source
said Sunak’s backers were “kicking themselves” and had believed he was “going
to walk this and that’s why we backed you, but you’re fucking it up”.
Sunak has
been more cautious in setting out tax and spending plans than Truss, promising
Tory members he will not indulge in “fairytales”.
But with
surveys of members suggesting Truss has a commanding lead – 62% to 38%
according to a YouGov poll last week – some of his supporters are now urging
him to be more forthright.
“He’s got
to be absolutely ruthless: she’s getting away with blue murder at the moment on
all sorts of fronts,” said one former cabinet minister who is backing Sunak.
Speaking
about Truss’s poll lead, they added: “If he doesn’t get it to something more
like neutrality in the next few days, it will start to set in concrete.”
Despite
having backed Boris Johnson to the last, Truss has presented herself as the
change candidate, offering a break in economic policymaking – including more
than £30bn of unfunded tax cuts.
She told
reporters on a visit to Norfolk on Friday: “What is risky is carrying on on the
same economic path, which is currently forecast to lead us to recession. That
is the risk. What I’m talking about is unleashing opportunity, unleashing
growth, keeping taxes low.”
Asked if
she was confident of winning the contest, the result of which will be announced
on 5 September, she said: “I’m not at all complacent. I’m fighting for every
vote across the country.”
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Both
candidates are crisscrossing the UK, meeting hundreds of Conservative members
every day, with another 11 hustings to come as well as scores of smaller-scale
events in town halls, pubs and back gardens.
Truss’s
team insisted she would go “full pelt” through the remaining month of the
contest, and was only taking one day off in the next three weeks.
“She’s
loving it,” said a source on her team, who conceded she had not enjoyed the
ill-tempered television debates but relished meeting members.
Sunak
addressed Tory members in Tunbridge Wells on Friday, following hot on the heels
of Truss, who paid a visit to the Kent town last weekend.
His key
messages were “blue meat” policies aimed at motivating the membership,
including the pledge to block housebuilding on the green belt. Sunak also
insisted he would be better-placed than Truss to lead the Tories to victory at
the next election.
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