Tories Turn On Themselves As Truss Bids To Stay In Race

Liz Truss has been accused of "black-ops" in her desperate fight to stay in the Tory leadership race, as an ally hit out at MPs who have broken pledges to vote for her.

- Kate Devlin, Rob Merrick, Ashley Cowburn

Two leading supporters of the foreign secretary branded key rival Penny Mordaunt unfit to be prime minister, as the contest turned nasty - undermining her claim to be fighting a clean campaign.

The Tory infighting comes as one senior Truss supporter revealed frustration with MPs who have failed to vote for her as promised, telling The Independent: "This is the most duplicitous lying electorate you have ever come across."

David Frost accused Ms Mordaunt of failing to "master the detail" when she was his deputy as Brexit minister.

The attacks were condemned by David Davis, the former cabinet minister and a Mordaunt backer, as the "clockwork" response to his candidate surging ahead. "Somebody gets ahead and looks to be the real challenger and then the black-ops start," Mr Davis told Sky News, shortly after Ms Mordaunt narrowed Rishi Sunak's early lead.

In contrast, Ms Truss is languishing in third place with just 64 votes behind the 101 for Mr Sunak and 83 for Ms Mordaunt ahead of a weekend of make-or-break live TV debates. But the foreign secretary's campaign was boosted last night by the endorsement of Suella Braverman, who was eliminated from the contest in the second ballot earlier in the day.

Earlier yesterday, Ms Truss raised eyebrows by promising a fresh budget "on day one" of taking power, an event that would take weeks of preparation, while failing to flesh out her promise of a new economic plan. Her campaign has stuttered despite shifting to the right by floating withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights and with a pledge to waive green levies on fuel bills.