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Leadership rivalry between Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt

15 July 2022324 views0

By Thursday afternoon, only Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Tom Tugendhat remain in the running.

While Mordaunt’s popularity is rising amongst the public after she launched her leadership bid earlier in the week, stating:

We’re going to modernize government
We’re going to have a tighter cabinet; we’re going to have ministers of state that have clear and timely deliverables, and are powerful and can reach across Whitehall
We need to build a modern economy
My monetary policy will be on controlling inflation
Our supply side reforms will yield a Brexit dividend on investment, infrastructure, incentives and innovation
On day one, we are going to slash VAT on fuel at the pump by half
We are going to raise income tax thresholds for basic and middle income earners in line with inflation
We are going to create personal budgets to allow every child access to their entitlements to subsidized child care at any time prior to them starting full time school
We are going to create task forces to get a grip on the crisis…in accessing NHS services and dentists … and vitally, stagnation in house building
I want to align government planning cycles with those of business and the charity sector … that will give us huge opportunities to co-fund [and] to do more for our citizens
I want to set up social capital pots that MPs themselves can administer … to serve your communities
I’m going to remove some of the strains on our armed forces..so I’m going to stand up a civil defence force

You can watch the full speech below.

As has been the case with many of the candidates so far, Liz Truss launched her campaign with a pledge to boost the economy through tax cuts.

Media response to the two candidates has been divided. The Guardian published a collective analysis of the Tory leadership race with very little positives to say about either candidate and biased coverage on their policies which have been outlined above:

Penny Mordaunt

Liz Truss

Friday’s media focused on the rivalry between Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt, with many displaying a narrative preference for either side by focusing on Mordaunt’s standing on transgender issues and her Royal Navy credentials, as well as the implications of Truss’s backing from Brexit negotiator David Frost and lawmaker Suella Braverman.