- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
WITH the final lap in the race for the next prime minister of the UK intensifying between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, instances of personal attacks have started emerging.
Sunak, who appeared to be losing ground against Truss, the foreign secretary, in the prestige battle to succeed Boris Johnson who stepped down on July 7, was found launching a fightback with his supporters urging members of the ruling Conservative Party to delay their voting plans till they saw more of the former exchequer of the treasury take on Truss in more debates, The Guardian reported.
ALSO READ: Race for Downing Street: Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss squabble over tax
The former’s campaign team was drawing up emergency plans to reverse what one observer called a “worrying trend” after Truss went ahead by 24 percentage points in polling of the Conservative members.
Sunak warns Truss an election risk as UK PM race enters new phase
They feel “Truss is mental” and that will be exposed at the hustings where Sunak would shine.
Several media appearances and visits of the two candidates are expected over the next fortnight besides many hustings where Sunak and Truss will be seen going head to head during their six-week campaign, The Guardian report said, adding that Sunak’s camp said that while the members of the party would be able to vote from August 1, they would not requested not to write off the former exchequer till the contest’s climax.
“We all think she [Truss] is going to be so bad at the hustings that members will change their minds,” one source backing Sunak told The Guardian. Another said, “He will shine at the hustings, whereas Truss is mental and will be found out.”
About 160,000 members will have a say over who would become the next British prime minister when they receive ballots between August 1 and 5. They can either vote immediately or can wait till the closure of the deadline, which is September 1.
It’s still a long walk till Britain finds its new occupant of 10 Downing.
