The memo also criticized Mr. Sunak personally, saying he “lied publicly not once but twice when he tried to explain his wife’s ‘non-domestic'” tax status.
Pointing to the fact that he “secretly held a ‘green card'” to work in the US 18 months after being UK chancellor cast doubt on his claim that “his resignation within minutes of Savid Javid was an unplanned coincidence “, stating that he is “launching his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party with a website domain registered in December 2021”.
Suggesting that Mr. Sunak “is lingering in negative territory in the polls with no realistic prospect of regaining the trust of the 4 in 10 Conservative voters who have been put off by the Johnson administration” appears to be tarring him with Mr. Johnson’s brush , adding: “Like Boris , (he) got a ‘Partygate’ fine from the police for breaking lockdown rules.”
Tax becomes a dividing line
Favorites including Liz Truss, the foreign secretary; Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor; Grant Shapps, Minister for Transport; and Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, all plan to pledge to cut taxes as they seek to exploit the dividing lines between them and Mr Sunak.
Ms Truss, who will launch her campaign on Tuesday, is expected to take the position of reversing Mr Sunak’s controversial rise in national insurance tax, known as the health and social care levy.
On Sunday, former defense secretary Penny Mordaunt announced her candidacy after her successor, Ben Wallace, the favorite according to some polls, withdrew from the race on Saturday.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, is believed to have been urged to side with Brexiteers but faces competition for support from Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch, who are gaining ground on the right wing of the party.
Ms Braverman, the attorney general, has already secured the roasting of prominent outgoing Steve Baker, while Ms Badenoch plans to deliver a campaign speech in the House of Lords on Monday to more than 200 free speech campaigners, including Martina Navratilova and Sharon Davies — who both oppose trans women competing in women’s sports.
Some believe the number of pro-Brexit, fiscally conservative candidates could split the vote to the right, allowing Mr Sunak to gain momentum.
Lord Hague of Richmond, Tory leader from 1997 to 2001, was among senior figures to call for restraint yesterday, saying:
“The party and the country need calm reflection and an opportunity for the candidates to present their positive plans. The Conservatives should be careful not to spend their time undermining some of their own leading figures.’
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