Tory leadership debate: Kemi demands Penny ‘tell the truth’ & Rishi fires back at Truss as candidates turn on each other

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TORY contenders viciously turned on each other tonight as Kemi Badenoch accused Penny Mordaunt of lying “on the record”.

In a discussion over Ms Mordaunt’s position on trans issues, Ms Badenoch said the Portsmouth North MP was lying over her support of a policy of self-identification.

Kemi Badenoch lashed out at Ms Mordaunt

The panel tore into one another

It came as Ms Mordaunt insisted she had never been in favour of “self ID” as the five contenders battled it out in the first Conservative leadership debate, aired on Channel 4.

But the former Equalities minister lashed back, slamming: “When I took over, the policy being pushed was self ID… something I reversed.”

Tensions soared as Ms Mordaunt insisted Ms Badenoch was wrong and that her comments were “all on the record” as any niceties prior to the debate were thrown aside and the knives were out.

Ms Badenoch disagreed and furiously countered saying Ms Mordaunt’s support “is on record” as the debate boiled over.

Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy then asked Foreign Secretary Liz Truss her thoughts.

But as she answered, Ms Badenoch could be heard shouting: “Tell the truth Liz! Tell the truth!”

Ms Truss was quick to throw her support behind Kemi Badenoch’s position as the pair cornered Brexiteer Mordaunt.

Rows also broke out between ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Tom Tugendhat.

As the panel discussed the hike in National Insurance tax, Mr Tugendhat swiped at Sunak, accusing him of not standing up for the country.

He claimed Sunak told him in private that while he did not support the 1.25 percent hike, he “did it because the boss [Boris Johnson] wanted it“.

But fuming Sunak hit back, slamming: “The Prime Minister was right to want to tackle Covid backlogs.

“And if we invest in public services we have to pay for it.”

Numbers whizz Sunak then unloaded both barrels on Ms Mordaunt as he accused the Tory hopeful of having an unclear economic plan.

He repeatedly questioned her on her reasons as the debate descended into a bloodbath.

Penny Mordaunt previously sparked controversy by saying “trans women are women”.

But she distanced herself from her remarks by saying trans women are “not” biological women “like me”.

She tweeted: “Some want to damage my reputation for whatever reason.“They want to depict me as ‘woke’. I was elected by the no-nonsense, down-to-earth people of Portsmouth North.

“It was a Labour seat. I’ve increased my vote share at each election.”

The final five wannabe PMs made their first big pitch for the top job with everything still to play for .

Rishi Sunak is expected to cruise into the final two after nearly winning the magic number of 120 MPs to guarantee him a spot.

Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Ms Badenoch are fighting tooth and claw to be the main challenger with no side backing down.

Tom Tugendhat is odds on to crash out next after just scraping through the last round with actually fewer votes than the previous ballot.

Ms Badenoch flew out of the blocks today to win support for her leadership bid with swipes at both her rivals and Boris Johnson.

At a punchy online hustings earlier the wildcard Tory candidate said: “Unlike others, I don’t promise things without a plan to deliver.”

She added that unlike some of her rivals she does not have “the baggage” of serving in the Cabinet under Mr Johnson.

She fumed: “I think that when we put things in our manifesto, we need to stick to them.”

She said: “I think having multiple U-turns as a government is incredibly damaging, and means that people don’t know whether we say what we mean.

“And that’s why I keep telling everyone that I am the candidate who tells the truth.”

Ms Truss also drove a dump truck over Mr Sunak’s record as Chancellor to his face by pledging to scrap his National Insurance and Corporation Tax hikes. 

The sniping at the ConservativeHome Zoom hustings came after candidates agreed they should not turn on each other.

The race has become increasingly brutal as rival camps launch furious attacks in an extraordinary display of blue on blue friendly fire 

Despite vowing not to “disparage” her fellow candidates, Truss allies yesterday launched a brutal briefing against Ms Mordaunt.

They have accused her of being “lazy”, ineffective in government and not being straight about her pro-woke views on issues such as trans rights.

Ex-Cabinet Minister and Mordaunt supporter David Davis claimed she was being smeared in a “black ops” campaign.  

Ms Mordaunt – who is now the bookies favourite – this morning said she was refusing to engage in friendly fire on her Tory colleagues.

Hitting back in a Sky News interview she said: “People, obviously, are trying to stop me getting into the final because they don’t want to run against me.”  

Foreign Secretary Ms Trussis urging Ms Badenoch to fold in behind her campaign so not to split the right-wing vote.  

But Brexiteers are rowing amongst themselves on who they should support

Heated texts seen by HOAR show Brexit Tories refusing to follow ERG chair Mark Francois’ orders to back Ms Truss – and are instead backing Ms Badenoch.