Third Tory Leadership Debate Cancelled After Rishi Sunak And Liz Truss Pull Out Over Concerns Of Damaging Party
The third TV debate in the Tory leadership contest has been cancelled (Alamy)
3 min read
The third televised Tory leadership debate has been cancelled after the frontrunners to become the next Prime Minister announced they are pulling out of the programme.
Sky News confirmed the programme, originally scheduled for Tuesday, would be axed after former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss were understood to have pulled out over fears that the intra-Conservative attacks that dominated the first two debates are damaging the party’s brand.
During debates on Friday and Sunday evenings, Truss and Sunak repeatedly clashed on their plans for the economy, as pleas for a clean campaign appeared to have been ignored.
Former Tory chairman Brandon Lewis wrote in The Times that a “divided party cannot win elections”, adding that “the contest has been plagued by allegations of dark arts and dirty tricks” which will only help Labour win the next election.
Ahead of the next round of voting by MPs on Monday afternoon, the Truss campaign confirmed they did not want to take part in a third debate.
"It is not the right time to be doing more debates when this part of the contest only has 358 voters,” a Truss campaign source said.
“The broadcasters should stop squabbling amongst themselves. The Channel 4 debate in particular was a massive mistake and candidates were wrong to take part in it.”
Sunak also appeared unlikely to take part in Sky's televised Tory leadership debate, campaign sources have said.
"We are very happy to do more debates if we are lucky enough to get to the next stage," a Sunak campaign source said.
The source also argued this did not represent a change in thinking, as the campaign never confirmed with Sky that Sunak would be taking place.
Sky issued a statement confirming the debate would be cancelled shortly after reports of Truss and Sunak's reticence emerged.
"Two of the three candidates currently leading in the MPs ballots – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – have confirmed to Sky News that they do not want to take part," the broadcaster said.
"Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative Party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party.
"Both are very welcome to taking part in future Sky News televised debates. Sky News has campaigned for an independent commission to organise the running of TV debates between leaders of Britain’s main parties."
A source in Tom Tugendhat's campaign, one of the other five candidates left in the contest, told PoliticsHome after the announcement: "It’s important that candidates are able to scrutinise each others’ views and policies.
"After all they are pitching themselves to the electorate as well as the Conservative party. Healthy and robust debate is good for democracy."
Penny Mordaunt's campaign said: "Media scrutiny is important in this contest. Penny has done broadcast and allowed time for journalists to ask questions at her launch.
"MPs aren’t just picking a new leader, but picking the nations new PM. Penny hopes there will be ample opportunity for such scrutiny later in the contest in a format that allows detailed questions and insights.”
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