Kwasi Kwarteng, a cabinet ally of Liz Truss, has joined opposition parties in accusing Rishi Sunak of having “flip-flopped and U-turned” with a new tax pledge to temporarily scrap VAT on all domestic fuel – a move he voted against earlier this year as it would “disproportionately benefit wealthier households”.
The ex-chancellor’s bid to the low-tax favouring Tory faithful – who will soon cast deciding votes over which of the pair should succeed Boris Johnson – came as the foreign secretary’s “incoherent” pledge to impose targets for police to cut murders by a fifth was criticised by senior policing figures.
In yet another appeal to the heavily right-wing Tory selectorate, who are likely to be swayed by culture war issues, Ms Truss’s allies seized on a report in the Daily Telegraph claiming that in 2020 her special adviser wrote to Dominic Cummings urging him to scrap hundreds of “woke” civil service posts.
It comes after the second live head-to-head debate was cancelled after moderator Kate McCann fainted 30 minutes into the broadcast.
