Tory leadership debate – live: Rivals to go head-to-head on ITV as Mordaunt hits out at ‘smears’

Tonight’s second Tory leadership debate will be televised live on ITV at 7pm.

The debate will also be streamed live on the ITV Hub, as well as through the ITV News website, YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter.

If you can’t watch it live, you can catch up later on the ITV Hub.

Is this going to be the Conservative Party’s David Miliband moment? It looks as if the final two candidates will be Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, with the main uncertainty in the next few days being the battle for third place between Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch.

Then it will be up to Conservative members to make the final choice. A YouGov poll of members this week suggested that Mordaunt was preferred to Sunak by a large margin, 67 to 28 per cent, and she is consequently the betting favourite, writes John Rentoul.

The Tories are in danger of rejecting their David Miliband: the well-qualified leader tainted by his association with the old regime. Mordaunt is their Ed: the new face appealing to a party that yearns to be liberated from the constraints of reality.

Penny Mordaunt has repeated her notorious false claim that the UK was unable to stop Turkey joining the EU – insisting the veto would not have been used.

The Tory leadership contender, who also faces accusations of dishonesty over her stance on trans rights, was accused of ignoring “actual facts” that the EU treaty granted a block on new members.

Confronted with an interview from the 2016 Brexit referendum – when the Leave campaign was seeking to stir up alarm about migrants from Turkey – Ms Mordaunt replied: “The clip says it as I see it.”

Tory leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has claimed she is the victim of “smears” following fresh claims about her views on transgender issues.

The international trade minister rejected claims she had ever pursued a policy of self-identification for trans people seeking to legally change gender after press reports appeared to cast doubt on her earlier denials.

In the first televised debate on Friday, Ms Mordaunt clashed with Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch after they claimed they had been responsible for reversing the policy which she championed as an equalities minister.

The harsh truth is that whatever their aspirations are, they can only be successful if the economy is successful, writes Hamish McRae.

The Daily Mail’s deputy editor John Stevens reports that Liz Truss has not done any broadcast interviews during the Tory leadership campaign.

Every other candidate has appeared before some form of broadcast media, with Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt appearing today on the BBC. Kemi Badenoch and Rishi Sunak have also made themselves available for interview.

Rob Burley, executive editor of Tonight With Andrew Marr, added that he was told the Truss’s team has no plans for any interviews this week either.

Attorney General Suella Braverman said there “will be a bit more borrowing” under the tax cut plans outlined by Liz Truss.

Ms Braverman has offered her support to the Foreign Secretary’s campaign after she was knocked out of the Tory leadership contest.

Told Ms Truss promised approximately £30 billion of tax cuts in the first leadership debate, Ms Braverman told Times Radio: “Liz has worked in the Treasury in a senior position and when she says she wants to cut taxes, I entirely agree with her.”

Asked if that will mean more borrowing, the Conservative MP replied: “Not necessarily entirely based on more borrowing, I think there will be a bit more borrowing but we will be able to grow our way out of the issue to afford tax cuts.

“We know that when we cut taxes there is more investment by the private sector, there are more jobs, there is more return to the Exchequer.”

Ms Braverman also said Ms Truss is taking a “common sense approach to identity politics”, adding: “She knows what a woman is, which is becoming worryingly rare these days in political debate.”