Tax Takes Center Stage as Sunak & Mordaunt Lead the Pack In Tory Leadership Race

After Boris Johnson resigned as UK Conservative party leader on 7 July, the race to succeed him began. After nominations for the first stage opened on 12 July, eight contenders were left, competing for the backing of Tory MPs to make the final shortlist of two that will be voted on by party members.

Eight candidates at present remain in the race to succeed Boris Johnson, who stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 July. After nominations to get on the ballot opened on Tuesday, those who wanted to stand needed at least 20 nominations from their fellow Tory MPs by 18:00 BST on 12 July to make it to the next stage.

Former Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, and junior minister Rehman Chishti announced they were pulling out after failing to garner enough support from MPs. Later in the day Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, also pulled out announcing he was backing frontrunner Rishi Sunak.

As the first round of voting gets under way on Wednesday 13 July between 13:30 and 15:30 BST, with candidates needing no fewer than 30 votes from their fellow MPs, the candidates still on course to reach No 10 are:

Rishi Sunak

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is at present the bookmakers' favourite in the race for No 10.

As deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab introduced him at the formal launch of his bid on Tuesday, hailing him as “a true Conservative, imbued with the values of enterprise, hard work and family. Rishi’s values are our values.”

Rishi Sunak began by refusing to “demonise” Johnson, or “deny his efforts".

"I am running a positive campaign focused on what my leadership can offer our party and our country. I will not engage in the negativity ... If others wish to do that, then let them. That's not who we are," he stated.

In the wake of the “partygate” scandal, Sunak, alongside Johnson, had been slapped with a fine by London's Metropolitan Police for attending a gathering in the PM’s Downing Street office that broke coronavirus lockdown rules.

The 42-year-old also found himself plunged in the crosshairs earlier this year when it emerged that his multi-millionaire Indian wife held non-dom status, allowing her to avoid paying tax in the United Kingdom.

Sunak had also admitted to holding a US green card while already serving as Chancellor. These contentious facts brought Sunak down to the bottom of the April chart compiled by the ConservativeHome website.

As for his economic strategy, it has been based on fiscal discipline, resulting in what has been called the biggest tax burden for the UK since the Fifties.

In his first campaign interview, Sunak immediately weighed in on the so-called "tax bidding war" that has dominated the agenda for the past few days, saying: “We will cut taxes and we will do it responsibly. That’s my economic approach. I would describe it as common sense Thatcherism.”

During his leadership campaign pitch on Tuesday, Rishi Sunak vowed to tackle inflation, which hit a 40-year high of 9.1 percent in May, before eyeing tax cuts.

"It is not credible to promise lots more spending and lower taxes," Sunak stated, adding, "As is the fact that once we've gripped inflation, I will get the tax burden down. It is a question of when, not if.”

On other issues, such as immigration, Sunak, who is of Indian heritage, has voiced the belief that Britain must control its borders. He has been cited by UK media as intending to retain the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda if he reached No 10.

"We need to build a new consensus on people coming to our country. Yes to hard-working, talented innovators, but crucially, control of our borders," he said in his campaign speech.

Sunak also vowed to protect women's rights in his campaign speech, saying he would seek to “ensure women and girls enjoy the same freedom most males take for granted in feeling safe from assault and abuse."

Sunak’s team was forced to deny reports that they had urged some of his supporters to lend their votes to Jeremy Hunt, the former Health Secretary, to help him over the line on Tuesday.

“This is categorically untrue and we hope all candidates and supporters will campaign on their own merits rather than attempting to smear opponents,” a Sunak ally was cited by UK media as saying.

Johnson loyalist, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who announced her support for Liz Truss on Tuesday, claimed that “dirty tricks/a stitch up/dark arts” had helped get Hunt into the final eight.

This is dirty tricks/a stitch up/dark arts. Take your pick. Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two and that is @Jeremy_Hunt https://t.co/y5VDoLXMzY

— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) July 12, 2022

She posted on Twitter that “Team Rishi” wanted a candidate they can definitely beat in the final two, “and that is Jeremy Hunt”.

Penny Mordaunt

Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt has been dubbed by some analysts as the “dark horse” in the Tory leadership race. She is one of the candidates who is strongly relying on promises of tax cuts in her bid.

"Whilst I will cut taxes, I will pioneer sound money, with a key fiscal rule to ensure that debt as a percentage of GDP falls over time," she stated.

Mordaunt, who campaigned for the 'Vote Leave' group during the 2016 Brexit referendum, has vowed to introduce an immediate 50 percent cut in VAT on fuel lasting until April 2023 if she is elected. According to her, this could be funded by increased VAT revenues.

The 49-year-old Mordaunt is also pledging to raise the tax thresholds for basic and middle earners, to bring it in line with inflation which is predicted to reach 11 percent later in the year.

"My government will focus on getting inflation under control, working closely with the independent Bank of England. We cannot risk spiraling wages and prices that lead to lower standards of living and loss of jobs," Mordaunt emphasized.

Liz Truss

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has built her pitch for Tory leadership on what she touted as a clean break with the economic policies of the government of Boris Johnson, and also wielded tax cuts as central to addressing the cost of living crisis.

"I would start cutting taxes from day one to take immediate action to help people deal with the cost of living. It isn't right to be putting up taxes now," Truss stated in The Telegraph.

Truss said she would reverse the controversial national insurance hike that had been brought in by former chancellor Sunak in April. In a nod to Sunak’s previously announced plans to hike corporation tax in April 2023, she said she would “keep tax competitive”.

Regarding the economy, she has promised to get the country "back on track towards becoming a high-growth and high-productivity powerhouse", including through "bold supply-side reform".

As for the contentious Rwanda migrant deportation plan, Truss has refrained from publicly commenting on it, but, notably, was a member of the cabinet that approved it.

During her stint as Trade Secretary, Truss secured a spate of mini trade deals but legislation she introduced in parliament to unilaterally override some post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland brought her both support and censure. This is a policy stance she is anticipated to pursue, despite it serving to deepen tensions between the UK and the EU.

After the Wednesday ballot, further voting will take place over the next few days to whittle the number down to only two candidates before the 21 July deadline ahead of the summer recess at the House of Commons.

These two will proceed to a full ballot of around 160,000 Conservative Party members over the summer, with the final result expected on 5 September.