Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have been taking part in a second Tory leadership hustings in Exeter as they try to win over party members
Penny Mordaunt - who came third in the leadership contest - has backed Liz Truss in her bid to become the next prime minister
She says she is the "hope candidate" and says it is "her authenticity, her determination, her ambition for country" that makes Truss the best candidate
Earlier, former Tory leader William Hague urged party members to back the "highly disciplined" and "rational" ex-chancellor
Conservative members have until the beginning of next month to cast their ballot, with the winner announced on 5 September
Image source, ReutersTruss is asked if she has any doubts in her ability to be PM.
"No, I do not," she replies.
She notes her experience as foreign and trade secretary.
"There will be tough times but I know I can deal with difficult situations. I can get the job done and I'm completely determined and resolute."
After Penny Mordaunt announced she was backing Liz Truss at tonight's event in Exeter, the leadership candidate has just rewarded Mordaunt's loyalty, describing her as "brilliant".
She says Mordaunt ran a fantastic leadership campaign.
Asked if her support is a problem for her leadership bid, Truss says she needs "all the best players on the pitch".
Paul Barltrop
BBC West of England Political Editor
Image source, PA MediaI’m alongside Conservative party members in the gallery - trying to gauge how the candidates are going down with the thousand-strong audience.
Both have, not surprisingly, been peppering their speeches with plenty of crowd-pleasing pledges. In terms of applause both seem to be getting plenty of audible support.
Clearly there are many here with their minds already made up. Both contenders must hope there are still plenty of floating voters to be won over.
Sunak finishes by referencing his record during the pandemic.
As chancellor, he says "you saw me ripping up the rule book” to save business and save jobs.
He vows to bring the “same energy” if he becomes prime minister.
He says he will give "everything - my heart and soul".
Image source, PA MediaRishi Sunak's family history has been key to his campaign.
He's just spoken again about how his family arrived in Britain as immigrants and how they were able to "build a better life".
"Family means everything," he says, before describing how his dad was a local GP and his mum ran a chemist.
He added that education was the best way to remove inequality and provide opportunities.
Patriotism, service, family, hard work and aspiration are his family's values, he says.
"These are Conservative values... mine is a Conservative story," he says.
Dr Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset, is now up and has backed Rishi Sunak.
He says a prime minister should be picked not just on policy, but character.
He lauds his performance as chancellor during the pandemic, making "difficult but vital decisions", including the furlough scheme.
Fox remembers spending 13 years in opposition to Labour and says Sunak has the ability to win over swing voters and stop a Labour coalition "tearing our nation apart".
Rajdeep Sandhu
Westminster correspondent, BBC News
Image source, ReutersMP Penny Mordaunt greets Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss during a hustings event in Exeter
Liz Truss seems to be on a roll she's been announcing new supporters nearly every day.
Tonight it's Penny Mordaunt.
She's thought to be popular with conservative members and was battling with Liz Truss for a place in this race.
So getting her support will feel like a big boost. It helps to solidify Liz Truss as the front-runner in this race and keep up the momentum.
While Liz Truss welcomed her support and called Penny Mordaunt a friend, it wasn't always so smooth.
During the earlier contest it was Liz Truss' supporters publicly throwing doubt on Penny Mordaunt's track record in government and her work ethic.
But it looks like that's all behind them now. According to Mordaunt, Truss is the candidate of hope.
Image source, ReutersLeadership candidate Liz Truss has told the audience at the second hustings in Exeter that she's a "fighter".
She added she's not from a "traditional Conservative background", attended a comprehensive school and knows what it's like to see young people being let down.
She pledged to do something about the "appalling waste of talent in this country".
She described herself as a "straight-talking Yorkshire woman" and said she will channel the spirit of the Lionesses, who won Euro 2022 for England yesterday.
She said they "fought bravely and got things done".
Liz Truss is now up.
She vows to take back Tiverton and Honiton from the Lib Dems, who won the seat in a recent by-election, if she becomes prime minister.
She says she'd "never, ever, ever, allow them to encroach in the southwest again".
Mordaunt says that she "could have remained undeclared" in the race.
"I could be off sipping pina coladas right now. But I'm not. I'm here with you, because this is too important. And I'm not going to leave this to chance," she tells the audience.
"I came third in this contest. I owe it to all of you to be a signpost, not a weathervane. So, I've made my choice. And I know it's difficult, because I like both candidates.
"They are both good Conservatives who love their country. And they've both done what they thought was right for the right reasons."
But, Mordaunt says, she decided to go for Truss due to "her graft, her authenticity, her determination, her ambition for country, her consistency and sense of duty".
Penny Mordaunt - who came third in the leadership contest - has taken to the stage and has backed Liz Truss.
Despite having respect for both candidates, Mordaunt belives Truss is the right person to "clobber our opponents" and embodies the values of the party.
She also credits Truss' "resolve to stand up against tyranny and fight for freedom", in reference to her handling of the Ukraine war.
In short, it's the Conservative Party members - the very people Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will be presenting themselves to tonight.
So who are the members?
We don't know exactly how many there are - because they won't tell us - but it is around 160,000, or about 0.3% of the total UK electorate.
Like members of the other major parties, Tories tend to be older, more middle class and more white than the rest of the population.
Professor Tim Bale, head of Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University Party Members Project, external, says: "The people who get to choose our next prime minister are far from being representative of voters as a whole.”
Martyn Oates
BBC South West Political Editor
Image source, PA MediaLiz Truss, pictured during her visit to a farm in Newton Abbot, Devon
The two candidates vying to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister were out and about in the south west today ahead of the regional hustings event in Exeter this evening.
Both were keen to burnish their farming credentials in this most agricultural of regions.
They will be well aware that there is widespread concern in the farming community at a number of the government’s key post-Brexit policies for the sector.
The new trade deals with Australia and New Zealand are seen as a threat to the competitiveness of British beef and lamb, while the major shake-up of the subsidy system worries farmers who were heavily dependent on the old EU-style basic payments to stay afloat.
And farmers say the government’s crackdown on so-called unskilled immigration is leaving them without the workers they need to pick their crops.
Sunak says he would make sure future trade deals were less rushed and negotiated in consultation with farmers - perhaps a dig at Truss who presided over the controversial Australian deal in her former role as trade secretary.
His rival says she would approve more visas for foreign farm workers - but declined to say how many.
Both candidates say they would protect productive agricultural land from development for solar energy.
We've just minutes to go until the second official Conservative leadership hustings kicks off.
Although Liz Truss has been ahead of Rishi Sunak in the polls, everything's still to play for.
Party members are taking their seats at the event in Exeter and are poised to ask their questions.
We'll be reporting the campaigners' answers as they happen.
Image source, PA MediaRishi Sunak (centre) at an event in Exeter as part of his campaign to be leader of the Conservative Party and the next prime minister
Ahead of tonight's meeting, Rishi Sunak's been talking to the BBC about "restoring trust" in politicians.
He says trust, honesty and standards are important in public life.
"Even though it's not easy for me, I want to be honest about some of the challenges we face and what is going to be required to fix them," he says.
He adds he wants to quickly re-appoint an independent adviser to "make sure that ministers and the government are held to account for their behaviour".
Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockThe contest to become Britain's next leader is heating up as Conservative Party members receive their ballot papers.
Ahead of tonight's hustings in Exeter, Liz Truss has written to party members to tell them "now is the time to be bold".
Quote MessageWe cannot continue to have 'business as usual', and I have a bold plan to get our economy back on track.
Liz Truss
"We must reject orthodoxy, the voices of decline and unleash Britain's potential in line with conservative values.
"I will lower taxes to spark economic growth and reward people for working hard.
"I will seize the full opportunities of Brexit and level up in a conservative way. I will defend freedom at home and abroad, and keep Britain safe."
Image source, ReutersNadhim Zahawi is backing Liz Truss
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Rishi Sunak in No 11 when the leadership hopeful resigned from Boris Johnson's cabinet last month, says he's backing Liz Truss.
Zahawi - who put himself forward for the top job before crashing out at an early stage - said "we need a 'booster' attitude to the economy, not a 'doomster' one".
"We are in a national economic emergency, and we need more than words. We need delivery, and Liz will be the delivery prime minister," Zahawi wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
Other MPs to come out in support of Truss include Defence Minister Ben Wallace and former Tory leadership rival Tom Tugendhat.
Meanwhile, Damian Green, chair of the One Nation Conservatives group of Tory MPs, has come out in support of Sunak.
"Rishi can actually conjure up a solution which makes a real difference to the lives of millions of people and that's what I think we need in the next prime minister," Green told Radio 4's Westminster Hour programme.
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Conservative leader William Hague is backing Rishi Sunak as Britain's "best hope".
In a six-minute video, published by the Telegraph, Lord Hague describes the former chancellor as "highly disciplined" and "rational".
Sunak replaced Hague as MP for Richmond, North Yorkshire, in 2015, when he did not stand for re-election.
It was during that campaign that Hague noticed Sunak's "hunger to learn, to understand".
He says Sunak's the best choice for prime minister because he is "one who always does their utmost to understand... such a person is a very rare find in British politics".
He recalls a time during the campaign when Sunak told him he was going out at 05:00 to help a farmer milk cows.
"He said: 'I really want to know what it's like. I've got to understand for myself.'"
Liz Truss has extended her lead in the race to become the next Tory leader even further, according to the latest betting odds.
Here’s how things look now:
Image source, .Rishi Sunak led the race in the days following Boris Johnson’s resignation.
He was overtaken by Truss on 20 July, and his chances have fallen or stayed even on 10 of the 12 days since.
Sunak now lags Truss by 84%.
Image source, Getty ImagesTax has been one of the biggest issues in this leadership contest.
Rishi Sunak has been on the back foot when it comes to tax policy. His pitch for caution has been too pessimistic, his critics say.
He will be hoping that his latest pledge will do something to address that.
Today he has said he will cut the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 16% by the end of the next parliament if he becomes prime minister.
This would amount to a 20% tax reduction, he said - the "largest cut to income tax in 30 years".
Sunak said the policy is part of his "radical" tax vision, but it builds on his previously-announced 1p cut to income tax in April 2024.
He said he will take a further 3p off by the end of the next parliament, which could be as late as December 2029.
But supporters of his Tory rival Liz Truss have accused the ex-chancellor of a U-turn on the issue and said that people cannot wait for tax cuts.
Supporters of Truss said she would "cut taxes in seven weeks, not seven years", as she has pledged to scrap April's National Insurance rise, cancel a planned corporation tax rise and temporarily suspend green levies on energy bills.