Tory leadership: Tom Tugendhat backs Liz Truss

Liz Truss has been backed by two senior Conservatives in the last 24 hours, including Defence Secretary Ben Wallace

Former Tory leadership contender Tom Tugendhat has become the latest senior Conservative to back Liz Truss in the contest.

Mr Tugendhat, who was knocked out in fifth place, said the foreign secretary could unite the Conservative Party.

Writing in The Times, he said Ms Truss's international experience also persuaded him to endorse her.

Ms Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak are the final candidates in the contest to replace Boris Johnson.

Mr Tugendhat's endorsement of Ms Truss, who is now seen as the frontrunner in the contest, follows that of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Thursday.

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Mr Tugendhat, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said he had spent time listening to the candidates' arguments and it was Ms Truss who "convinced" him she was ready to become prime minister.

He wrote: "From China to Ukraine, the world around us is getting more challenging and the cost of failure abroad is being felt hard at home.

"Rising fuel prices, pushing families across our country into difficulty, are bringing the pain home. We know we need answers - now. That's where allies come in. As foreign secretary, Liz is starting with a huge advantage. She can make our voice count."

Mr Tugendhat, a senior figure in the One Nation group of centrist Tory MPs, said Ms Truss has "support from across the party, and the country".

"We need a leader to unite the Conservative Party. It's clear that Liz can do that."

He also criticised Mr Sunak's tightening of fiscal policy, saying it is "not right" that the tax burden should be rising when people are heading into winter with "dread".

"I couldn't support the National Insurance rise in September and want to see tax cuts today. I back Liz's plan for the economy, founded on true Conservative principles of low tax, a lean state and bold supply side reform."

Tom Tugendhat was knocked out of the race, placing fifth

Meanwhile, Ms Truss has unveiled her plans for housing, including helping renters get mortgages.

Ms Truss will pledge that, if she becomes prime minister, she would ensure rent payments are included in mortgage affordability assessments.

Government figures estimate over 50% of renters can afford the monthly cost of a mortgage, but only 6% can get access to a typical first-time buyer mortgage.

Ms Truss is also promising to scrap the government's target of building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.

The target appeared in the Conservative's 2019 manifesto, but plans to hit the figure by forcing councils to accept new housing developments were ditched following a backlash from Tory MPs.

Ms Truss says she wants to "put power back in local councillors' hands who know far better than Whitehall what their communities want".

'Sugar rush boom'

Earlier, Mr Sunak denied his proposals to tighten fiscal policy would lead to a recession and claimed Ms Truss's planned tax cuts would create a "sugar rush boom".

The Tory leadership hopeful was grilled on the economy, immigration, and his wife's tax status by veteran political journalist Andrew Neil, with whom Ms Truss has so far declined to sit down.

Neil challenged the former chancellor over his plans to tighten fiscal policy at a time when "the global economy grinds to a halt, as monetary policy has been tightening", suggesting he would "ensure a recession".

Mr Sunak said: "I think it's absolutely the right thing to do to not put fuel on the fire of the inflation problem that we already have.

"What we should do is focus on long-term growth because that's what we need, sustainable growth, not a sugar rush boom that will make us feel better for months, but then it runs out of control, let inflation get set into the system, let the Bank of England have to react with even higher interest rates."

Mr Sunak is set to say that his government would "safeguard our shared cultural, historical and philosophical heritage"

Separately, Mr Sunak has said he wants to preserve gendered words such as "woman" or "mother" by clarifying the definition of biological sex in the 2010 Equality Act, and challenge self-identifying gender under this law.

Mr Sunak said he also wanted to look at age-appropriate sex and relationships education, so that pupils are "shielded from inappropriate material".

And he promised to protect free speech by amending the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires public bodies to consider discrimination.

In a speech he will deliver in West Sussex later, Mr Sunak is expected to say his government would "safeguard our shared cultural, historical and philosophical heritage".

"What's the point in stopping the bulldozers in the green belt… if we allow left-wing agitators to take a bulldozer to our history, our traditions and our fundamental values?

"We have zero interest in fighting a so-called culture war, but we are determined to end the brainwashing, the vandalism and the finger pointing."