Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak make final pitches to Conservative voters in London

As the window closes for Conservative Party members to vote for their new leader and the country’s Prime Minister, the candidates, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, made their final pitches to voting members at a packed Wembley Arena in London on Wednesday.

While 42-year-old- Mr. Sunak received loud applause and cheers from the London audience, the 47-year-old Ms. Truss is leading overall across the country, according to polls from earlier this month. She is also the favourite as per bookmakers’ odds. Party members have until 5 p.m. local time to vote on Friday – and have the option of changing previously cast votes.

Mr. Sunak’s flagship policy is to immediately tackle inflation, and on Friday he claimed inflation, which is over 10% now, would decrease faster under his plan than under any of the alternatives. He has opposed more borrowing to cut taxes, saying the idea is not “conservative” , and investors should not lose confidence in the U.K.

Ms. Truss promised she would not introduce new taxes, would simplify the tax code and would reverse the Johnson administration’s national insurance hike and place a moratorium on ‘green levies ‘ on energy bills.  She also said she would focus on the supply side of energy (including suggesting the use of more nuclear power, fracking in areas that support it, more oil and gas from the North Sea).  

Truss says U.S. Closest Ally of U.K.

Quizzed on foreign policy on Wednesday, including about the U.K.-U.S. relationship, Ms. Truss declined to say whether former U.S. President Donald Trump was a “friend or foe”. Last week, she had said that the “jury’s out” on whether Emmanuel Macron, president of France, one of the U.K.’s closest partners, was a friend or foe. “That’s not commenting, as far as I can say,” she said on Wednesday, defending her remark about Mr. Macron.

However, Ms. Truss said the U.S. was the  U.K.’s “closest ally” and that she had met both Mr. Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden.

 “Now he’s [ Mr Biden ] in office and my priority is working to promote freedom and democracy around the world and to work with our American allies against what are some very severe threats we’re facing, including an assertive China, a belligerent Russia…” she said, adding that whoever the leader of the U.S. or France was she could work with them.

Ms. Truss had been sceptical about the ‘special relationship’ with the U.S. according to a report published on August 29 in The Financial Times.

Speaking to reporters during a virtual briefing on Wednesday, the White House National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, John Kirby, said the bilateral relationship with the U.K would remain special and that the U.S. looks forward to working with whoever the next prime minister is. T

On Chinese President Xi Jinping , Ms. Truss said she would not use the word “foe” but said that she is “concerned about China’s assertiveness” and was working with allies in the G7 (group of seven advanced economies) to avoid becoming strategically dependent on China.

In the context of a question on Israel’s safety, Ms. Truss said the top priority was to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Mr. Sunak’s segment did not involve an extensive discussion on foreign policy. In the context of migration, he referred to his plan to make trade, visas, and financial assistance to countries contingent on them taking back asylum seekers to the U.K., whose claims had failed.  He also said he would get the agreement with Rwanda, to take asylum seekers, on track. In June, the European court of human rights intervened to stop the first deportation flight to Rwanda from leaving the UK. Mr Sunak said he would make whatever legal changes were necessary to make the Rwanda plan work , if elected.

Sunak More Hawkish on Energy Rationing

Mr. Sunak said that he was glad he had introduced windfall taxes on energy companies in the U.K. and did not rule out energy rationing (as France is considering), which Ms. Truss ruled out. She also said she would not increase windfall taxes if elected.

Both candidates pushed back against political correctness, and “woke” culture as they have through this month of hustings.

Mr. Sunak’s parents –both émigrés from Africa – were in the audience at the hustings, as was his Indian wife, Akshata Murthy, the daughter of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy.

His parents’  immigrant stories and his mother’s pharmacy business are regular features in his campaign speeches. On Wednesday he thanked his parents.

“And I am incredibly grateful that 18 years ago, you chose to give up your high heels and take a chance on the short kid with a backpack,” he said to Ms. Murthy.