Truss, Sunak rivalry turns bitter before TV debate

Bloomberg

After a televised Conservative leadership debate exposed the stark divisions among rivals vying to be the next UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak turned to Liz Truss and asked: “Why are we doing this?”
Both are now in the runoff to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory party leader. Yet any intentions to try to temper so-called blue-on-blue attacks ahead of another televised debate at 9 p.m. on Monday appear to have been abandoned. If anything, the sparring has become even nastier — and more personal.
The latest row was triggered Sunday, when Sunak’s campaign accused Truss of turning a “blind eye” to Chinese influence by allowing the proliferation of state-sponsored language institutes while she was an education minister. The issue is sensitive for Truss, who as Johnson’s foreign secretary has overseen a hardening of the UK’s position towards China under pressure from Tory MPs.
Her team countered by briefing reporters it is Sunak who was “soft on China” while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, accusing him of prioritizing trade over security. It is a long-running theme of the contest, including that Sunak was also slow to approve sanctions on Russia for fear of harming the economy.
Sunak’s spokesperson denied the accusation, and an ally pointed out that the Treasury was heavily involved in designing Russia sanctions.
In many ways it’s not the specific claims and denials that are significant. The race to succeed Johnson will be decided by about 175,000 grassroots members of the Tory party — and both candidates appear to have decided that winning them over means cementing their candidacy on the ideological right: tough on China and immigration, and evangelical about Brexit.
One candidate taking a stand on an issue forces their rival to go further — or to accuse their opponent of being late to the cause.
But while they have different views on tax cuts, their positions on other issues are coalescing, leaving little room to distinguish themselves. The dividing lines are increasingly about Johnson — Truss stayed loyal, Sunak’s resignation helped trigger the prime minister’s demise — and about personal differences.