Iain Duncan Smith grilled on ‘blue on blue attacks’

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Good Morning Britain host Charlotte Hawkins questioned the former Conservative Party leader on the backlash leadership contest candidate sparked with their public debates. Iain Duncan Smith insisted questioning each other’s records is an important aspect of the race to Number 10 to allow the public to learn about candidates. Ms Hawkins said: “Let’s look at the six weeks ahead.

“Are you worried about how damaging this has been for the party? We have seen blue-on-blue attacks, we’ve seen mudslinging, we’ve seen accusations of dirty tricks.

“And the suspicion is there is going to be more to come and it’s extremely damaging for the public to see the splits that there are, to see candidates trashing the previous Government’s record.

“This isn’t a good look for the Conservative Party, is it?”

Mr Duncan Smith however defended the public debate format: “As long as it’s about the issue and not about personality, then it’s fine.

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“I think the public is much more mature than you are trying to make out here.

“They understand what this is all about.

“We’re trying to elect somebody who will become Prime Minister and the public needs to know who they are, what they are about.”

After five ballots, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss emerged as the final candidates to take over Number 10 following Boris Johnson’s resignation in early July.

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The former Chancellor, who was the frontrunner throughout the parliamentary leg of the contest, received 137 votes in the final round of voting.

Foreign Secretary Truss won 113 votes, narrowly pushing Penny Mordaunt into third place on 105.

The pair will now face a six-week campaign to win the votes of party members, with the result of the contest announced on September 5.

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Bookmakers have made Ms Truss the favourite to win the contest in the country, but Mr Sunak said he was best placed to beat Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer at the next election.

Mr Sunak said: “We need to restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite our country.

“I’m confident that we can do that and we’ve got a really positive message to take out to all our members now – crucially, who is the best person to beat Keir Starmer and the Labour Party at the next election?

“I believe I’m the only candidate who can do that.”

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