Rishi Sunak accused of ‘thrashing around like a wounded stoat’ as ex-chancellor’s supporters raise threat of rebelling against rival Liz Truss’s tax cuts in Commons – ahead of penultimate Tory hustings tonight

• Rishi Sunak accused of ‘thrashing around all over the place like a wounded stoat’
• Ex-Chancellor has refused to say if he’ll vote for Liz Truss’s tax cuts in Commons
• The Tory rivals face their penultimate leadership hustings event tonight 

Rishi Sunak has been accused of ‘thrashing around all over the place like a wounded stoat’ as blue-on-blue attacks continued to ramp up today as the Tory leadership contest nears its end.

The ex-chancellor and his rival Liz Truss, who is widely expect to win the race for Number 10, will tonight face their penultimate hustings in front of Conservative members.

Ahead of their latest opportunity to win the support of the party’s grassroots – at this evening’s event in Norwich – the war-of-words between the Sunak and Truss campaigns escalated further.

It followed Mr Sunak’s refusal to confirm whether – if he is beaten in leadership contest – he would vote in favour of Ms Truss’s tax-cutting agenda in the House of Commons.

The ex-chancellor has recently claimed the Foreign Secretary’s focus on tax cuts, rather than ‘handouts’ for households during the cost-of-living crisis, would leave millions at risk of ‘destitution’.

Mr Sunak has also said it would be ‘immoral’ to not provide more direct support for hard-pressed Britons facing soaring energy bills.

At a hustings event on Tuesday evening, the ex-chancellor was quizzed on whether he would vote in favour of Ms Truss’s emergency fiscal package if she became PM.

He declined to be drawn on a ‘hypothetical’ question when asked if he would rebel against his rival.

And Mr Sunak insisted he was ‘not going to engage with these things’ when he was pressed on the issue again in a broadcast interview yesterday.

Rishi Sunak has refused to confirm – if he is beaten in Tory leadership contest – whether he would vote in favour of Liz Truss’s tax-cutting agenda in the House of Commons

The ex-chancellor, who yesterday made a visit to his family’s old pharmacy business in Southampton, has admitted he is now the ‘underdog’ in the race for Number 10

An ally of Ms Truss branded Mr Sunak ‘bitter’ over his continued attacks on the Foreign Secretary’s economic plans

‘Right now, we should be talking about the major challenges that our country faces: creeping inflation, getting support to people who need it,’ Mr Sunak told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

In the final ballot of Tory MPs in the first stage of the Conservative leadership contest, Mr Sunak was backed by 137 MPs. 

There are fears the ex-chancellor could soon lead his supporters in a Commons rebellion against Ms Truss’s economic plans if she becomes PM next month.

One supporter of Mr Sunak told The Times: ‘If we are left on the backbenches and then Rishi says he is voting against her tax cuts, why would we not support him?’

Another said: ‘If I thought it was going to materially damage the poor it would be a big decision.

‘I would have a real issue in voting for it. I wouldn’t be under any obligation.’

But, amid a furious backlash from Ms Truss’s camp, Mr Sunak has been branded ‘bitter’ over his continued attacks on his rival as he trails the Foreign Secretary in the leadership contest.

A senior ally of Ms Truss told the newspaper: ‘Sunak is in a complete micro-world of his own, he’s thrashing around all over the place like a wounded stoat.

‘All he’s doing is attacking her. At some point someone has to grab him by the scruff of the neck and say what are you doing? Are you trying to destroy this party?

‘By this stage everyone is normally trying to bring the party together, we’ve got less than two weeks to go. But these attacks are framing us as Tory scum. It’s personal and it’s bitter and it needs to stop.’

A Government minister, who is supporting Mr Sunak, today called for an end to the the ‘totally unneccessary’ attacks coming from the rival Tory camps.

Schools minister Will Quince told Sky News: ‘One of the things that I found most difficult about the leadership contest has been the sort of blue-on-blue, which I think is totally unnecessary.

‘Both candidates should just present their positive vision for our country.

‘And the most important thing is that in two weeks’ time… when we have a new prime minister, that we all as a parliamentary party get behind that new leader, get behind that prime minister.

‘And we continue to deliver for the British people. And that’s what I want to see.’

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