![\"A](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/07\/12\/14\/60173071-11006071-A_ConservativeHome_survey_suggested_that_Mr_Sunak_would_lose_to_-a-1_1657632235338.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA ConservativeHome survey suggested that Rishi Sunak would lose to his main rivals in a head-to-head run-off<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"At](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/07\/12\/14\/60170547-11006071-image-a-3_1657632256098.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAt a slick official launch for his campaign today, Mr Sunak unveiled Dominic Raab and Grant Shapps as big-hitting backers<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/07\/12\/14\/60175255-11006071-image-a-13_1657632709808.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe findings contrasted with an Opinium poll of Tory members for Channel 4 News, which found Mr Sunak would beat both Ms Truss and Ms Mordaunt in a run-off<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At a slick official launch for his campaign today, Mr Sunak unveiled Dominic Raab and Grant Shapps as big-hitting backers.<\/p>\n
And he again batted away calls for tax cuts before inflation is under control, saying ‘we need to have a grown up conversation’.<\/p>\n
He also heaped praise on Boris Johnson, describing him as ‘one of the most remarkable people I have ever met’ who has a ‘good heart’ – but it was ‘not working’ any more.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak – who only took a few questions from the media while journalists asking combative points were heckled by the crowd – said his plan was to ‘tackle inflation, grow the economy and cut taxes’. ‘I want to have a grown up conversation where I can tell you the truth,’ he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Raab said before the speech: ‘We need a leader who can win… he is the only one who can win.’<\/p>\n
Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat also seem to have reached nominations the mark, while Ms Truss is over the top after securing endorsements from Boris Johnson allies Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries – who declared their loyalty on the steps of Downing Street.<\/p>\n
However, other big names are struggling, with\u00a0Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahawi, Sajid Javid, Suella Braverman, and Kemi Badenoch all short of declared backers.<\/p>\n
At his launch, Mr\u00a0Sunak delivered a sharp barb at his rivals, suggesting their tax plans are ‘not credible’ as he said he would only reduce them after inflation is under control.<\/p>\n
The former chancellor said: ‘It is not credible to promise lots more spending and lower taxes.<\/p>\n
‘I had to make some of the most difficult choices of my life as chancellor, in particular how to deal with our debt and borrowing after Covid. I have never hidden away from those, I certainly won’t pretend now the choices I made and the things I voted for were somehow not necessary.<\/p>\n
‘While that may be politically inconvenient for me, it is also the truth. As is the fact that once we’ve gripped inflation, I will get the tax burden down. It is a question of when, not if.<\/p>\n
![\"Liz](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/07\/12\/14\/60164687-11006071-Liz_Truss-a-11_1657632298683.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Penny](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/07\/12\/14\/60174909-11006071-Nadhim_Zahawi_in_Westminster_today-m-10_1657632294861.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe polling suggested Mr Sunak would lose to other candidates including Liz Truss (left) and Penny Mordaunt<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/07\/12\/14\/60175043-11006071-image-a-12_1657632557711.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe only main contenders Mr Sunak had an advantage over were Mr Javid and Mr Tugendhat (pictured)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mr Sunak said that Mr Johnson is ‘flawed’ like all politicians and they often disagreed.<\/p>\n
But he added: ‘I will have no part in a rewriting of history that seeks to demonise Boris, exaggerate his faults or deny his efforts.<\/p>\n
‘I am running a positive campaign focused on what my leadership can offer our party and our country.<\/p>\n
‘I will not engage in the negativity you have seen and read in the media. If others wish to do that, then let them.<\/p>\n
‘That is not who we are. We can be better than that.’<\/p>\n
He also flatly dismissed the idea he was in cahoots with maverick ex-No10 chief Dominic Cummings – as some rival camps have alleged.<\/p>\n
‘Dominic Cummings has had absolutely nothing to do with this campaign and will have absolutely nothing to do with any government that I’m privileged to lead,’ he said.<\/p>\n
‘For the record, I’ve not communicated with Dominic Cummings since the day he left Downing Street.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rishi Sunak\u00a0faces losing against his main rivals\u00a0Liz Truss\u00a0and Penny Mordaunt in a run-off ballot of\u00a0Tory\u00a0members, a poll suggested today. In news that will cause alarm in the former Chancellor’s camp, a ConservativeHome survey found that he would be defeated against either opponent in a head-to-head. Although it is not scientific, the grassroots polls are closely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57,12],"tags":[5090,157,9042,10387,1425,8590,5222,9171,5262,6725,716,7626,6718,685,5196,2264,5563,7447,6546,682,8248,3874,9974,5840,8301,1993,7403,6754,11973,7446,11698,9458,5266,717,10041,11325,8284,8302,1502,6206,255,146,3954,594],"class_list":["post-24241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-world-news","tag-boris","tag-boris-johnson","tag-borrowing","tag-campaign","tag-chancellor","tag-conversation","tag-covid","tag-crowd","tag-cut","tag-debt","tag-dominic-cummings","tag-dominic-raab","tag-downing","tag-downing-street","tag-economy","tag-government","tag-grant","tag-grant-shapps","tag-inflation","tag-jacob-rees-mogg","tag-jeremy-hunt","tag-lead","tag-leadership","tag-liz-truss","tag-mordaunt","tag-my-life","tag-nadhim-zahawi","tag-nadine-dorries","tag-one","tag-penny-mordaunt","tag-politicians","tag-rees-mogg","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-sajid-javid","tag-speech","tag-street","tag-suella-braverman","tag-sunak","tag-tax","tag-taxes","tag-tory","tag-truth","tag-will","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}