Rishi Sunak supporters accused of manipulating Tory vote

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Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race since it began earlier this month, and now goes head-to-head with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to become the UK’s next Prime Minister. During the last round of voting on Wednesday, Mr Sunak again topped the leaderboard with support from 137 Tory MPs compared to the 113 votes received by Ms Truss. Following the result, he defiantly claimed he is the best person to beat Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer in the next general election, scheduled for 2024.

He 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.”

But former MEP Ben Habib has torn apart Mr Sunak’s Tory leadership credentials, explaining why it would be “double disastrous” if the former Chancellor becomes Prime Minister.

He told Express.co.uk: “This is a man who is guilty of breaking lockdown laws and received a fixed penalty notice. If he is elected as leader, that will dominate his entire premiership.

“That would confirm to all doubters when people are trying to decide which party to vote for, that the Tories couldn’t care less about the law.

“It is a disaster that he has ended up in the last two but it would be doubly disastrous if he ends up as Prime Minister.”

Mr Habib also accused Mr Sunak of “presided over the economic collapse” and warned that Tory voters who handed Boris Johnson a huge 80-seat majority in the 2019 general election would desert the party.

He believes further deep divisions would quickly develop and widen from within the Tories, and that Mr Sunak would make the party “more divisive, less electable” and she would “further trash the economy”.

The Brexiteer continued: “It is not possible for Sunak given he has presided over the economic collapse, and by his own admission the economy needs to be rebuilt.

“On every possible metric, Sunak should not have stood and I hope he is not elected as Prime Minister.

“The Boris supporters would never really accept Rishi.

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“They would never be a united party and there would be continued infighting.

“Taxes will not be reduced. He will make the party more divisive, make the party less electable and further trash the economy. He is a disaster on all fronts.

“Rishi becoming leader would play straight into Keir Starmer’s hands and the Tories will lose the next general election.”

The outburst comes after Mr Habib launched a furious attack against Mr Sunak, claiming the former Chancellor “embodies everything that has gone wrong with the Conservative Party”.

He told GB News: “Rishi Sunak talks about not being able to cut taxes until inflation is under control, but inflation had been under control until recently for the last 11 years and yet we have a taxation level that is the highest it has been since World War 2.

“The strapline for his campaign is about rebuilding the economy, but then that is surely an admission of failure?

“His premise for being elected leader is to fix the problems he has created.

“But if you vote for Rishi Sunak, it is continuity catastrophe.”

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