Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss agree to face each other on Sky News debate

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss agree to Sky News debate after controversially pulling out of last one

Tory leadership finalists – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will go head-to-head on a Sky News debate after controversially pulling out of a previous appearance. 

Sky snagged the hour-long showdown for August and it is expected to be hosted by broadcaster Kay Burley. 

After a vicious ITV debate- which saw candidates tearing each other apart, and fears growing from Tory MPs over how the party was being perceived, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss pulled out of the Sky debate which was then cancelled just a day before it was set to take place. 

But now the contest has been whittled down to just two candidates, the pair have agreed to go forward with another debate. 

• The role of the TV debates – ITV debate disaster, Sky cancelled, BBC debate set for Monday 

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – ‘opportunity to re-engage a disillusioned electorate’

Liz Truss is currently the favourite to win – but polls are changing daily and there’s still a decent amount of time to get around the country whipping up support. 

Both  Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss were slammed for pulling out of the originally planned debate, as ITV debates are a good way for the public to engage in politics and see how candidates behave under pressure. 

Whilst this is an in-house Conservative vote – to elect the next Troy party leader – and therefore PM, it is still in the public’s interest to stay in the loop and tv debates are a great way to get a better understanding of the candidates – one of which will go on to govern the entire country. 

Head of Sky News John Ryley said: ‘There has never been a more important time to reinvigorate the trust of voters in the office of the prime minister

‘This live TV debate on Sky News gives the final two candidates a chance to reconnect with millions by debating the major issues facing Britain.

‘It presents a unique opportunity to re-engage a disillusioned electorate.’

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• Liz Truss promises emergency budget to cut taxes as Sunak vows to be ‘Thatcherite’ PM

Conservative leadership race: TV debates and a summer of hustings   

Before the rescheduled SKy debate, the pair will face off in a BBC debate on Monday. They will spend the summer trying to win the backing of Tory members through hustings up and down the country. 

The first of the 12 official public hustings organised by the Tory party in the leadership contest has been set for July 28 in Leeds, before Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak tour the UK for questioning.

Hustings for the Conservative Councillors’ Association, organised separately and believed to be taking place behind closed doors, is expected to take place today.

Conservative members are expected to receive postal ballots by August 5, with the ballot shutting at 5pm on September 2 ahead of the final announcement.

Conservative Party Chairman Andrew Stephenson said: ‘We will shortly begin a hustings programme right across the UK, giving our members the chance to put their questions to the candidates.’

The candidates will also attend hustings in Exeter, Eastbourne, Northern Ireland, Manchester and London during their tour.

• Conservative leadership race: PROFILE – Rishi Sunak – “Ready or Rishi” 
• Conservative leadership race: PROFILE – Liz Truss – “Liz For Leader” 

The role of the TV debates: ITV debate was vicious 

The TV debates are another major component in the Tory leadership race that highlights the viciousness of this political era. With the ITV debate proving to be a ‘little short of a disaster for the Tory party.’  

The ITV debate saw senior Tory ministers and MPs lay into each other publicly, the audience may not be used to this much blue-on-blue arguing. 

Some of the highlights include Rishi Sunak accusing Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt of being socialists – not a compliment for a Tory. 

Whilst Truss slammed Sunak for raising taxes to record levels. 

Penny Mordaunt attacked the others for the cheap personal attacks she had been facing in the days running up to the debate – especially over the trans debate and her definition of being a woman. 

• Mass exodus, 10 hopefuls down to 2, The next Tory leader will have to unite a broken party

Sunak still shone as the strongest in the TV debates, despite most of the criticism being directed at him, his time in Boris Johnson’s government taught him the art of deflecting the questions. 

For the right of the party, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt both had good and bad moments. 

The ITV debate had such an underlying nastiness to it, that Tory MPs were begging the candidates to stop. The Daily Express reported that it was not the spectacle being watched by small audiences which worried them but “a vast armoury” of social media clips and GIFs being harvested from the debates for Labour to attack whoever wins and the Conservative Party in general.

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