Tory infighting continues as MP Angela Richardson 'mutes' minister Nadine Dorries over Rishi Sunak Twitter attack
Jonathan Hordle /ITV via Getty Images
- The Tory leadership contest is becoming increasingly fractious, with an MP "muting" a minister.
- Nadine Dorries attacked Rishi Sunak, who hopes to succeed Boris Johnson, over expensive clothes.
- Angela Richardson, a Sunak supporter, slapped down Dorries, a cabinet minister who backs Liz Truss.
The race to replace Boris Johnson has descended into further Tory infighting, with a Conservative MP saying she had "muted" a Cabinet minister for her verbal attacks.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, are due to go head-to-head on Monday in a televised debate hosted by the BBC.
It is due to be the first meeting of the two after they pulled out of an earlier debate for fear that excessive "blue-on-blue" fighting was helping the UK Labor party mount attacks like the following:
—The Labour Party (@UKLabour) July 20, 2022
While sources from both camps have vowed to engage in a clean fight, public comments on Twitter tell a different story.
On Monday morning Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary and a Johnson loyalist, hit out at Sunak's wealthy background.
Sunak is married to Akshata Murty, who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars from her holdings in Infosys, the giant IT firm founded by her father.
She had to rapidly change her non-dom status after media outlets reported earlier this year that she was not liable for UK tax on income earned abroad.
Dorries tweeted: "Liz Truss will be travelling the country wearing her earrings which cost circa £4.50 from Claire's Accessories.
"Meanwhile… Rishi visits Teeside in Prada shoes worth £450 and sported £3,500 bespoke suit as he prepared for crunch leadership vote."
Sunak supporter Guildford MP Angela Richardson shot back: "FFS Nadine! Muted."
—Angela Richardson MP (@AJRichardsonMP) July 25, 2022
There have also been a flurry of hostile briefings, with sources from the camps attacking each other's policy proposals in media articles.
Sunak's pledge to cap the number of refugees entering the UK, and to consider putting asylum seekers on disused cruise ships was branded illegal and unrealistic. Allies of Truss said the plan would create "prison ships", according to The Times.
A Sunak ally hit back, telling the paper: "Good to see Remainer Truss on the side of human rights lawyers."
The pair have also clashed over their proposals for the UK economy. Truss' plan to establish Enterprise Zones was derided by the rival campaign as a straight copy of the freeports policy Sunak championed in the run-up to Brexit.