Penny Mordaunt backs Liz Truss in contest to be next Tory leader

Penny Mordaunt has backed Liz Truss to become British prime minister, saying the Conservatives “may lose an election” if they made the wrong decision in the contest.

Ms Mordaunt, who was beaten by Ms Truss to be Rishi Sunak’s challenger in the final stage of the Conservative leadership race, said Ms Truss was “the hope candidate”. “Seeing her over the last few weeks has made me want to help her, to help her win, to help build the team we need to win the country, and to give ourselves as a party and as a nation the pride and confidence we need to reach our full potential,” the Portsmouth North MP said.

The endorsement will come as a major blow to Mr Sunak after a bitter campaign where supporters of Ms Mordaunt blamed Ms Truss for a damaging “blue-on-blue dogfight” that saw Ms Mordaunt fall at the last round of MPs’ voting.

The British foreign secretary has announced a string of other high profile endorsements over the past few days – including the leadership candidates Nadhim Zahawi and Tom Tugendhat.

Introducing Ms Truss at the latest leadership hustings in Exeter, Ms Mordaunt said: “Who can lead? Who can build that team and deliver for our country? Who does have that bold economic plan that our nation needs? Who has got reach? Who can relate to people? Who understands that people need help with the cost of living now? And who is going to rightly clobber our opponents?

“Who is going to hold seats and win back councils and who most embodies the vision and values the British public had in their heads and their hearts when they voted in 2016 and 2019?

“At the start of this final phase of this contest, I didn’t know the answer to those questions, but I’ve seen enough to know who the person I’m going to put my faith in – and that is Liz Truss.”