Saturday 13 August 2022 10:25 PM Savage bust-up between rival Tory camps will see 'venomous' Dominic Raab sent ... trends now
Dominic Raab will be condemned to the political wilderness in punishment for his ‘vicious’ barbs against Liz Truss if she becomes the next Prime Minister, her allies suggest.
They have described the Rishi Sunak-backer’s attack on her plans to cut tax as ‘the saddest moment of the campaign’, as the pair were once close.
But the Deputy Prime Minister’s allies hit back yesterday, saying he had ‘seen it all before’ – and accusing her campaign of lacking charm.
As the contest enters its fourth week, the blue-on-blue attacks showed few signs of abating.
The latest acrimony began after Mr Raab branded Ms Truss’s tax-cutting plans as ‘electoral suicide’. The Foreign Secretary dismissed his intervention as spreading ‘portents of doom’.
Dominic Raab will be condemned to the political wilderness in punishment for his ‘vicious’ barbs against Liz Truss if she becomes the next Prime Minister, her allies suggest
Then, rebuffing claims that Mr Sunak had ‘stabbed Boris in the back’, the deputy PM said ‘Liz was doing lots of groundwork with her Fizz for Liz [dinners with MPs] for months.’
Up stepped her most outspoken ally, Nadine Dorries, who on Friday night retorted: ‘Liz may have had drinks with MPs – but she did not resign her job, walk away, furtively campaign with MPs for votes, register a website and was not campaign ready or part of a planned coup. Sunak was. You can’t rewrite the facts.’
In a further escalation, other supporters of Ms Truss went into battle yesterday, accusing Mr Raab of being ‘bitter’ over his removal from the Foreign Office following the bungled evacuation from Afghanistan.
They said his attack on Ms Truss was ‘quite sad’ as the pair have known each other for a long time. They both entered Parliament in 2010, contributed to a book together and have children of similar ages.
One member of the Truss camp said: ‘I know on this campaign there has been rough and tumble, but he hates her, absolutely hates her.
‘The utter venom – the hatred with which he went for her – it was
