Thread by @politicshome

📺The five candidates running to be next Conservative Party leader — and the next Prime Minister — are live on @Channel4 for the first debate of the race

@KemiBadenoch @PennyMordaunt @TomTugendhat @RishiSunak @trussliz

🔴 Follow along live:

@Channel4 Asked why the public should trust them, Liz Truss says she raised concerns about Boris Johnson's policies "in private"

Rishi Sunak says he tried to give Johnson "the benefit of the doubt" before he resigned but said "that became increasingly hard"

@Channel4 On trust, Tom Tugendhat appears to quote Professor Dumbledore from Harry Potter, claiming he's frequently held those in his party to account

"It's easy to stand up to your enemies, it's sometimes harder to stand up to your friends. We all know that."

Truss say she can trust all her fellow candidates,

"I do trust all of the people who are on this platform with me... this shows the best of the Conservative Party," Truss says

Sunak agrees, but refuses to state whether he'll put any of them in his Cabinet as PM

🤔@krishgm asks: Is Boris Johnson honest?

Badenoch: "Sometimes"

Mordaunt: "I'm not doing a yes or no answer"

Sunak: "I reached the conclusion that I couldn't trust him"

Truss: "Some of his statements... were not 100% accurate"

Tugendhat: *shakes head*

Kemi Badenoch says she would include all wings of the party in her Cabinet as PM — something she claims Boris Johnson did not do

She suggests he "prized loyalty" more in those around him

"There wasn't enough trusted colleagues who had good criticisms," she said

@krishgm asks the audience at the #C4LeaderDebate to raise their hand if they feel they can trust politicians at the moment

No hands go up

📊 Who do you think is performing best so far in the #C4LeaderDebate:

🔹 @KemiBadenoch?

🔹@PennyMordaunt?

🔹@TomTugendhat?

🔹@RishiSunak?

🔹@trussliz?

On tax cuts, Liz Truss repeats her earlier pledges that she would remove the green energy levy and reverse the National Insurance increase

"I think it's wrong that ordinary people are bearing the brunt of all of that cost of COVID," she says

Defending the tax policies he implemented, Rishi Sunak says he wanted to "make sure that the NHS, our number one priority, was properly funded" when he chose to raise taxes (despite it being "politically inconvenient" for him)

💸 Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss clash over tax policy

Sunak: "I don't think the responsible thing to do right now is launching some unfunded spree of borrowing... it's a fairy tale."

Truss: "We have inflation because of our monetary policy. We haven't been tough enough."

Rishi Sunak challenges Penny Mordaunt on her pledge to cut VAT on petrol and income tax. How would she pay for the £15bn of cuts?

She says the government needs to put "real incentives" in place for innovation, but fails to clarify how she would pay for it

Rishi Sunak also challenges Tom Tugendhat on why he voted against the National Insurance rise

He responds: "We had a long conversation about it, and you set out your position and I asked: why on earth this was going to be necessary? You told me because the boss wanted it."

Kemi Badenoch criticises Tom Tugendhat — who has never held a ministerial post — for his responses in the debate

"He didn't have any responsibility. It's very easy to sit at the back of the class and tell everybody what they're doing is wrong when he hasn't been a minister."

On the energy crisis, Truss says the UK needs to scrap the green energy levy and find a "better way of delivering net zero" as it is "battering consumers"

But Tugendhat claims we need to focus on bringing down prices now

"It's not about jam tomorrow, it's about heat today."

Kemi Badenoch shares how the NHS backlog has personally affected her — she chipped her tooth and has been unable to get it fixed

"It is an emergency situation. We feel it too. We understand that we all use the NHS and our families are affected."

🔴 THE FINAL PITCHES PT 1

Badenoch: "The machine is not working. As an engineer. I know how to strip things down and get them to work."

Tugendhat: "We can turn this around. We need a clean start."

Mordaunt: "I'm not the traditional offer. I'm not the legacy candidate."

🔴 THE FINAL PITCHES PT 2

Sunak: "The choice of this election: is who can be trusted to grip this moment and get things done?... For me, there is only one answer to this question."

Truss: "We need to be bold, we need to do things differently. We need to cut taxes."

👏 Thank you for following along for the #C4LeaderDebate — how do you think the candidates did? Leave your answer in the comments: