Tory leadership campaign can’t escape ‘blue on blue’ attacks

David Davis is among those who have expressed concerns about the way the race has been conducted, writes Chris Stevenson

(ITV/AP/Reuters)

When Sky News were forced to cancel its debate between the Tory leadership candidates after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss pulled out, there was a widespread sense that the there were concerns about what bruising debate encounters were doing for the image of the Conservative Party.

The BBC is set to host another debate – following previous events broadcast by Channel 4 and ITV – once the field has been whittled down to the final two, from the current three: Sunak, Truss and Penny Mordaunt. But if those in the party at large was hoping for a quieter time of things without so many "blue on blue" attacks, they were wrong, with the removal of the whip from Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, has exposed how fraught the contest still is.

Ellwood had the whip removed for missing Monday's vote of confidence in Boris Johnson's government, which was survived by 349 votes to 238, a majority of 111. Ellwood has argued he was unable to return from a meeting in Moldova, with the Tory Whips Office said that all other party MPs who could not attend the vote were successfully "paired" with an opposition MP who agrees also not to vote, thus effectively cancelling the votes out.