Former UK chancellor Sajid Javid has backed Liz Truss to become the next Conservative leader, calling for urgent tax cuts in an attack on her rival Rishi Sunak’s economic plans.
Javid, who withdrew his own bid to be leader last month before voting began, said Mr. Sunak’s plans could make the UK a “middle-income economy”.
The endorsement is bruising for Mr Sunak, who worked with Javid in the Treasury and succeeded him as chancellor in 2020.
The two men resigned from the cabinet within minutes of each other last month triggering a ministerial mutiny that forced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to quit as Tory leader.
Javid’s backing of Truss came on the evening of the latest leadership hustings, in Cardiff.
Sunak and Truss are vying to win over Conservative Party members, whose votes will determine which of them will become the next Tory leader and British prime minister.
The party’s roughly 160,000 members started receiving ballots this week, with the result due on September 5, when Johnson will leave office.
