A MEMO doing the rounds among Tory MPs has labelled Rishi Sunak a “schoolboy” and a “liar” who cannot be trusted on tax policy.
In what looks to be a bitter and damaging leadership contest for the Tory party, a “mucky memo”, reportedly titled “Get Ready for Rishi” said that “there is nothing Conservative about the ‘Big Tax and Big Spend’ agenda of Rishi Sunak”.
With Sir Graham Brady set to announce the timetable for the Tory leadership campaign on Monday, senior Tories have warned that their party is at risk of tearing itself apart as Johnson’s allies accuse the former chancellor of “treachery” for resigning his post.
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The memo undermined Sunak's claim that “his resignation within minutes of Savid Javid was an unplanned coincidence” while pointing out that he “launched his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party with a website domain registered in December 2021”.
The "dirty dossier" also accused Sunak of being a liar as he “publicly lied not once but twice when seeking to explain his wife’s "non-dom" tax status while also highlighting that he “secretly held a Green Card” to work in the US for a year and a half into his tenure as Chancellor.
Slating Sunak as unelectable it also says he “lingers in negative territory in the polls with no realistic prospect of regaining the trust of 4 out of 10 Conservative voters who are repelled by the Johnson administration”.
And it states the fact the Sunak, like Boris, “landed a 'Partygate' fine from the police for breaking lockdown rules.”
While the origin of the memo is unknown, the Telegraph has reported that the 424-word critique has been written by someone on the right of the Tory party in a bid to stop Sunak’s “coronation”.
A Tory source said: “It’s coming from that Thatcherite wing of the party that was loyal to Boris.
“There’s a lot of runners and riders and a frontrunner at the moment trying to create a coronation scenario.
“The dossier would suggest that he’s actually got a pretty poor record - that’s not opinion, it’s fact. This is about winning the next general election. That’s why it’s being circulated. It’s spread like wildfire. There won’t be a Tory MP who hasn’t seen it by now.”
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The document also points out that Sunak broke a manifesto pledge not to raise taxes as he increased National Insurance contributions and corporation tax by 30% while also not delivering the “Brexit dividend to abolish 5 per cent VAT on fuel”.
The memo also said: “He added £400billion to the national debt to pay workers not to work, only to spend countless more billions for them to eat out a few weeks later.”
It adds: “[He] stated that as a Conservative he would not borrow money to pay £12billion for social care, only to magic up £18billion for 'cost of living' measures just a few months later.”
Sunak also got slated for “wasting £32billion on Track & Trace tech that never delivered” and cancelling £4.9billion in “Covid loan fraud” before quoting Lord Agnew, who accused him of “arrogance, indolence, ignorance” and "schoolboy errors".
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