LONDON: Television bosses were on Monday forced to scrap a planned debate between contenders for the leadership of Britain’s Conservative party, as MPs voted again to narrow down the field.

The five remaining candidates — Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat — had been due to appear in the third televised debate on Tuesday night. But former finance minister Sunak and Foreign Secretary Truss pulled out, Sky News, which was due to host the programme, said.

“Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party,” it added in a statement.

Conservative MPs are holding a series of votes to whittle down the candidates to just two, before a wider ballot of the Tory grassroots.

The latest starts at 1600 GMT, with Tugendhat expected to win the least number of votes and be eliminated when the result is announced from 1900 GMT.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on July 7 he was quitting as Conservative leader after a government rebellion in protest at his scandal-hit administration. He is staying on as prime minister until his successor is announced on Sept 5.

In the two previous televised debates — on Channel 4 on Friday and the ITV network on Sunday — the contenders clashed notably on whether to cut taxes to help ease a soaring cost of living crisis.

But Sunday’s clash turned more acrimonious — and personal — with candidates encouraged to directly criticise one another and their proposals.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2022