The debate between the five candidates becomes a trial of the "honesty" of Boris Johnson

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"Who trusts politicians?" was the question channel 4 presenter

posed to viewers in the first debate between the five candidates to succeed

No one raised their hand;

they all looked elsewhere.

There was another awkward question, this time asked by the presenter himself to the candidates: "Is Boris Johnson honest?"

"Sometimes," hard wing hopeful

The three favorites

and

avoided going straight into the rag.

The odd man out, the moderate

shook his head from right to left, and left to right, earning one of the biggest applause of the night in the process.

Honesty

planned for an hour and a half on the five finalists, who will be reduced to two within a week, before submitting to the vote of the 200,000 conservative militants.

Former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak acknowledged that this was one of the reasons he resigned: "I gave the 'premier' the benefit of the doubt, but there came a time when I had to say 'enough'."

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said her "loyalty" to Johnson

and she mumbled her predecessor's achievements.

Former Secretary of Defense Penny Mordaunt recalled that she was one of the first to "stand up and speak the truth" (in direct reference to the

The ultra-conservative MP Kemi Badenoch spoke of the need to face the "hard truths" and tell them as they are to the British.

War veteran Tom Tugendhat said that confidence in the

had "collapsed" after Boris Johnson's three years as "premier" and promised "a clean start."

All eyes focused from the outset on Penny Mordaunt, the candid favorite of the grassroots, boosted to second place in the internal votes of the "Tory" deputies.

Mordaunt

to present herself to the British "not as the traditional and continuing candidate", but as the leader of the future and with her sights set on the 2024 elections.

The candidate of the moment became a favorite target for her statements when she was Minister of Equality and Women that have raised a dust in her party: "Trans men are men and trans women are women."

Mordaunt partially corrected herself and said she had not defended "gender self-identity", in the face of the accusing finger of Kemi Badenoch (who worked with her) and Liz Truss (who eventually assumed the same position).

Truss passed the litmus test of the debate and

confront Sunak (without a tie) on account of economic policy.

The Foreign Secretary reiterated her promise of "tax cuts and aid to families" from the first day in

to tackle the cost of living crisis.

The former Secretary of the Treasury dismissed his proposals as "fairy tales" and reiterated that public enemy number one at the moment is inflation: "And that is not a problem that we can solve by borrowing more and more money, and committing the financing along the way. of public services, starting with the

The public health crisis and energy prices were the hot topics in the second part of the debate, in which all the candidates (except Kemi Badenoch) promised to respect the goal of zero emissions for 2050 set by the Government Johnson, although with nuances.

"We have to consider gas as a transition technology and accelerate the development of nuclear energy," said Truss. "

in order to achieve a reduction in the electricity bill". Penny Mordaunt jumped on the bandwagon promising the immediate reduction of the petrol tax, "to save the British

at least ten pence per litre".

The first of the three debates between the five candidates for the succession left the situation in a draw, although it will help define the race in the face of the two final rounds of voting, on Tuesday and Thursday, according to a survey by

among its readers .

, the candidate who would really sweep at this point would be Boris Johnson himself, with 50% of the preferences

"Who trusts politicians now?", asked presenter

to the audience at the end of the broadcast and once all the applicants have been heard.

Eleven timidly raised their hands this time.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

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