THE TORY leadership campaign turned grubby yesterday with Dominic Rabb accused of running a “dirty tricks campaign”.
The former Brexit secretary published his “clean campaign pledge” which commits those who sign it to not speaking ill of fellow candidates and abiding strictly by spending limits.
But he infuriated rivals by only asking Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock to sign it before publishing. Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who supports Boris Johnson, suggested Raab wanted to make her man look bad.
“Boris Johnson was not asked to sign this before it was published,” she tweeted. “This is not a declaration of fairness, it is a dirty tricks campaign, apparently led by Dominic Raab.
“I and many others would like to see better than this in No 10.”
Brexiteer Steve Baker, who is considering throwing his own hat into the increasingly full ring, tweeted: “And did you ask the other declared candidates to sign before you published this @DominicRaab, @sajidjavid, @MattHancock?
“I hope so. That cheap trick was played on @andrealeadsom last time. Hopefully the three of you are better than that.”
Baker added: “Schoolboy dirty tricks like this could kill the Conservative Party. It is imperative this campaign is genuinely clean.”
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Hancock laid into Johnson for dismissing business warnings against a hard Brexit. He told The Telegraph: “To the people who say fuck business, I say fuck fuck business.”
Hancock also likely damaged his chances among party members when he claimed a no-deal Brexit was “not a policy choice available to the next prime minister”.
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