Isle Of Wight MP Picks Liz Truss Over Rishi Sunak In Race To Become PM

EXCLUSIVE: Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has revealed he will back Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak in the race to become the next Prime Minister.

Mr Seely said both remaining candidates are "great" but he believes Ms Truss will provide the party — and country — with a "change of direction".

He has also revealed he's hoping to have the leadership contenders on the Island in the near future, as part of their campaign.

The MP had been supporting Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, before she was knocked out of the contest last week.

"I've always been mates with Liz, I've always been politically quite close with Liz", he said.

"I supported Penny [Mordaunt] for a variety of reasons during the contest but now she's out I think Liz is likely to deliver support for all the good stuff we've done — furlough, vaccinations, war in Ukraine etcetera.

"But she will also help to provide a slight change in direction. We need to get tax down for folks. We need to tackle the cost of living. We need to be growing our economy as strongly as possible.

"There a whole host of issues that I think both the candidates will handle very well, don't get me wrong. But I think on balance I will be supporting Liz."

Speaking exclusively to Isle of Wight Radio, Bob Seely said he hoped Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss would visit the Island in the near future.

He said he thinks the candidate who agrees to come, will secure the backing of the Island's Tory members.

He said:

"They have been told in no uncertain terms that we have a big electorate — I think 800, I might slightly be exaggerating it to nearer 1,000 to tempt them both down. 

"I think the candidate who doesn't come down is less likely to get that 800 plus votes. It's up to the membership on the Island. They know where I stood. A lot of them supported Penny but sadly that choice is no longer with us. 

"I suspect that Liz will just pip it but it's up to the members. But I want them both down to the Island to hear from both about how they can they are going to support the levelling up project."

Tory members have put Liz Truss ahead of Rishi Sunak in the race for the top job, following a debate between the two contenders last night. 

A new poll by YouGov shows half of voters felt Ms Truss delivered a better performance.

Speaking about the debate, Mr Seely said:

"I think they are robust debates and that is no bad thing. We're getting continuity with Rishi and a bit of change with Liz. I watched the [BBC] debating yesterday and I thought it was pretty good. Rishi is a good debater, he was very slick, incredibly good presentation. Liz fought back very well. For me it's the policies.

"Whenever the next election is I want to know we will have done everything we can to help with the cost of living, to bring down inflation, to make sure we support Ukrainians in their war, to deal with the NHS backlog which is growing, to improve education, to drive levelling up that's helping places like the Isle of Wight achieve everything that we can. I want to know we have somebody who has been absolutely relentlessly focussed on that."

Responding to those who have criticised the progress in securing a so-called 'Island Deal', he said:

"The Island Deal is getting a better deal for the Island. It is not a big bag of money at the end of a rainbow. So this is not a big bang moment where somehow the Island ceases to be the Island.

"The Isle of Wight Deal is about getting a better deal in the long-term for the Isle of Wight. And frankly that is what I have been doing, with help from the council, over the last five years."