Second live TV debate between PM hopefuls in Conservative Party sees heated exchanges

The second live TV debate between candidates of UK's Conservative Party aiming for the top job was filled with barbs and five remaining players clashed on Sunday (July 17). Global Warming and Climate Change saw heated debate among the contenders. Britain's climate minister, COP26 president Alok Sharma has threatened to resign if winner of the race within the Conservative Party retreats from the 'net zero' target. The discussion between the prime ministerial hopefuls came amid record-breaking heatwave in the UK.

During the debate, Rishi Sunak pledged to maintain green taxes in order to help pay for UK's aim of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The aim is legally enshrined.

Rishi Sunak is currently the frontrunner in race followed by Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss. Former finance minister Rishi Sunak found himself in the crosshairs of four other contenders in the ITV debate.

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Watch | Race for UK PM heats up: 5 contenders left to replace Boris Johnson

But Sunak shot back with some sharp lines. He targetted Forign Secretary Li Truss for her promises of a borrowing binge to fund tax cuts and help ease a cost-of-living crisis.

"This something-for-nothing economics isn't conservatism, it's socialism," he said.

He also attacked her for her U-turns down the years from being a Liberal Democrat to becoming a Tory, and from campaigning for UK membership of the European Union in 2016 to enthusiastically backing Brexit today.

"I was just wondering which one you regretted most?" he queried.

Sunak posted a new capaign video an hour before the debate. The video, shot in black and white showed how he went against the party leadership early on to support Brexit -- drawing a pointed contrast to Truss.

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He faced tough questions about his taxes along with his earlier possession of Green Card.

Truss sought to blame Sunak for Britain's surging inflation and insisted on her own personal integrity. "I say what I mean and I mean what I say," she said.

Badenoch and Mordaunt angrily clashed at the ITV debate about transgender rights.

Mordaunt, who was briefly Britain's first woman defence secretary before she was fired by Johnson, pushed back against claims that she was lying over her position about rights for transgender women -- a hot-button issue on the Tory right.

Mordaunt said the attacks were "unedifying", adding: "All attempts to paint me as an out-of-touch individual will fail."

Badenoch, a former junior minister with no cabinet experience, is running on an "anti-woke", right-wing platform and has said the net zero goal amounts to "unilateral economic disarmament" by Britain.

Mordaunt claimed that she was only one who could beat Labour leader Keir Starmer in a general election. This drew noises of derision from other candidates. Sunak said "that's simply not true" and backbencher Tom Tugendhat shouted "nonsense".
On Monday, Conservative MPs will hold another round of balloting to eliminate the bottom-placed candidate -- likely to be Tugendhat -- before arriving at the final two by Wednesday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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