Latest: Hunt says he would make McVey his deputy

It’s day three of the Tory leadership race. As things stand there are nine declared candidates: Rishi Sunak, Nadhim Zahawi, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Sajid Javid, Tom Tugendhat, Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt. All eyes are on Liz Truss to see whether she will choose to launch today or tomorrow, ahead of the crucial Monday meeting of Tory MPs. Thus far a quarter of Tory MPs have made endorsements with more than 100 going public, according to our Coffee House list here.

Keep track of the latest developments below:

6.30 p.m. – Zahawi kicks back at tax ‘smears’

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has called stories about his finances ‘inaccurate, unfair’ and ‘clearly smears’. He claims that reports the Serious Fraud Office, National Crime Agency and HMRC are investigating him are false, and promised to publish his tax return annually. Read more here.

6.25 p.m. – Suella Braverman enters trans debate

Attorney general Suella Braverman – courting the vote on the right of the Tory party – says that ‘we should call pregnant women what they are’. She writes approvingly of last year’s decision to call pregnant women ‘mothers’ in ministerial law, not ‘pregnant people’ as the legislation said before. Read more here.

5.50 p.m. – Jacob Rees-Mogg refuses to back Rishi Sunak

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Jacob Rees-Mogg told Andrew Neil on Channel 4 that he won’t be backing Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt or Tom Tugendhat, and that he disagreed with Sunak’s windfall tax, corporation tax rise and National Insurance hike. Rees-Mogg also said the public may want a general election following the election of a new Prime Minister.

5.30 p.m. – Leaked: Tory memo attacking Sunak

Steerpike writes… The Telegraph has got hold of a zinger of a private memo currently doing the rounds on Tory MPs’ WhatsApp groups. The document lays into Sunak, accusing the favourite to replace Boris Johnson of reckless overspending and a commitment to ‘big state’ economic policy. It also claims that he lied about his wife’s non-dom tax status and that he committed ‘schoolboy errors’ that led to widespread fraud of the Covid loan scheme. You can read the full document here.

5.20 p.m. – Tory Grand Slam or Demolition Derby?

James Forsyth writes… A cabinet minister yesterday observed to me that they would scream if they heard another person suggest the Tory leadership race was like the Grand National. Rather defensively, given it is one of my favourite analogies, I asked what they thought would work better. A little while later, they messaged back: demolition derby; a reference to the sport where cars drive into each other until only one is left standing. Read more here.

2:55 p.m. – Will the Tory hopefuls deliver on their tax promises?

Kate Andrews writes…Rather unsurprisingly, the bulk of MPs who have declared their leadership bids so far are promising lower taxes. Also unsurprisingly, very few details are on offer explaining how they’d do it. Read more here.

2.00 p.m. – Tories adopt American-style campaigning

James Forsyth writes… We have seen two Tory Leadership bids this morning that aim to show they can bridge the party divides with unity tickets. This is a very American approach, you balance the ticket with someone who can reach the parts of the party that the principal struggles with. In British politics, this approach has a chequered history. Read more here.

1.30 p.m. – Wacky races means field wide open

Steerpike writes… Seven MPs have come out for Priti Patel, meaning that there are now no less than seven candidates who have the support of between five to ten of their colleagues: Patel, Javid, Tugendhat, Badenoch, Braverman, Shapps and Zahawi. The range of candidates points to the uncertainty within the party: the field is wide open, with much jockeying between places: sometimes Javid is above Patel, then it’s Shapps. Sunak and Mordaunt are in the lead but nearly two-thirds of the party are still yet to declare. It’s still anyone’s to play for: except poor old John Baron.

11.15 a.m. – Candidates set out their policy stalls

Steerpike writes… ERG candidate Suella Braverman has just released a statement calling for the UK to leave the European Court of Human Rights. It’s a bold move that will surely enrage the lawyers she’s supposed to represent but Braverman is unrepentant, claiming that ‘As Attorney General I’ve seen first hand the problems the ECHR has caused us.’

11.08 a.m. – Mordaunt launches her campaign

Fraser Nelson writes… ‘Penny Mordaunt will deliver the new economic vision that Britain needs,’ says Andrea Leadsom in her endorsement. Great! But with only a few days for MPs to make up their minds, would it be too soon for Ms Mordaunt to share with us what this vision might be? As things stand, her campaign has the depressing hallmarks of a Tory autopilot heading for the same comfort-zone vagueness that got the party into this mess in the first place. Read Fraser’s blog here.

9.40 a.m. – Could a ‘dream ticket’ be on the cards?

Isabel Hardman writes… Jeremy Hunt has just said that he would make Esther McVey his deputy prime minister. This is obviously an attempt to reach out to the other side of the party given Hunt has such a centrist, Remain constituency. McVey is an interesting character. She is very much on the right of the party – sceptical about lockdowns where Hunt was largely in favour. She wants tax cuts as soon as possible. She has government experience so underlines Hunt’s pitch for competence. She is also a bit of a livewire, so presumably Hunt is also worried that his campaign risks being a bit dull and needs to square off that weakness too. 

9.20 a.m. – The battle for the Tory right

James Forsyth writes… Who will be the candidate of the right in this contest? There is this morning a mighty tussle on to be the standard-bearer of the right in this contest. Read all about it here.

7.40 a.m. – When will Truss declare?

Steerpike writes… Speak to Tory MPs and most of them will be unable (or even unwilling) to make a confident prediction as to which pair of candidates will be in the final run-off for the membership vote. But when pressed, many think that Liz Truss will be one of those two names. So it’s a surprise to some therefore that she’s not formally declared sooner, using one of the Sunday papers to launch like Grant Shapps in the Sunday Times. Her supporters counter by suggesting there is still considerable anger among the membership about Boris Johnson’s defenestration: any candidate who looks as though they were a bit too quick off the mark will be punished by the grassroots. ‘Unlike Rishi, Liz didn’t have a website registered last December’ remarked one ally dryly to Mr S.