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was forced to deny links to ‘toxic’ former No10 adviser last night.
Mr Cummings has posted ‘poisonous’ claims online about Mr Sunak’s rivals for the Tory leadership, but the former Chancellor’s team insisted he had not spoken to the controversial adviser since he left No 10 in late 2020.
A rival Tory leadership campaign source said Mr Sunak should ‘come clean’ about whether his team had any links to Mr Cummings — or if they had been in contact with him.
, a close ally of ousted , claimed the maverick aide had been working with Mr Sunak for ‘quite a long time’ — and was hoping to return to Downing Street.She told the Daily Mail: ‘People have to ask themselves the question: why is Cummings backing Rishi?
‘The answer to that question is because Cummings believes he can control Rishi and sees a role for himself back in government, and that is quite terrifying.’
A senior Tory source said: ‘Dominic Cummings has done enough damage to British and public life and the last thing the party needs is his advice at this stage, with his brand of toxic, confrontational and destructive politics.’
Mr Cummings has issued a string of attacks on Tory leadership contenders via social media in recent days, particularly Liz Truss — widely seen as Mr Sunak’s main rival for the Tory crown. He suggested the Foreign Secretary was unfit to lead the country.
As the leadership contest reached fever-pitch:
- Miss Truss launched her campaign last night with a pitch to unify the Red and Blue Walls and return to ‘proper Conservative policy’ with tax cuts and business rates reforms;
- Home Secretary Priti Patel is expected to decide today whether to throw her hat in the ring, with an ally saying she is ‘coming closer and closer to standing’ but fears she could split the Right-wing vote;
- Tory leadership hopefuls came out swinging with promises to slash taxes — with Sajid Javid and Tom Tugendhat pledging to scrap the hated national insurance hike;
- Penny Mordaunt’s campaign got off to a bumpy start after it emerged that convicted killer Oscar Pistorius featured in her promotional video;
- Leadership candidate and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi hit out at ‘smears’ over his tax affairs, saying he does not benefit from an offshore trust and has never held non-domicile status;
- Former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove backed Kemi Badenoch in the leadership race;
- Candidate Suella Braverman said the scuppering of the Rwanda migrant flights proved the UK needs to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Allies of Miss Truss last night attacked Mr Sunak’s economic record.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak, 42, is currently the lead candidate in the Tory leadership race with the highest number of MPs backing his campaign
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