Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries back Liz Truss for Tory leadership

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries have come out in support of Liz Truss’s Conservative leadership campaign in a major endorsement by two of Boris Johnson’s closest allies.

The move by the Brexit opportunities minister and the culture secretary came as deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, and transport secretary, Grant Shapps, both backed Rishi Sunak to succeed Johnson as Tory leader and prime minister.

Truss’s emerging profile as the “Johnson continuity” candidate will now be further entrenched by the backing of Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries.

It also goes some way towards bolster the credentials of the foreign secretary – who supported remaining in the EU during the 2016 referendum – on the Brexiter wing of the Conservative party.

“Liz Truss is the best candidate. She is a proper eurosceptic who will deliver for the voters and she believes in low taxation,” Rees-Mogg told reporters.

Dorries added: “And she’s a woman.”

However, eyebrows could yet be raised by the manner in which Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries made their announcement. The two serving ministers used Downing Street as a backdrop for their intervention in the party political race, while the move could also be seen as a tacit endorsement of Truss by Johnson, who has said that he will not seek to interfere in the contest.

The role played by Truss in the remain campaign – which had warned that Brexit would be disastrous for the UK – has been regarded as one of her achilles heels in the leadership contest.

She said on the referendum campaign trail in 2016: “I have great faith in the British people. I think the British people are sensible people. They understand that Britain will be better off staying in a reformed EU.”

Truss publicly declared a change of heart in 2017 and insisted that she would back Brexit if another vote took place.

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