Rees-Mogg and Dorries back Truss for Tory leadership as Raab announces support for Sunak – live

Good morning. Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, launches his campaign for the Tory leadership later. At one point he was seen as the clear favourite to succeed Boris Johnson, and the candidate best placed to help the Conservatives beat Labour, but his reputation collapsed early this year after his spring statement backfired and a row erupted over his wife’s non-dom status and the fact that he had a US green card when he became chancellor.

Conventional wisdom declared that he had ruined his chances of ever becoming prime minister. This morning he is still the candidate with the most public endorsements from fellow MPs. But he is by no means a shoo-in, and there are two bits of news out this morning that should be worrying for his campaign.

I think what some people were doing was about trying to create the preconditions of a leadership contest. There are people like Liz [Truss] who have been defending the government’s decisions, working hard every day making sure the government does what it needs to do. People will draw their own conclusions about who has been fully committed.

Cleverly also said that, as chancellor, Sunak was “a spokesperson for Treasury officials”. He went on:

We have pursued an economic policy which a lot of people would find harder to differentiate from what a Labour government would do. We need to make it clear that you can’t keep putting up taxes to solve every challenge, you need to unlock economic growth.

In its story, the Times also reports that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, and Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, are both set to endorse Truss as the candidate of the Tory right most likely to stop Sunak. Rees-Mogg and Dorries have consistently been Johnson’s most loyal cheerleaders.

Perhaps the reason is that some of them were involved in pushing out Boris Johnson. Or maybe it is that others tried to keep him on. Or perhaps it’s simply that yesterday’s candidates are old hat, amidst a culture that prizes sensation and novelty.

But whatever the explanation may be, the two chart-toppers in ConservativeHome’s first next Tory leader survey since Ben Wallace withdrew from the contest, aren’t members of the current cabinet at all.

Until now the Conservative leadership campaign has consisted of Sunak saying he won’t tell “comforting fairy tales” on the economy, while almost all the other candidates have been promising tax cuts almost immediately, with little or no indication of how they might be funded. At his launch today Sunak will say that he wants tax cuts too – but only when inflation is under control. Here is our preview story.

Related: Sunak will vow to tackle inflation and then lower taxes if he becomes PM

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

11am: Rishi Sunak holds his campaign launch.

11am: Tom Tugendhat holds his campaign launch.

11am: Kemi Badenoch takes part in a Q&A at the Institute for Government.

11am: Sir John Major, the former Conservative prime minister, gives evidence to the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee about propriety in governance in the light of Greensill.

10pm: Nominations close for leadership candidates. To stand in the first ballot tomorrow, MPs will need the backing of at least 20 colleagues.

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