Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jonathan Ashworth has said that a vote for the Tories at the election is a vote for a Liz Truss-inspired agenda.
If Rishi Sunak is returned as Prime Minister at the General Election, the public will be faced with “Truss 2.0”, Mr Ashworth said at a press conference in London.
Speaking in front of a backdrop stating “Stop the Liz Truss takeover”, Mr Ashworth referred to a booklet that had been handed out to attending journalists that claims to reveal new Tory candidates who are Truss loyalists.
The list includes Epsom and Ewell candidate Mhairi Fraser, North West Leicestershire candidate Craig Smith, and Rugby candidate Yousef Dahmash.
“In the 25 years or so I’ve been involved in politics now I cannot remember any occasion when an incumbent Government has got their candidate selection so obviously wrong as the Tories have at this election,” Mr Ashworth said.
He added: “Not even the professional exorcist standing for the Tories in Cardiff East could expel all the diabolical forces haunting their candidate list. The one person who will never take that action is Rishi Sunak, a man too weak to enforce basic standards within his own party.”
Mr Ashworth claimed there are “166 hardcore Trussites” standing for the Conservatives on Thursday, adding: “Most of them share the core ‘Pop-Con’ belief which is that Trussonomics was sabotaged by the so-called big state establishment in the autumn of 2022 and has never been given a proper chance to succeed.”
He added: “Our dossier today proves that five more years of the Tories means five more years of chaos, five more years of fiscal irresponsibility, five more years of mortgage rises, five more years of one rule for them and another for the rest of us. Our warning is clear: vote Sunak on Thursday, get Truss 2.0 on Friday.”
Mr Ashworth concluded: “A vote for a Tory candidate in this election is a vote for a Trussite agenda.”
Ms Truss’s Popular Conservative faction – dubbed Pop-Con in Westminster – launched earlier this year.
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