LONDON: Rishi Sunak has vowed he will fight to the last day of the Conservative leadership contest despite a recent YouGov poll of Tory members giving Liz Truss a 32-point lead over him, as he released a new campaign video called “The Underdog”, cashing in on his status.
“I plan to keep going until the end,” Sunak promised at Friday’s hustings in Manchester, just as Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, claimed Sunak could still defy the polls and win in an unexpected Brexit-style surprise.
The video, which has footage of Sunak touring around the country, shows him saying: “They say beware the underdog because an underdog has nothing to lose. Underdogs don’t give up. Write ‘em off if you like. But if there is one thing I know to be true, it is that Britain loves an underdog.”
At the hustings, Sunak called for the UK police to record the ethnicity of men involved in grooming gangs.
To huge applause, Sunak said: “I want to tackle the issue that is more pervasive in our country than we care to admit. We don’t talk about grooming gangs enough. The crimes they commit are pernicious. They affect girls as young as my two daughters. I want to be tough on it. We need to have a new unit and to actually record the ethnicity of the people doing this which we don’t do today.”
Thousands of under-age British girls have been raped and abused across the UK, for decades, by groups of largely Pakistani Muslim heritage men. Police and local authorities for years allowed these gangs to act with impunity for fear of being accused of racism.
“We should not let political correctness stand in the way of keeping people safe,” Sunak said.
Sunak also said that immigration to the UK “has to be done legally and fairly” and that he will fix the problem of illegal small boat arrivals, which tends to be people fleeing the Middle East and Pakistan.
He said migration has to be legal and fair as, otherwise, it undermines trust in the system.
He said “leftie lawyers” are exploiting the “European definition of asylum seeker” and he would move to a different convention. He also said he would include the returns of failed asylum seekers in the negotiations of future foreign trade deals.
Sunak also vowed to take on the “leftie woke culture” and to legislate to protect political and religious belief in universities. He also defended leaked comments he made about funnelling money away from deprived urban areas saying there are places all over Britain that need investment.
Truss on Sunday pledged to hold a review into the tax rules, known as IR35, that impact Indian-origin contractors.
“I plan to keep going until the end,” Sunak promised at Friday’s hustings in Manchester, just as Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, claimed Sunak could still defy the polls and win in an unexpected Brexit-style surprise.
The video, which has footage of Sunak touring around the country, shows him saying: “They say beware the underdog because an underdog has nothing to lose. Underdogs don’t give up. Write ‘em off if you like. But if there is one thing I know to be true, it is that Britain loves an underdog.”
At the hustings, Sunak called for the UK police to record the ethnicity of men involved in grooming gangs.
To huge applause, Sunak said: “I want to tackle the issue that is more pervasive in our country than we care to admit. We don’t talk about grooming gangs enough. The crimes they commit are pernicious. They affect girls as young as my two daughters. I want to be tough on it. We need to have a new unit and to actually record the ethnicity of the people doing this which we don’t do today.”
Thousands of under-age British girls have been raped and abused across the UK, for decades, by groups of largely Pakistani Muslim heritage men. Police and local authorities for years allowed these gangs to act with impunity for fear of being accused of racism.
“We should not let political correctness stand in the way of keeping people safe,” Sunak said.
Sunak also said that immigration to the UK “has to be done legally and fairly” and that he will fix the problem of illegal small boat arrivals, which tends to be people fleeing the Middle East and Pakistan.
He said migration has to be legal and fair as, otherwise, it undermines trust in the system.
He said “leftie lawyers” are exploiting the “European definition of asylum seeker” and he would move to a different convention. He also said he would include the returns of failed asylum seekers in the negotiations of future foreign trade deals.
Sunak also vowed to take on the “leftie woke culture” and to legislate to protect political and religious belief in universities. He also defended leaked comments he made about funnelling money away from deprived urban areas saying there are places all over Britain that need investment.
Truss on Sunday pledged to hold a review into the tax rules, known as IR35, that impact Indian-origin contractors.