“For the televised debates we prepared for three scenarios: that he went on the offensive, that he was Mr. Patronising, or a mixture of both,” said a Truss ally. “We were surprised at how aggressive he was.” But at the end of a week of bitter political battle between the two candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader, it was Sunak, not Truss, who was on the defensive. The former chancellor’s attacks on the foreign secretary and his policy interventions — whether on China or taxation — turned against Sunak, leaving him frustrated. “Almost everything he’s tried, he’s come out worse,” said David Gauke, a former Tory cabinet minister. The bookies now have Sunak typically at 5-1 to win the match, with Truss the red hot favorite at 1-8. Time is running out for Sunak: more than 150,000 ballot papers start arriving on the doorsteps of Tory members on Monday, meaning voting to choose the party’s next leader begins next week. Sunak hopes a series of 12 meetings with party members, which began in Leeds on Thursday, will offer him a route back. But Truss performed well in her home country and Sunak was accused by one member of “backstabbing” Johnson by resigning as chancellor this month. Sunak’s strategy of presenting himself as the serious leader in difficult times seems to have failed so far. Instead, Truss has presented the former chancellor as a succession candidate who cannot break free from the orthodoxies of the Treasury and is driving Britain into recession. Throughout this week, Sunak has sought to close the gap on Truss, most notably on Monday during a BBC1 debate when he frequently interrupted the foreign secretary to attack her “inflationary” plans for immediate tax cuts . The post-debate poll showed that viewers thought the event was essentially a draw, but many viewers complained about the interruptions. Truss’ team accused Sunak of “aggressive reporting”. Then, having spent much of his campaign criticizing Truss for proposing rapid tax cuts, Sunak on Tuesday announced his own £4bn “temporary” cut in value added tax on household energy bills. Sunak insisted the move would help curb inflation, but as chancellor he had previously rejected the VAT cut, saying it was poorly targeted by helping wealthy households as well as the poor. The Truss team described Sunak’s VAT proposal as a “twisted inversion”. Johnson, who wanted to cut VAT but was blocked by Sunak, joked that it now looked “easier than we thought”. Mr Sunak’s efforts to cast himself as a China hawk also backfired after it was revealed on Thursday that he was making plans as chancellor for a major UK-China economic and financial conference. The meeting was later called off. Sunak discovered the problems of running for the Conservative leadership as a former chancellor: the person in government whose job it is to make tough calls that are considered to be in the economic national interest. Hoping to run on his record, Sunak seems trapped by it. Johnson’s allies – who accused Sunak of treason by resigning the government and prompting the prime minister’s early exit – are rejoicing in his difficulties as they try to thwart his leadership. A Johnson ally said Sunak had “messed up the whole pitch” of his leadership campaign, running as a Leaver backed by some of the party’s biggest Remainers and claiming to be a tax cut who had actually presided over a major expansion of the state as chancellor. “He’s basically on the wrong side of the party members on every major issue,” the Johnson ally added. While Truss told Tory members of her hard line with Brussels on Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade arrangements, Johnson’s supporters highlighted how Sunak favored a softer stance to avoid provoking a trade war with EU. Mr Sunak’s decision to raise national insurance contributions to pay for extra spending on the NHS and social care – opposed by Mr Truss at the time – is now cited by Johnson’s supporters as evidence that he was a “socialist” chancellor.

Truss meanwhile is developing in the Tory leadership contest. After appearing as a wooden automaton in the first televised debate on Channel 4, her human side emerged in subsequent ones, notably recalling the horror of presenter Kate McCann collapsing at a TalkTV event on Tuesday. The Foreign Secretary, who campaigned for Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, has learned a lot from the Vote Leave campaign. He accuses Sunak of running ‘Project Fear’ saying her unfunded tax cuts could make Britain’s economy worse. Sunak’s team had hoped that by now the polls would show that ordinary voters preferred him to Truss. Although YouGov did a survey this week that showed Sunak was more popular among swing voters, the numbers are far from overwhelming. Conservative MPs who support Sunak are in despair. One said: “The campaign just didn’t work well. The campaign began as an underwater operation, with as little media as possible and avoiding scrutiny. Then they panicked and they have to put him everywhere.” The former chancellor’s supporters insisted he could turn things around. They said there were still weeks to go in the contest – the result of the vote by Tory members will be announced on September 5. Conservative MPs who backed Sunak for the party leadership are urging Tory members to support the former chancellor on the basis that he is more likely than Truss to win the next election. “That’s convincing,” said one MP. But other MPs who favor Sunak warned his chances of being the next Tory leader were slim, with the clock ticking fast. A former minister said: “It will be a big windfall for Liz not to win it now.” Another former minister said Sunak “doesn’t have much time. The concrete is starting to set.”