‘Knives out’ for Mordaunt and NHS braces for heat

Many of today’s papers are leading on scrutiny being directed at Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt by supporters of her rival Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

“Knives out for Penny!” says the Daily Express – after Ms Mordaunt again performed well in the latest round of the leadership race. The paper says there’s now a “determined bid” among Ms Mordaunt’s critics to “wreck” her hopes of becoming prime minister.

There’s ample evidence of this in the Daily Mail, which sports the headline, “Mordaunt under the Microscope”. It also devotes 10 pages to the contest and describes in detail the claims her enemies have made about her.

The paper raises questions about her attitude to women and transgender issues, the free press and her Royal Navy credentials – as well as suggesting that she was a “part-time minister”.

She is also condemned by Lord Frost, a prominent backer of Liz Truss, who writes in The Telegraph that a government led by her could not succeed.

The Mail’s sketch-writer, Henry Deedes, believes Ms Truss gave a true-blue message during her campaign launch on Thursday – but her presentation remains a work in progress. Her “joints could do with a squirt of oil,” he says.

Macer Hall, the political editor of the Daily Express, believes the party’s low-tax, free-marketeer wing is paying the price for disunity and there is now a desperate scramble to reunite the right.

The Times’ editorial welcomes the upcoming TV debates, saying the candidates need to be subjected to forensic scrutiny to establish which of them is genuinely up to the job.

On its front page, the Sun pictures a bush fire approaching the holiday home of the footballer’s wife, Rebekah Vardy, who was preparing to evacuate a Portuguese villa yesterday.

“One drink a day keeps the doctor away,” says the Daily Telegraph, “but only if you’re over 40”. It’s among several papers to report the study analysing the dangers of alcohol.