Wow the Sky debate has officially been cancelled after Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak pulled out https://t.co/WEe1Z0YWm0

— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) July 18, 2022

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak seem to have decided that the debates will give too much ammunition to their future opposition and have called them off. I don’t know what the viewing figures were but I had better things to do and watch.

What is clear is that these two are now drawing away from Penny Mordaunt who has not been able to build on her ealy popularity and has been swamped by the more aggressive campaign of Truss and the more statesmanlike approach adopted by Sunak.

For the first time, Mordaunt is trailing at the book makers and in a three horse race, trailing badly.

Compare this with yesterday’s snip where Mordaunt was still seen as the most credible alternative to Sunak

And then to the odds last week

and see how far Mordaunt has fallen and how the balance of power has switched to Truss and more generally to Sunak.

Without further debate ,  it looks like the momentum will carry the Truss and Sunak to the country. Although Mordaunt still has the greater parliamentary endorsements, the bookies odds tell us her lead over Truss will not last long.

As expected, Tom Tugendhat was eliminated from the race yesterday. He has brought a decency to proceedings that will be remembered.