Former UK finance minister and Downing Street candidate Rishi Sunak, who is trailing in the polls, appeared to win over many Tory voters during a televised question-and-answer session on Thursday, which was also attended by his rival Liz Truss, AFP said.

After 90 minutes of live broadcasting, during which the two candidates could develop their project in turn, without facing each other, the members of the Conservative Party present voted for their candidate, writes AFP, reports Agerpres.

To everyone’s surprise, Rishi Sunak, who according to the latest polls was ahead of his opponent in the desire to vote by more than thirty points, convinced the vast majority of the public.

During August, members of the Conservative Party vote to elect their new leader, who will replace Boris Johnson in Downing Street, which has been engulfed in a series of scandals.

If Liz Truss came out victorious in previous confrontations, she had to back down on Thursday both on her economic policies – which include tax cuts to cope with falling living standards – and on her many changes of opinion.

“Are you going to apologize?” asked one attendee about his plan to cut the salaries of civil servants in the most deprived regions, an idea that was finally abandoned hours after it was announced.

“I’m not ashamed to say it’s not working the way I wanted it to and I’ve changed my position,” she replied.

“Who is the real Liz Truss?” – journalist Kay Burley asked to laughter from the audience, listing the numerous changes of views of the head of diplomacy, from Brexit to Ukraine and the monarchy.

In contrast, Rishi Sunak, so far without much success in reaching the party’s base, seemed to have convinced the audience, which repeatedly cheered him on.

Cultivating the image of an extremely polite character, he was not shy about making fun of himself. Asked about a 2001 video in which he boasted he had no working-class friends, the wealthy former minister regretted the “stupid remarks”.

“And now?”, he was asked. “Well, I don’t waste time asking them (if they’re from the lower classes),” he replied to applause from the audience.

Rishi Sunak again showed his differences with Liz Truss on economic issues, pointing out that the “root of the problem” is inflation, not taxes.