Liz Truss kicks off Tory leadership bid with slick video as race turns nasty

Former minister Sajid Javid offered up tax cuts worth an astonishing £40billion tonight as Tory leadership hopefuls engaged in extraordinary one-upmanship in the increasingly hot fight to succeed Boris Johnson. As the leadership contest ramps up: The powerful 1922 committee will thrash out the details of the leadership contest tonight, with the threshold for nominations expected to be set high to cut the number of candidates; Hopefuls who fail to get support from 10 per cent of Tory benches - 36 MPs - in the first round could be excluded; Mr Zahawi has said he would force every Government department to cut staff by 20 per cent to fund tax cuts, as he hit out at 'smears' over his tax affairs, saying he does not benefit from an offshore trust and has never held non-domicile status; Two televised debates are due to be held on Sunday and Monday as the hopefully compete for support; Penny Mordaunt's supporters have branded her a 'liberty lioness' after her campaign got off to a bumpy start with convicted killer Oscar Pistorius featuring in her promotional video; Former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove backed Kemi Badenoch in the leadership race; Keir Starmer swiped that the Tories were infected with the 'chaos virus' caught from Boris Johnson. The sweating former chancellor said he would scrap a planned corporation tax hike and bring forward a cut to income tax as he sought to breathe life into his underwhelming campaign to replace Boris Johnson at an event in London this afternoon Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has made bold pledges on tax as he tries to get his campaign to become PM into top gear Liz Truss joined the fight with the race looking increasingly chaotic after 11 candidates declared, and Priti Patel seriously considering making it a dozen by throwing her hat into the ring Former chancellor Rishi Sunak is the front runner. Tom Tugendhat is painting himself as the change candidate Meanwhile, Tom Tugendhat has released his own promo insisting he represents a clean break and return to integrity Mr Sunak's bid to be crowned Tory leader is already being countered by a 'mucky memo' of claims about the ex-chancellor being circulated among MPs Dominic Cummings, pictured in north London, is said to have worked with the former Chancellor for 'quite a long time' How will the Tory leadership contest happen?