Long seen as a leading candidate to be the next PM, now the position is finally becoming vacant Elizabeth Truss has been struggling to keep up with her rivals. DAN GRIMMER considers whether her opportunity has passed or if she has timed things just right
We all adore a summer sporting spectacle, as seen by the millions of people tuning in for the UEFA Women's Euros.
These tournaments always have their well-fancied favourites, who start strongly and set the pace for others, the surprise packages, who emerge from the pack and unsettle the odds, and those who seem to flatter to deceive.
These are the ones who are much-hyped before the contest, and talked up by pundits as possible winners. But when the action starts, the reality doesn't quite match the expectation.
Which all brings us to that other gruelling, stamina-sapping summer event... the Conservative party leadership contest and local candidate Elizabeth Truss.
For years, the South West Norfolk MP has been touted as a potential future leader of her party.
The longest-serving cabinet member, the 46-year-old decided to keep her powder dry and did not stand to succeed Theresa May in 2019.
At that point, she said the nation needed somebody who had voted Brexit from the start. Ms Truss had campaigned for Remain.
But in her role as secretary of state for international trade, she embraced Brexit to such a degree that, having entered the fray this time around, it is her most pro-Brexit parliamentary colleagues who are her staunchest supporters.
It is the right-wing side of the party whose votes Ms Truss is going to need if she is to finish in the top two - at which point the Tory membership get their say.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak might be seen as the "establishment" candidate, but it was his and health secretary Sajid Javid's resignations which triggered the end for Boris Johnson.
He has created a degree of separation from his former boss - if not from the country's economic woes.
But, by contrast, foreign secretary Ms Truss was silent amid the flak Mr Johnson was receiving.
That loyalty means she now finds herself cast as the continuity candidate. She has the support of the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries and European Research Group chairman Mark Francois.
At her campaign launch last week Ms Truss said: "I am a loyal person. I am loyal to Boris Johnson. I supported our prime minister’s aspirations and I want to deliver the promise of the 2019 manifesto.
“What we need to do now is deliver, deliver, deliver, and I am the person in this race with the record of delivery.
“Now is the time to be bold, we cannot have business-as-usual economic management, which has led to low growth for decades.”
But will it be enough to keep Ms Truss in the race?
At a time when many Conservatives feel there is a need for a reset, could her links to what has gone before do her more harm than good?
She launched her 'Liz for Leader' campaign on Thursday, some time after her leading rivals, and some speculated that she might have mistimed things.
She had not performed as well as some rivals in the first round of voting among Conservative MPs and her moment seemed to be passing.
But the same day, she picked up the pace in the second round of voting, gaining an extra 14 supporters, taking her to 64 Tory MPs.
And there are signs that her campaign might now be picking up the pace.
She is likely to attract more support from the right wing of the party after Suella Braverman, who had 27 supporters, said she was backing Ms Truss following her exit from the race.
Ms Braverman said she was the “best person to unleash the opportunities of Brexit” and deliver tax cuts.
Should Kemi Badenoch fall by the wayside when the voting resumes next week, Ms Truss might expect to inherit some of the 49 votes she has garnered.
As many had expected, it is Mr Sunak who is leading the field at the moment, with 101 backers.
But the surprise package has undoubtedly been Penny Mordaunt.
She has 83 supporters, putting her ahead of Ms Truss and second to Mr Sunak.
One of Ms Mordaunt's most vocal supporters is one of Ms Truss's neighbours - Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman.
Mr Freeman has been all over the media extolling Ms Mordaunt's credentials - and defending her against what what he described as "nasty attacks".
Perhaps pointedly, given Ms Truss's Brexit record, he has made a point of highlighting how Ms Mordaunt was "a one-nation, unity Brexiteer from the very beginning".
Mr Freeman is not alone among Norfolk MPs in backing Ms Mordaunt.
Broadland MP Jerome Mayhew and North Norfolk MP Duncan Baker - both among the 2019 general election crop of MPs - have publicly backed her.
The other 2019 newcomer in Norfolk - North West Norfolk MP James Wild, another of Ms Truss's neighbours - has said he is supporting Mr Sunak.
Which means Norwich North MP Chloe Smith - who also remained silent when others were calling for Mr Johnson to go - is the only MP in Ms Truss's own county who has publicly supported her - surely something that will smart.
Following the televised debates, the next round of voting is due on Monday, with subsequent rounds if required until two candidates are left.
They will then battle it out over the summer to win the support of Conservative members.
Ms Truss would fancy her chances against Mr Sunak if they are the final two.
She has regularly appeared at the top of popularity polls among Tory members by influential website Conservative Home.
But a YouGov survey last week revealed the membership was impressed by Ms Mordaunt.
When members were asked to pick a candidate from the field, Ms Mordaunt topped the list, with 27pc selecting her.
Ms Badenoch was second with 15pc, while Mr Sunak and Ms Truss were each backed by 13pc of members.
Seventy-three per cent said Ms Mordaunt would make a good leader, 69pc Ms Truss and 51pc Mr Sunak.
In a head to head between Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss, 55pc said they would back Ms Mordaunt and 37pc Ms Truss.
But if the final two ended up being Mr Sunak and Ms Truss, then 59pc of members said they would back her and 35pc him.
Against that backdrop, it is perhaps little wonder that Ms Truss's "allies" have had to deny directing 'black ops' against Ms Mordaunt.
Transport minister and Ms Truss backer Wendy Morton, appearing on Times Radio, said she was “absolutely not” involved in any kind of untoward campaign.
She insisted the Truss camp is not concerned about the lead Ms Mordaunt has maintained in the first two ballots.
Ms Morton added: “You know, we have still got rounds of voting to go, there are still candidates, there are colleagues out there who have not declared for a candidate, there are colleagues who have voted for candidates who have now dropped out of the race. So it’s all to play for."
With Mr Sunak currently ahead, it will perhaps give Ms Truss comfort that the Tory party membership, whose votes will prove so crucial, rarely backs the early front-runner.
The challenge she has is making sure it is her, not Ms Mordaunt, who gets presented to them as the alternative to Mr Sunak.
Their choice of the next prime minister will be announced on September 5.
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