Liz Truss fluffs first tweet straight after making it through to last two to be prime minister

20 July 2022 at 1:13 pm·2-min read

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 17: (ONE MONTH FREE EDITORIAL USE; NO ARCHIVING) In this handout image provided by ITV, Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss speaks during Britain's Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate at Riverside Studios on July 17, 2022 in London, England. At 7pm on Sunday 17th July Live on ITV, Julie Etchingham hosts an hour-long debate in London with the five Conservative Party leadership contenders, vying to become Britains Prime Minister. All five candidates have agreed to take part and over the course of the 60-minute programme, they will debate with each other in response to questions put by the host. Taking place on the eve of the next round of voting, Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, and Kemi Badenoch will debate the issues dominating the campaign. Each candidate will have the opportunity to make a closing statement. ITV is the UKs biggest commercial broadcaster and the programme will give the audience the opportunity to get to know more about the candidates and help them decide who has the qualities to be our new Prime Minister. Britains Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate will also be streamed live on ITV Hub, as well as through ITV.com/news, ITV News YouTube channel, facebook and on Twitter. (Photo by Jonathan Hordle / ITV via Getty Images) — Liz Truss was forced to take down a post with an embarrassing error. (Getty)

Liz Truss has kicked off the final leg of her Tory leadership campaign with an embarrassing tweet she was forced to take down.

The foreign secretary will battle it out with rival Rishi Sunak over the coming weeks to become prime minister after Penny Mordaunt was eliminated from the race on Wednesday.

But Truss will be hoping her campaign goes more smoothly after being forced to delete a tweet she sent immediately after getting through because it contained an error.

Truss wrote "I'll hit ground from day 1", presumably meaning "I'll hit the ground running" before quickly taking down the message when someone noticed the mistake.

She had included an image of her election poster and also thanked Tory MPs for “putting your trust in me”.

Truss has deleted this tweet (Twitter/@trussliz)

Bookmakers have made Truss the favourite to win the contest and become the next prime minister.

Ex-chancellor Sunak, the frontrunner throughout the parliamentary leg of the contest, received 137 votes in the final round of voting.

Truss won 113 votes, narrowly pushing Mordaunt into third place on 105.

Sunak and Truss will now face a campaign to win the votes of Tory members, with the result of the contest announced on 5 September.

The winner is expected to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister the following day.

Mordaunt had been second in all previous rounds of voting, but a late surge by Truss cost her a place on the ballot.

The foreign secretary gained 27 votes, Sunak put on 19, while Mordaunt could only gain an extra 13 supporters.

Watch: Tory leadership race: What happens now only Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are in the contest?

Truss said: “I am excited to now take to the country to make the case to the Conservative Party about my bold new economic plan that will cut taxes, grow our economy and unleash the potential of everyone in our United Kingdom.

“As prime minister I would hit the ground running from day one, unite the Party and govern in line with Conservative values.”

Sunak and Truss are expected to go head to head in a TV debate on Monday night and take part in a series of hustings.