RISHI Sunak bought his campaign to become the next Prime Minister to Dorset as he tried to bolster his chances in the leadership contest against with Liz Truss.

The former chancellor spent Monday morning in Sturminster Newton along with supporter and North Dorset MP Simon Hoare.

Dorset West MP Chris Loder and South Dorset MP Richard Drax are both supporting Liz Truss: Mr Loder and Mrs Truss will visit Dorchester later today.

Asked by the Daily Echo why the county’s Conservative members should back him, Mr Sunak said: “Firstly because I share their values. I believe in hard work, in family, in aspiration, in service – those are Conservative values, those are the values that I will put in practice as Prime Minister.

“In the same way that this country provided my family and me with incredible opportunities, that is what I want to do for everyone, for everyone’s children and grandchildren.

“I will also bring the same radicalism and boldness and competence and grip that you saw from me during the pandemic rescuing the economy to every other aspect of government.

“Whether that is tackling illegal migration, or the backlogs, or supporting our farmers, but most importantly for our members they are going to be focused on who is going to be able to beat Keir Starmer at the next election and all the evidence is clear that I am the candidate that offers our party the best opportunity to secure that election victory and ensure that we keep this country blue.”

Last month Tobias Ellwood, Bournemouth East MP, had the Tory whip suspended by current Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Ellwood was removed from the parliamentary party after he failed to vote for the Government in a confidence vote.

The defence select committee chairman said he had been unable to make it to the vote due to travel issues following a meeting in with the with president of Moldova.

Mr Sunak would not be drawn on if he would give Mr Ellwood the whip back.

“I have a good relationship with Tobias and I think he is a very strong voice on issues of foreign affairs and defence, in particular, and I have always had a very constructive relationship with him,” he said.

“What my job is, is to bring the party back together if I am elected as Prime Minister and I am delighted that I have drawn the most support from MPs out of any of candidate and that support has been drawn from all parts of the party and I will build a team around me that represents all the traditions and talents of our party because that is what the country deserves – it deserves the best people to tackle the problems that we face and build the better future that we all want to see.”

One of the biggest challenges facing the incoming Prime Minister will be the issues in the NHS.

In Dorset, hospitals are still facing issues over bed blocking cause by shortages in social care provision.

Asked what he will do to address these problems, Mr Sunak said: “I grew up in an NHS household, my dad was an NHS GP, my mum ran the local chemist in Southampton where I grew up, so I understand first-hand how important health care is to people and people can be reassured that the NHS is safe in my hands.

“I was the chancellor who did something difficult and introduced a new way of funding the NHS and social care because it needs extra resources to deal with the challenges it faces, particularly the backlogs and particularly the challenges in social care but putting money in alone isn’t enough.

“What I want to do is reform the system to get more efficiency and value for money out of it and improve services.

“I have set out a detailed plan for how we can do that, starting with tackling missed appointments because it is not right that millions of appointments every year are missed. That deprives people of the care that they desperately need and I want to get tough on that and it is an example of me being bold, of me being courageous, to do something different that is going to improve services for all of us.”