Recent Tory leaders also attempted to underline their fighting credentials as they reached the end of the line
Liz Truss channelled Peter Mandelson at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday when she repeatedly insisted she was “a fighter not a quitter”.
Mandelson, a key figure in the creation of New Labour alongside Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, used the phrase in Hartlepool on the night of the 2001 general election result, when he was returned as an MP after his second resignation from cabinet – this time after being accused of helping an Indian billionaire get a British passport.
