EVEN the two candidates in the race to become party leader must by now be desperate for it to end but the bad news for them and us is there is still the best part of three weeks to go.

Trapped on a constantly revolving political hamster wheel of hustings, the two protagonists are running out of things to say and when they do, it increasingly leads to a U-turn on a previous policy pledge.

Despite the fact that many party members will already have cast their vote, despite an electorate of just 160,000, the attritional battle goes on.

The only question is whether anyone is listening to this political white noise in the heat of summer. Never mind foreign policy, where do they stand on hosepipe bans?

With the campaign winding up - or down - and the candidates and their teams heading back to London, be warned: there is every prospect the pair will pitch up in Kent again before September 5.

THE endeavours of Truss and Sunak to impress upon the electorate they are just like us has led to a degree of dumbing down in the language they use.

The leaked video of the hustings in Tunbridge Wells that created a stir after an apparent admission from Sunak that he had changed funding formulas to benefit Kent is a case in point. Or, as he put it, he would reverse a situation in which money had been “shoved up north” - a crude sideswipe.

PLENTY of people were impressed by Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat and his leadership campaign which saw him eliminated in the third round ballot.

And when it came to putting their hands in their pockets, his fighting fund swelled considerably with contributions from some supporters - including one single donation of £50,000.

However, it does raise questions for some over whether candidates in any leadership contest have an unfair advantage over their rivals if they attract support from wealthy benefactors; even more so when the election is for two jobs, one of which is Prime Minister.

THE spin doctors for Liz Truss have obviously decided that it is no point trying to create an image for her that won’t fool the public.

She may have tried to portray herself as ‘Thatcher Mark 2’ but - surprise surprise - everyone saw through that. Instead she is making a virtue of being the ‘un-spun’ contender - the kind of ‘what you see is what you get’ approach.

Will it work? Who knows but if it does, don’t set your sights too high.