Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership team wants Liz Truss to win the Tory leadership contest because they believe her “wooden style” would make him look “less unexciting” and boost his chances of winning power, according to Labour sources.
The Labour leader’s office believes the foreign secretary’s attempt to model herself on Margaret Thatcher will help his party woo back working-class voters.
Labour see Penny Mordaunt as a more difficult opponent partly because of her reputation as an effective Commons performer, the sources said.
And they are neutral about the prospect of facing former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who remains the leadership frontrunner after the latest round of voting.
Ms Truss gained ground on runner-up Ms Mordaunt in Tuesday’s ballot but remained third on 86 votes, six short of second place. Kemi Badenoch was eliminated.
The claim that the Labour leadership is privately hoping for a Truss victory is at odds with repeated statements by Mr Starmer that he does not care who succeeds Boris Johnson.
The Labour leader told Andrew Marr on LBC last week: “I really don’t mind who I go up against because it’s not possible for the Conservatives to get us out of the mess we are in.”
Privately, however, The Independent has been told Labour is hoping for a Truss victory.
Senior party figures claim she would help their party because she would “continue Boris’s right-wing policies without his charisma” and would be a weaker parliamentary adversary than her predecessor.
One Labour source said: “Her tax-cutting agenda would fit our tactic of portraying the Tories as the party of the rich. She is so wooden Keir would look less unexciting.
“Selling Truss as the new Thatcher may go down well with right-wing Tory members but not many other people.”
The claim that Labour is secretly rooting for a Truss triumph is in line with opinion polls which show she is the least popular of all the remaining three Tory leadership contenders among Labour voters.
Mr Sunak is the most popular among this group.
Labour insiders say Mr Starmer would find it harder to cope with Ms Mordaunt than with Ms Truss in the Commons debating chamber.
Ms Mordaunt humiliated Mr Starmer’s deputy Angela Rayner in a heated clash in parliament.
A video clip of her demolishing Ms Rayner in a row over Labour claims of Tory corruption in Covid vaccine contracts went viral last year and has been circulated by the Tory leadership hopeful’s supporters to wavering Conservative MPs in recent days.
Labour sources also believe the fact that Ms Mordaunt could benefit by not having served in Mr Johnson’s cabinet and that her views on trans rights could win her sympathy from left-wingers.
A spokesperson for Mr Starmer denied he wanted Ms Truss to win.
“Keir has been asked this question a bunch of times and said he doesn’t have a preference,” they said. “We’re not alarmed by any of the candidates.”
