Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt has set out her plan to "unite the party and the country"

The Commons Leader was lagging behind her main rivals on public support from MPs, with just 21 to Boris Johnson's 43 and Rishi Sunak's 110, according to an early PA news agency tally yesterday.

She used her pitch in The Express to stress the need to "make Brexit work" and "defend our Union and its territorial integrity", as she pledged her support for reforming the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol.

Ms Mordaunt also said she had opposed the SNP's "separatist ideology", and argued "this is no time" for a second Scottish independence referendum.

"If Conservatives want to continue to be trusted with the United Kingdom's government, we have to refocus on what we agree on and what we know we have to do, instead of letting things push us apart," she wrote.

"As with the country, so with the party. I want to lay out a plan for our future which offers health, wealth and security for everyone, and I want to bring the Conservative Party together to deliver it for the people of the United Kingdom."

She insisted she is not seeking the top job for an "easy ride", stressing that she wants a government which "draws from all our best talent".

In what appeared to be a veiled swipe at outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was initially accused of filling her own Cabinet with allies, Ms Mordaunt said her administration would not be "cherry-picked for personal loyalties".

"I know there is a great deal of hard work ahead. But with a united party I know we can do it," she said.

"Let us remember we are all Conservatives, and all on the same team. Lend me your support and I will take us forward together."

Ms Mordaunt refused to give details of her tax and spend policy, declining to explicitly commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, the pensions triple lock, 3% defence spending and no cuts to the health service.

Asked where she would make spending cuts, she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I’m not going to talk about the details of that package (on October 31), what might come forward or decisions that are in the Bank of England’s remit”.

Pressed on whether she would make cuts to the NHS, she said: “I’m not going to be drawn into the detail of this but what is important for your viewers is to understand that I recognise that people are going to need support, that our health service is under strain.

On defence, she said: “I know that me not giving you an answer to that question is to my detriment, but I’m putting the country first.”

She said she would not be “drawn on” the pensions triple lock.

Challenged over her support for raising benefits in line with inflation a few weeks ago, she said: “We have always protected people but I’m not being drawn into the detail… What we must do is remember that our mandate lies in the 2019 manifesto.”