Tory leadership contest 'WON'T be speeded up so winner can respond to Budget on October 30'... despite fears Rishi Sunak has been 'phoning in' his duties since election humiliation

The Tory leadership contest will not be speeded up so the winner can respond to the Budget on October 30, the party chair insisted today.

Richard Fuller bluntly ruled out the move despite alarm at the prospect of Rishi Sunak still being in charge for the crucial Labour set piece.

All four contenders have signalled they are open to bringing the finishing date forward from November 2, with the fiscal statement seen as a major opportunity for the new leader to put themselves in the public eye.

There has also been sniping at Mr Sunak's lacklustre performance since his election trouncing, with complaints he is 'phoning it in'. The former PM has already left the conference after a single speech saying sorry to activists.

However, in a round of interviews this morning Mr Fuller said that an earlier conclusion would not leave enough time for party members to vote on the final two hopefuls.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'We had this debate some months ago. I think we had a very long discussion between the voluntary party and the 1922 Committee, which represents MPs.

'The 1922 Committee wanted a longer campaign. They wanted to have four candidates here at conference.

'And the logistics of that mean that when we whittle it down to two and it goes to the members, there's a period of time for the members to vote, and my job is to make sure that members have enough time to get their ballot papers and return their ballot papers, and that's why we ended up with the time frame we have.'

Asked, 'no change?', Mr Fuller added: 'No change.'

The scheduling wrangling came as the leadership battle was threatening to turn nasty, with Kemi Badenoch's allies furious at alleged dirty tricks by rivals.

Robert Jenrick , seen as her main competitor, seized on loose comments about maternity pay yesterday.

Ms Badenoch was arguing during an interview that businesses face too much red tape and the tax burden is too high when she was pressed on benefits for mothers.

She was accused of suggesting that maternity pay was 'excessive', and insisted that women had 'more babies' before it was introduced.

As the spat gathered pace, Ms Badenoch was forced to make a statement denying she supported reducing payments.

However, an ally of Mr Jenrick said: 'It's quite special to go Kemi-kazi on the first day of conference. Which group of potential Tory voters is she going to try to alienate next?'

At a Centre for Policy Studies event Mr Jenrick went openly on the attack. 'I don't agree with Kemi on this one,' he said. 'I'm a father of three young daughters, I want to see them get the support that they need when they enter the workplace.

'Our maternity pay is amongst the lowest in the OECD. I think the Conservative Party should be firmly on the side of parents and working mums who are trying to get on.

'I know how difficult that is, we should be supporting them and not making their lives more difficult.'

A source close to Ms Badenoch hit back by accusing her opponent of 'scoring points'.

'We need to be better, we need our politics to be better. Kemi obviously supports maternity pay and was making a case for lower regulation - something she always aimed for as business secretary,' they said.

'For other leadership campaigns to be seeking to use selective quotes from an interview to score political hits, shows they're still wedded to the old politics and simply aren't serious about getting back to government.'

At a ConservativeHome event at conference last night, Ms Badenoch had the last slot for a short speech to activists. She jibed that 'I think we all know I'm the one everyone has been waiting for'.

And she told them that 'someone who is going to cut through, someone who is going to stand up to (Labour) and someone to face down Farage'.

Tom Tugendhat and Ms Badenoch will face questions from party members in Birmingham, while Liz Truss is expected at a fringe in-conversation event on the second day of the four-day gathering.