Tory chancers are turning the leadership contest into a wild battle of extremists | Polly Toynbee

Would-be leaders are trying to woo party members with a dangerous mix of fantasy policies and wild tax cuts

Empty power-lust is a dispiriting spectacle. The array of contenders jostling for the hollow crown are a motley ship of fools or knaves, striving to outbid each other with fantasy policies and vast tax cuts that never count the cost.

Downright chancers and jaw-dropping improbables stand alongside obscenely rich frontrunners with dubious tax records. None look likely to win back red wall" seats, according to heavily negative polling in the Times: the better their name recognition, the more they are disliked, while only Keir Starmer has a positive score (with eight points).

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist