WHERE IS BORIS?
Hunt’s jibe at absent Tory frontrunner for missing big TV debate
JEREMY Hunt last night taunted Boris Johnson for snubbing the Tory leadership TV debate, saying it made him unfit to deliver Brexit.
Five Tory leadership candidates squared off in the Channel 4 debate which saw brutal ‘blue on blue’ clashes over the prospect of Britain leaving the EU without a deal.
Mr Johnson, who refused to attend, was represented by an empty podium and Mr Hunt questioned how he could survive the Brexit negotiations when he wouldn’t debate the other contenders.
‘Where is Boris? If Boris’s team won’t let him out to debate five pretty friendly colleagues, how will he get on with 27 EU countries?’ he said.
Defending his decision not to attend, Mr Johnson said a debate involving ‘loads of candidates’ can be ‘slightly cacophonous’. He has agreed to take part in a BBC debate tomorrow after the next round of voting.
Sajid Javid also took a swipe at Mr Johnson, signalling to the empty podium and calling him ‘this guy’, while Rory Stewart said he hoped it was ‘one of us’ who took the Tory crown, not Mr Johnson.
The first half of the 90-minute debate was dominated by a series of brutal exchanges over No Deal and the prospect of suspending Parliament to make sure Britain leaves at the end of October. The high- stakes debate also saw:
Mr Stewart repeatedly applauded by the studio audience when he argued suspending Parliament to force through a No Deal would be ‘undemocratic’ and ‘deeply disturbing’, and when making a comparison between forcing a No Deal and trying to stuff rubbish in a bin;
Dominic Raab criticise him for planning the ‘Venezuelan option’ of a citizens’ assembly on Brexit;
Michael Gove accuse Mr Raab and Mr Stewart of ‘defeatism’ over Brexit, and defend himself over cocaine use;
Mr Javid saying he was the ‘right messenger’ because of his humble background and contrasting it with Mr Stewart’s Eton education.
The first section of the debate saw the candidates turn on Mr Raab, who has refused to rule out suspending – or proroguing – Parliament to force through No Deal.
The former Brexit secretary said it was not his preferred option, but argued it was wrong to ‘ take options away’ because it would ‘telegraph to the EU that we are not prepared to walk away’.
But he came under attack from the others, all of whom rejected the idea of proroguing, which is ordered by the Queen.
Mr Hunt said it would be a ‘profound mistake’, Mr Gove said he would ‘defend our democracy’, and Mr Javid said ‘you don’t deliver on democracy by trashing democracy’, adding: ‘We’re not selecting a dictator.’
All the candidates said they would be prepared to leave without a deal except Mr Stewart, who accused the others of a ‘competition of machismo’ by claiming they could overcome ‘impossible odds’ to deliver Brexit’.
He said it would be impossible to get ‘another deal’ out of the EU, adding: ‘A threat is not credible unless it can be delivered – the EU knows perfectly well that No Deal can’t get through Parliament.’ He went on to make a bizarre comparison between forcing No Deal and trying to stuff rubbish in a bin, and – in a separate intervention – demanded to know from Mr Raab what cheddar cheese tariffs would be under a No Deal Brexit.
He said: ‘I’m accused of being defeatist when I’m trying to be realistic. It’s like trying to cram a whole series of a rubbish bags into the bin – my wife says “you’ll never get the huge bags in”. Dom would say “believe in the bin, believe in Britain”. It’s nonsense.’
Mr Gove hailed his record in government, saying: ‘When Jeremy Corbyn wakes up on a Wednesday morning before Prime Minister’s Questions, who is the person he’s going to be the most terrified of facing? That’s me.’
Asked whether he was guilty of ‘hypocrisy’ by host Krishnan GuruMurthy over the confession that he had used cocaine 20 years ago, Mr Gove admitted he had ‘fallen short of high standards’.
Channel 4 said the audience was equally split between Leave and Remain supporters.
The candidates must secure 33 votes tomorrow to stay in the race.
After the debate, Mr Stewart immediately racked up a new endorsement. Culture minister Margot James hailed him as ‘energetic, determined and embracing the centre ground’, adding: ‘I will support him for next PM.’
‘I’m trying to be realistic’