HANCOCK BACKS JOHNSON ‘AS HE MEANS BUSINESS’
BORIS Johnson’s Tory leadership juggernaut picked up speed last night after he secured the backing of Matt Hancock.
The Health Secretary, who dropped out on Friday after a disappointing result in the first round, has thrown his weight behind the frontrunner after the pair agreed a ‘pro-business partnership’.
The endorsement of a former remainer and Cabinet heavyweight from the liberal wing of the party will further reinforce Mr Johnson’s status as the runaway favourite to replace Theresa May as prime minister.
Allies of Mr Johnson said he had been ‘inspired’ by Mr Hancock’s campaign and it is understood the pair spoke several times over the weekend. Last night Mr Hancock said he ‘wholeheartedly endorsed’ Mr Johnson who he said can ‘bring the party and country together’ by ‘dominating the centre ground’.
He praised Mr Johnson’s ‘ disciplined campaign’ and argued he is ‘almost certain’ to be the next PM. ‘ We need to unite behind him with a strong team that can bring the party together and then bring the country together,’ he told The Times. ‘I have repeatedly argued for a strategy of defeating the danger of Farage by delivering Brexit and defeating the danger of Corbyn by dominating the centre ground thereafter. That is Boris’s plan and I wholeheartedly endorse it.’
He added: ‘I have been reassured…that a Boris administration will be pro-business, proenterprise, supportive of the aspirational and the international.’
The development is a blow to Michael Gove, who was vying for Mr Hancock’s endorsement. It comes despite the minister having turned his fire on Mr Johnson in the early stages of the contest over his attacks on business.
Mr Johnson had reportedly said ‘f*** business’ in fury at the CBI and other business groups trying to spread scaremongering stories about No Deal.
Mr Hancock argued Mr Johnson had the ‘wrong attitude’ and said it was vital for the Tories to ‘back business and not bash business’.
Yesterday one pro- Johnson MP said: ‘ Boris is keen to have a big remainer on his team, it shows he has the full breadth of the party behind him.’ Mr Hancock quit the race after securing just 20 votes in the first round with an admission the party was not looking for the ‘candidate of the future’ but ‘a candidate for the unique circumstances we face right now’.
Mr Johnson’s team insisted no offers of a job in a future cabinet had been discussed. Mr Hancock is seen as a potential chancellor in a Johnson administration.
It came as Mr Johnson’s campaign was buoyed by a poll showing voters believe he is the only leadership candidate who can win the next election. The YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed the Brexit Party was ahead of both the Tories and Labour.
It put Nigel Farage’s party on 24 per cent, three points ahead of Labour and the Tories on 21 per cent with the Lib Dems on 19 per cent. A total of 47 per cent think Mr Johnson can see off Mr Corbyn and Mr Farage and only 22 per cent disagree. Just 15 per cent say his nearest rival, Jeremy Hunt, can win the Tories another term in power. It also suggested Mr Johnson was the only candidate who would persuade voters to turn to the Tories. Some 22 per cent said they were more likely to vote Tory if he was leader.
None of his rivals scored more than 8 per cent. But 59 per cent of voters said they wouldn’t buy a used car from Mr Johnson.
Yesterday the frontrunner fuelled rumours of an early general election after footage emerged of him saying he would ‘get Brexit done and get ready for an election’. The comments came at hustings with party members on Saturday, but Mr Johnson’s team furiously denied the claim. They said he had repeatedly ruled out an early election and argued he was referring to the election in 2022.
Mr Johnson also won the endorsement of former work and pensions secretary esther Mcvey and former Scotland Yard boss Bernard Hogan-Howe – now a cross-bench peer – who described him as a ‘really great mayor’ of London.