Boris: No deals with Far age

He pledges more Brussels talks... but says we WILL be out on Oct 31

BORIS Johnson last night ruled out an electoral pact with Nigel Farage, as he pledged to restore the Tory Party’s battered fortunes.

At the final hustings of the Conservative leadership contest, Mr Johnson delivered an upbeat assessment of his ability to deliver Brexit and put the Tories back on track, telling activists: ‘The hour is darkest before the dawn, we’re going to turn this thing round.’

In a boisterous performance, which reflects his team’s increasing confidence of victory next week, he laughed off ‘absolutely outrageous’ claims that he dyes his hair and joked about his ability to manage money, saying: ‘I’ve certainly spent a lot.’

At one point he even brandished a kipper as he laid into ‘pointless, expensive, environmentally-damaging’ EU rules, which he pledged to scrap. However, in a message to Brexit hardliners, he stressed he would strain every sinew to get a new deal with the EU, warning that a major trade deal with the United States could not be conjured up ‘in a trice’ – and could take many years.

Meanwhile, his leadership rival Jeremy Hunt last night appealed to supporters to make sure they voted before Monday’s deadline – and insisted he could still win.

Urging people to vote with ‘your heads as well as your hearts’, he added: ‘We believe the race is much closer than people think.’

Mr Johnson, the runaway favourite to succeed Theresa May next week, has prospered in the wake of the Brexit Party’s stunning success at the European parliament elections in May.

But last night he said he would never do a deal with Mr Farage, the anti-EU party’s leader. ‘I don’t think we should do deals with any party, we are the Conservative Party. We are going to restore trust and confidence in our party.’

Pressed on the issue, he said: ‘I will rule it out. I rule it out.’ Mr Johnson told activists at London’s ExCeL centre he would go back to Brussels to seek a new deal.

But he repeated that he is ready to take the UK out without a deal on October 31 if the EU refuses to make concessions.

‘If there is a refusal to be flexible, if there is a refusal to compromise, if they won’t do that, and won’t change one dot or comma of this Withdrawal Agreement – and I think it’s dead – then we need to get ready to come out on different terms. And that is what we will do,’ he said.

Mr Johnson denied he was considering an early election, but he refused to rule out timetabling a Queen’s Speech for early November in order to suspend Parliament at the end of October and ensure MPs cannot block a No Deal Brexit at the last moment.

Mr Johnson described himself as ‘a feminist’ and ruled out a clampdown on abortion laws, saying: ‘I believe firmly in a woman’s right to choose.’ Discussing a trade deal with America he added: ‘The US are very tough negotiators – we are also going to have to be very tough.’

The two candidates have battled it out at 16 hustings spread over 26 days. Voting closes on Monday afternoon and the next Tory leader will be announced on Tuesday. Theresa May will conduct her final PMQs on Wednesday before travelling to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.

The new leader will then take office on Wednesday afternoon and begin appointing his Cabinet.

‘We are going to restore confidence and trust’