Hunt urges ‘back Boris’ after Tories clash over Rudd
JEREMY Hunt urged theTory party to unite behind Boris Johnson yesterday to avoid losing a general election.
The former Foreign Secretary said that a “cold shower of generosity and magnanimity” was needed from everyone following Amber Rudd’s shock decision to quit the Government and resign the party whip.
Breaking his silence after losing the Tory leadership contest against Mr Johnson the senior Tory said his party would “never be forgiven” if Jeremy Corbyn was allowed into No 10. “I happen to be someone who thinks we can’t rule out no-deal Brexit. But it is now clear that to deliver Brexit we also need to win an election.
That means a cold shower of generosity and magnanimity from all. Divided parties don’t win elections.”
The hugely significant intervention came as
Tory big hitters clashed over Ms Rudd’s resignation.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “gutted” she had quit, adding: “The Conservative party has always been a broad church shaped by those within it.”
But former Chancellor Philip Hammond, stripped of the party whip after rebelling over Brexit, responded: “Sorry Matt, I’m afraid the Conservative party has been taken over by unelected advisers, entryists and usurpers who are trying to turn it from a broad church into an extreme Right-wing faction.” Former Work and Pensions Secretary Ms Rudd had accused Mr Johnson of “an assault on decency and democracy” over the sacking of 21 Tory MPs who backed halting a no-deal Brexit.
Blasting the PM for axing the “talented, loyal One Nation Conservatives” who voted with the opposition, Ms Rudd added: “The culling of my colleagues has stripped the party of broad-minded and dedicated Conservative MPs. I cannot support this act of political vandalism.”
In her letter Ms Rudd, replaced in the Cabinet by former environment minister Therese Coffey, suggested it is no longer the Government’s “main objective” to leave the bloc with a deal – prompting a backlash from Chancellor Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. On the Andrew Marr show yesterday, she said: “Earlier in the week, when I asked Number 10 what the summary of the plan was for actually getting a deal I was sent a one-page summary.”
Mr Javid said on the same programme: “The central focus of the Government has been to make sure that we leave the EU on October 31 and that we want to have a deal.”
Mr Raab told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I think that the Prime Minister was right to restore some discipline.”