‘If Boris is Tory leader, then Corbyn will be PM’

JEREMY Corbyn will be PM if a no dealsupporting candidate wins the Tory leadership race, Rory Stewart warned.

He said contenders ‘who try to outFarage Farage’ and push a ‘Right-wing vision’ will tear the country apart.

He said: ‘No deal is a delay, no deal is a failure to reach a destination, no deal is a recipe for splitting the country and the party, and for leading to a Corbyn government.

‘Being radical on the centre ground is the way that we are going to win elections but it’s also the way we are going to change the country.’

Boris Johnson, the favourite to be the next Tory leader, has made it clear he is willing to pursue a no deal Brexit if the EU

refuses to make concessions. Outlining why Tory members should vote for him instead, Mr Stewart, who was deputy governor in Iraq, said: ‘I’ve spent a lot of time in difficult places, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and I think it is possible to negotiate things through. And I think if I were lucky enough to become leader, I could negotiate this through the House of Commons.

He said he was ‘worried’ that those pushing for a Right-wing vision would ‘alienate’ younger voters, cities and Scotland.

He said: ‘I’m not really a politician at all. In 2010 I had nothing to do with politics, but I was a passionate believer in Britain and the British government.’