DELAY Hunt: I’ll sort out Brexit by Christmas

Yes... but WHICH Christmas?

BORIS Johnson and Jeremy Hunt yesterday clashed over the Brexit deadline, with the Tory leadership underdog suggesting EU withdrawal could be delayed until Christmas.

Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt has come under mounting pressure to commit to quitting Europe by October 31.

But he has repeatedly refused to pledge a departure date.

Rival Johnson warned it would be, “absolutely insane now to say that yet again we have a phoney deadline... kick the can down the road”.

But pressed on whether Brexit would happen before Christmas, Hunt would only say: “I expect so.”

The date for the UK’S twice-delayed departure was a key battleground as the two candidates were grilled on BBC TV.

Mr Hunt vowed not to repeat Theresa May’s mistakes. He said: “We have had a big betrayal of trust because we had a Prime Minister who, with the best of intentions, made a promise we would leave by the end of March.”

He added: “She didn’t deliver that. I’m not going to make that mistake.”

Despite refusing to give a firm date for Britain’s exit, he claimed he was ready to abandon negotiations if there was no prospect of a deal by the end of September.

Mr Hunt said: “The main thing that I would do differently to Theresa May is I would not be proposing anything to Brussels that we can’t get through Parliament.”

Interviewer Andrew Neil asked Mr Johnson whether he would suspend Parliament – called “proroguing” – to force through a no-deal departure by Halloween. He replied: “I want the elected representatives of the people to take their responsibilities and work together to get this thing over the line.

“I think actually there is an outbreak of common sense starting to take place in our party and across Parliament and people are coming together to try to get this thing done.

“I don’t think it will be necessary to do anything like proroguing Parliament.”

Mr Johnson then attacked the media for its reporting of Brexit. He claimed a “sort of Bbcgenerated gloom and negativity has helped to condition the mindset”.

The ex-foreign Secretary admitted his

ON PREDECESSOR MAY

appearance in this week’s ITV debate had fuelled the resignation of Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch. He had been condemned for failing to support the envoy over his row with Donald Trump, after leaked memos revealed what he thought of the US President.

“He [Sir Kim] said that what somebody had relayed to him had certainly played, had been a factor, in his resignation,” admitted Johnson.

And he was left stumped over a key part of his own Brexit plan, under a paragraph of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly claimed Britain can continue to trade with the EU using “Article 24, Paragraph 5B”.

Neil asked him: “Do you know what’s in 5C?” Johnson confessed: “No.”

THERESA May last night denied Britain was split over Brexit, as she again dodged blame for her EU withdrawal deal flop. She will walk out of No10 for the final time on July 24, handing the keys to either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt. As she prepares to go, after three failed attempts to get her Brussels deal through the Commons, she told the BBC: “On Brexit, the public haven’t got that degree of polarisation that exists in Parliament.” But second referendum supporters blasted the PM for denying the UK is split. Labour MP Phil Wilson, of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “Theresa May is wrong. The country is divided.” He suggested giving the decision back to the people “with a final say confirmatory ballot”. Speaking hours after Business Secretary Greg Clark warned that BLAME DODGER Mrs May a no-deal Brexit could mean the loss of “thousands of jobs”, Mrs May insisted: “I sacrificed my job to try to get a deal.” She also would not accept the snap general election in 2017 – that led to a crippling deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists – was a mistake. Mrs May blamed others, saying: “I don’t regret calling the election, just a campaign that wasn’t really me.”