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 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 to 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
She didn’t deliver Brexit. I won’t make that mistake
JEREMY HUNT 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.”