The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Johnson’s Halloween Brexit challenge to Hunt
DEAL: Tory leadership rivals clash over October deadline in series of interviews
Boris Johnson has challenged Jeremy Hunt – his rival for the Tory leadership – to commit to taking Britain out of the EU by the end of October.
After days avoiding journalists’ questions, the former foreign secretary sought to get his campaign back on track, declaring he would deliver Brexit by the Halloween deadline “do or die”.
He continued to avoid questions about his personal life as he returned to the campaign trail following a row with partner Carrie Symonds that saw police called to their home on Friday.
Mr Hunt, meanwhile, hit back at his rival, dismissing October 31 as a “fake deadline” – more likely resulting in a general election which could hand the keys of No 10 to Jeremy Corbyn.
The foreign secretary suggested Mr Johnson would be unable to win the trust of other EU leaders to successfully negotiate a new Brexit deal with Brussels.
In a letter to his rival, Mr Johnson said the “central question” in the leadership contest was the issue of whether the next prime minister would commit to leaving the EU by October 31.
“If we fail to deliver once again, the consequences for our party and our country will be devastating,” he said.
But in a BBC interview, Mr Hunt warned that insisting upon the October 31 departure date was a mistake.
He added that getting a new deal by the end of October was “doable”, it required a prime minister who the other EU leaders were prepared to talk to.
“If you choose someone where there’s no trust, there’s going to be no negotiation, no deal,” he said.
Mr Johnson used a series of broadcast interviews to set out his plans for Brexit, insisting that the shock of the European election results would force both the Tories and Labour to acknowledge that the current impasse could not continue.
He will find out whether he has achieved his ambition of becoming Tory leader when the results of the contest are announced on July 23.
Theresa May is expected to hand over the reins of power the following day.
Mr Johnson told TalkRadio the UK would be leaving the EU on October 31 “do or die, come what may”.
He said some “positive energy” would help deliver Brexit, hitting out at the “pathetic” efforts of Theresa May’s administration – in which he served as foreign secretary for two years.
“I’ve never seen such morosity and gloom from a government,” he said.
“For three years we’ve been sitting around wrapped in defeatism telling the British public that they can’t do this or that. It is pathetic, it’s absolutely pathetic.”
But he could not escape questions about his private life after police were called to his home by neighbours.
On LBC Radio, he was challenged about whether his campaign was behind the release of a picture of him with Ms Symonds in an attempt to show their relationship was going strong.
Asked where the photograph had come from, Mr Johnson said: “The longer we spend on things extraneous to what I want to do... the bigger the waste of time.”