Boris rules out a coronation as he insists on competitive contest
Johnson says it would be totally wrong to cut contest short and submit his name for ‘confirmatory’ vote
BORIS JOHNSON has said an unchallenged leadership coronation would be “totally wrong” and called for the race to stay competitive.
Speaking after a hustings event with senior Conservative Party members, the former foreign secretary said the new prime minister must have a “mandate” from Tory members, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
He rejected plans, hatched in the whips’ office, to have his name alone go forward to a “confirmatory” vote of the party’s 160,000 members amid concerns that weeks of “blue-on-blue” attacks could leave the winner weakened.
Mr Johnson said it was “very important” to put two leadership contenders to the members in a vote.
Chris Nelson, the Cheltenham Conservatives chairman, asked Mr Johnson, who is the front-runner, whether he wanted to “stop the competition”.
Mr Johnson replied: “No, no, no. I think that would be totally wrong. We must have a proper vote, we must have a proper contest.”
All six candidates spoke at the National Conservative Convention hustings in central London yesterday.
Mr Johnson’s rivals also made clear there must be no unchallenged contest. Sajid Javid said it was “clear” MrJohnson would be one of the final two candidates but added: “I don’t want to see a coronation. There needs to be a proper process that’s followed through.
“We had a coronation the last time. That didn’t work out well, so let’s not make the same mistake again.”
Rory Stewart, the International Development Secretary, said: “The members of the Conservative Party, who are wise, sensible, experienced people, deserve to have a choice. We should have learnt from the last time round, coronations are not the way to do democratic politics.”
During the hustings, Michael Gove said he planned to scrap business rates for small businesses with a rateable value below £51,000, going significantly further than the temporary reliefs introduced by the Chancellor in the 2018 Budget.
Asked what the first thing would be that he would tell the EU Brexit negotiating team, Mr Gove said: “The first thing I would say is, ‘We are going to get a deal’. But if we don’t get a deal, ‘We are a great country – we will walk away, so don’t for a moment imagine you can intimidate us.’”
Mr Javid said he would ask: “‘Why do you want us to leave without a deal? Why aren’t you working with us?’” a source in the room told The Telegraph.
The Home Secretary’s pitch to Tory members was that his party must “deliver on Brexit” and win back people who have “turned off ” the Conservatives, from women to young people.
A number of Tory members at the hustings said they wanted to see Mr Johnson and Mr Javid in the final two.
However, Clive Harriss, the Buckingham Conservative Association chairman, said that while Mr Javid had spoken well and “his day will come”, he would prefer to see Jeremy Hunt in the final two because he is “statesmanlike – although he’s a little weak on Brexit”.
Another member said Mr Stewart was “very good” but choosing him would be “too much of a leap of faith”.
During a break, one member urged Mr Johnson to “stick with” a vegan diet, prompting the former foreign secretary to say: “I will get back to it, but what happened was I crashed off the wagon. I did three days. It’s quite technically difficult.”
Not everyone was convinced by the front-runner, however. Anne Broomhead, the chairman of the City of Salford Conservative Federation, told The Telegraph: “I’ve lost trust in Boris.” She thought it was a “career move” for him to back Brexit. Following the hustings she said she remained “open-minded” about all the candidates: “They all have good and bad points.”
‘We had a coronation the last time. That didn’t work out well, so let’s not make the same mistake again’