(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson faced fresh pressure in his bid to become U.K. prime minister amid calls for him to answer questions about a spat with his partner that brought the police to his London home and signs he may be losing some wider public support.
Johnson needs to show that he is willing to answer difficult questions, his rival Jeremy Hunt said in a Sky News interview Sunday, a day after the pair made their opening appeals to grass-roots Conservative Party members at a hustings, or political roadshow, that focused attention on the front runner’s character. His comments were echoed by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a Hunt supporter.
“It’s always easier to just give an explanation,” Fox told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. “The key thing is then how you get on to the issues. What we can’t have is the distraction from explanations about wider policy.”
Johnson-backing Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss, however, told the BBC’s Radio 5 Live that the British public were more concerned about his track record than his private matters.
The two candidates are crisscrossing Britain seeking to become party leader before a Tory membership ballot in July that’ll point the way to Prime Minister Theresa May’s replacement.
While Johnson drew cheers Saturday as he dodged questions about the domestic incident, polling by Survation for the Mail on Sunday found that, among the general public, Hunt has now overtaken his rival. Among those who identified as Conservative supporters, Johnson’s lead had decreased since Thursday, it said.
Police officers were called to the home he shares with Carrie Symonds early Friday, about six hours since his confirmation as front-runner in the race to succeed May, who is also Tory party leader.
On Saturday, he arrived to whoops and cheers from supporters in the hall at Birmingham. The host, journalist Iain Dale, soon asked him about the incident. When Johnson dodged and then said he wouldn’t discuss the matter, some Tory activists in the audience booed the host and shouted for him to move on.
Johnson, who opened the event saying he’s “the right man to unleash” on European Union negotiators, sought to steer the discussion back to the U.K.’s exit from the bloc.
“People are entitled to ask about me and my determination, my character and what I want to do for the country,” he said. “Let me just tell you that when I make a promise in politics, about what I’m going to do, I keep that promise and I deliver.”
Brexit Split
Hunt, the U.K. foreign secretary, presented himself as a safer choice to negotiate Brexit.
“If we send the wrong person, catastrophe awaits,” he told the audience, in a jibe at the more mercurial Johnson. “If we send the wrong person, there will be no negotiation, no trust, possibly no deal and maybe no Brexit if Parliament stops it.”
The latest polls weren’t all positive for Hunt. A ComRes survey of 510 Conservative councillors for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper showed 61% intended to vote for Johnson.
While he insisted that Johnson’s personal life is a private matter, Hunt did use his Sky interview on Sunday to criticize his rival for avoiding scrutiny.
“If Boris is refusing to answer questions in the media, refusing to do live debates, then of course people are thinking just who are we going to get as prime minister?” he said.
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