Tories Clash Over ‘Dictator’ Brexit Plan While Boris Johnson Skips Debate
Britain is due to exit the EU by October-end and the leading replacements for May are all pledging to renegotiate her Brexit deal.
(Bloomberg) -- Tory rivals battling to be the next U.K. prime minister traded insults over Brexit in the first TV debate of the party leadership contest, as front-runner Boris Johnson was mocked for refusing to take part.
During the 90-minute Channel 4 broadcast on Sunday, Conservative candidates argued over the radical option of suspending Parliament as a last resort to deliver a no-deal Brexit.
It’s an idea that has split the contenders and risks sparking a wider revolt that could fatally undermine the next leader before he has even taken office.
Johnson, however, was unable to give his view as he declined to join the debate. His absence was marked in the studio with an empty lectern on the stage. Even so, he continued to pick up support with Health Secretary Matt Hancock, a moderate who withdrew from the leadership contest on Friday, pitching in behind the front-runner.
Britain is due to exit the European Union by the end of October and the leading candidates to replace Theresa May as premier are all pledging to renegotiate her Brexit deal. Johnson and one of his rivals, Dominic Raab, have promised to take the U.K. out of the bloc on Oct. 31 even if no deal has been struck in time, potentially causing an economic crash that would hit the pound and snarl cross-border trade.
No-Deal Vow
Other contenders for the Tory crown argue that MPs will never allow a no-deal split -- which prompted Raab to threaten to suspend Parliament in order to stop the House of Commons delaying Brexit again. Johnson has not yet ruled out the draconian measure.
During the Channel 4 debate, Home Secretary Sajid Javid led the attacks on Raab over his suggestion. "We are not selecting a dictator of our country, we are selecting a prime minister," Javid said.
Raab and his one-time ally Michael Gove then traded blows over the same issue. Raab insisted the option should not be ruled out, accusing Gove of allowing Brexit to be delayed already and telling him: "You would buckle." But Gove countered: "You cannot take Britain out of the European Union against the will of Parliament."
It was a passionate exchange, with the two men talking across each other as they tried to get their messages out. The outsider in the race, Rory Stewart, Britain’s international aid minister, accused his colleagues of engaging in a macho showdown.
Rebel Pushback
The issue has also galvanized opposition from pro-Europeans more widely in the U.K.’s ruling Tory party. Rebel Conservatives are threatening to overthrow the next prime minister if he closes Parliament as a step to force through a no-deal Brexit.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said enough of her Tory party colleagues would bring down the government if the leader intended to push through an exit without a deal.
“There are number of colleagues who have gone public saying they would consider doing that, and there are a number I know of privately who say that," Rudd said in a BBC interview. "Any candidate needs to factor that in as well into their strategy for the next few months.”
Secret Ballots
Conservative members of Parliament are holding a series of secret ballots to whittle down the field of candidates from 10 to two. The final pair will then be put to a postal vote of the party’s 160,000 grassroots members and the winner will be announced in late July.
Last week, Johnson dominated the first of the MPs’ votes, winning the backing of 114 of his colleagues. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt came a distant second with 43 votes, while Stewart only narrowly escaped elimination on 19 votes.
Stewart was arguably the main winner of Johnson’s decision not to show up to the Sunday debate. He received warm applause from the studio audience and praise from commentators on social media for his confession that he would be a "frail" human who makes mistakes, changes his mind, but wants to restore honesty and trust to politics.
Before the broadcast, Johnson said a six-way discussion could be too noisy and has promised to take part in the next TV session on Tuesday, once at least one more candidate has been knocked out of the race. Despite his absence, much of Sunday’s campaigning focused on the man who wasn’t there.
"Where is Boris?" Hunt asked, suggesting his failure to show up called into question his credentials to lead the country. Stewart and Javid also aimed jibes at the former foreign secretary and London mayor for staying away.
Yet earlier, Hunt, Gove and Raab all said they would be happy to serve in Johnson’s government, if he wins. On Monday, Hancock -- who’d criticized Johnson’s anti-business comments early in the campaign -- showed he, too, is pitching for a position in the former foreign secretary’s cabinet with an endorsement in The Times.
"I’m backing Boris Johnson as the best candidate to unite the Conservative Party, so we can deliver Brexit and than unite the country behind an open, ambitious, forward-looking agenda," Hancock wrote. "We need to come together sooner rather than later."
--With assistance from Alex Morales.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann
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