Jeremy Hunt managed to sum up the Tory leadership contest very aptly this evening when he accused Boris Johnson of ‘peddling optimism’. The line, delivered in ITV’s leaders’ debate, did the Foreign Secretary no favours, though. He was pitching himself as the truthful realist, who wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t deliver on. Johnson ridiculed this as ‘defeatist’, telling the audience in his summation that Britain needed to get off ‘the hamster wheel of doom’. Had Hunt suggested Johnson was ‘peddling myths’ or ‘peddling nonsense’, then his line would have had better force for his cause. Instead, it underlined why the former Mayor of London is doing so well in the contest.
Johnson didn’t put in a flawless performance, though. He appeared at one stage to have forgotten how to stop talking, continuing to produce words even when debate host Julie Etchingham had told him repeatedly to stop. This made him seem wild and rather rude, given Etchingham was a calm and fair moderator.
He also produced two interesting lines. One was when he spoke about a ‘forthcoming election’, confirming reports that he wants to put the Tory party on a war footing, while Jeremy Hunt continues to argue that he doesn’t think a general election is in the country’s interests. The second was when he refused to rule out proroguing parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit. Both aren’t surprises, but Johnson was the clearest he has been so far. He is now starting to think about what he’s going to do in government, rather than whether he is going to get there. And it’s not going to be a quiet ride.
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