The Tory leadership contender accused the European Union of making “terrible” remarks about the UK since the referendum in 2016. Britain, he said, has been the EU’s biggest friend since its formation and deserves better as Brexit negotiations continue. It has “defended Europe with our Armed Forces,” he told Conservative party members at a leadership hustings in Darlington.
He added: “So I think we have to come to a sensible way forward that allows us to leave the European Union cleanly and also be the best of friends afterwards.”
Mr Hunt’s remarks come as the race to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister reaches a crucial stage with most of the 160,000 Tory party members expected to vote over the next few days.
The urgent push for votes stung the Foreign Secretary, who is lagging behind Boris Johnson in the polls, into taking a thinly veiled swipe at his rival’s handling of a sensitive diplomatic case when he held the senior Cabinet position.
Mr Johnson’s time as foreign secretary was largely overshadowed by comments he made about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman, jailed in Iran in 2016 after she was accused of spying.
As foreign secretary he told a parliamentary select committee that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been “teaching people journalism”, comments which the Iranian government seized upon as further proof over their accusations.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Hunt said he felt he was “letting down” Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe every day she remained imprisoned.
Mr Johnson told the audience inside Darlington’s intimate Hippodrome theatre that he would get Brexit wrapped up by October 31 and pledged to invest in the North of England.
