Politics

Where Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt stand on Brexit


The final two candidates in the Tory leadership race have spent the past few weeks selling their plans for Brexit in a bid to win over both the Conservative membership and the country.

In a series of interviews last week, Boris Johnson doubled down on his commitment to get the UK out of the European Union by the end of October.

“We are getting ready to come out on 31 October. Come what may,” the contest front-runner told talkRADIO. Asked to clarify his stance, he simply repeated: “Do or die. Come what may.”

Rory Stewart – one of more than a dozen candidates who challenged Johnson for the leadership – mockingly pointed out that the phrase “do or die” comes from a line in The Charge of the Light Brigade, a poem by Alfred Tennyson chronicling Britain’s defeat at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War.

Jibes aside, by using the phrase, Johnson “appeared to signal there was an increasing prospect of a no-deal Brexit three months after he would take office”, says The Guardian. His insistence on quitting the bloc suggests that hard-line Eurosceptics have “extended their influence on his faltering campaign to be prime minister”, the newspaper adds.

Meanwhile, acting PM Theresa May has made a thinly veiled attack on Johnson’s stance. Attending her last EU summit as British leader on Sunday, May told reporters: “I’ve always been very clear that I think the best approach for the UK is to first of all ensure we’re delivering on the vote that took place in 2016, leaving the EU, but that we do that with a good deal so we can do it in an orderly way.

“I still think we negotiated a good deal. I wasn’t able to get a majority in Parliament for that deal. It will be up to my successor to get that majority, deliver on the vote and take us forward.”

The issue of how and when the UK leaves the EU has become central to the contest between Johnson and his rival Jeremy Hunt. So exactly what have the two candidates said?

Boris Johnson

After announcing that he was standing for the top job, the former foreign secretary promised that he would lead Britain out of the EU no matter what by the extended deadline date of 31 October.

A new government “with a new mandate, a new optimism [and] a new determination” could leave the EU with an amended deal, he said. However, in a nod to the Brexit-supporting Tory membership and those who believe he is the only candidate capable of combating Nigel Farage’s insurgent Brexit Party, Johnson added that he would “prepare vigorously and seriously” to leave the EU without an agreement, and warned that the survival of the Conservative Party depended on delivering Brexit.

The following week, Johnson again said that the UK must leave on the scheduled date, “deal or no deal”, and challenging Hunt to make the same commitment.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Johnson has warned of a “catastrophic loss of confidence in politics” if this latest Brexit deadline is not met, adding: “We have already kicked the can down the road twice and I think the British people are getting thoroughly fed up.”

Johnson also told BBC Radio 4 last month: “We have to get out by October 31. It would be absolutely bizarre to signal at this stage that the UK Government was willing once again to run up the white flag and delay again.”

His hopes of winning the leadership race have been boosted by polls that show he is the only Tory candidate capable of winning back disgruntled voters who have defected to the Brexit Party and of securing a majority in the event of an early general election.

However, The Times’ Rachel Sylvester warns: “This is a man who wears his beliefs so lightly that he wrote two articles ahead of the EU referendum, one supporting Leave and the other Remain. There is every reason to assume he will pivot away from the hard Brexit position if it suits him politically.”

Indeed, Business Insider reports that moderate Conservative MPs are considering embracing Johnson as their next leader precisely because they believe he is politically malleable.

Controversially, Johnson has also refused to rule out shutting down Parliament to try and force a no-deal Brexit past MPs, according to PoliticsHome.

He has only said he is “not attracted to” the move, known as proroguing Parliament.

Jeremy Hunt

Initially a Remain supporter in 2016, Hunt has said that he would be prepared to leave without a deal, but not if there were a “prospect of a better deal” on the table.

However, he also insists that 31 October is a “fake deadline” that could trigger a general election if Parliament rejects a no-deal Brexit.

The BBC says that Hunt’s plan involves renegotiation the Withdrawal Agreement with Brussels, with the goal of dramatic changes to the Irish backstop plan, which so far has left the UK and EU at an impasse.

He proposes sending a new negotiating team to Brussels and believes it is possible to get draft a new agreement by the end of October. However, Conservative voters may be wary that Hunt has not ruled out an extension.

Asked about why the Tories should back him over Johnson to renegotiate the deal, Hunt said: “The judgement is, who is the person we trust as PM to go to Brussels and bring back that deal? It’s about the personality of our PM.

“If you choose someone where there’s no trust, there’s going to be no negotiation, no deal. And quite possibly a general election which could mean we have no Brexit either.”

However, the BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, points out that just as both Johnson and Hunt “do not accept the EU’s word when it says the Withdrawal Agreement cannot and will not be re-negotiated”, EU leaders similarly “do not take them at their word when they threaten no deal by the end of October”.



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