Jeremy Hunt: Boris Johnson needs to answer 'difficult questions'
The foreign secretary tells his Tory leadership rival that "someone who wants to be PM should answer questions on everything".
Monday 24 June 2019 09:37, UK
Boris Johnson needs to show he can answer "difficult questions" amid renewed scrutiny of his personal life, his Conservative leadership rival Jeremy Hunt has told Sky News.
Mr Johnson, who is battling Mr Hunt to be the next Tory leader and prime minister, has dominated the front pages over recent days after police were called to the south London flat of his girlfriend Carrie Symonds.
The police attended and found no offence had occurred and everyone was safe, while newspapers reported a heated row between the couple.
Mr Hunt told Sky News he is "not going to comment on Boris' personal life", adding: "That's for others to make their judgements on.
"But what Boris needs to do is to engage properly in this leadership debate, not to shy away from the Sky News live debate that's scheduled for Tuesday evening, which he's been invited to [and] I've said I'm willing to go to.
"This is an audition to be prime minister of the United Kingdom and Boris needs to show that he's prepared to answer difficult questions."
Asked about his fellow cabinet minister Liam Fox's assertion that "it is always easier to just give an explanation" amid the focus on Mr Johnson's private life, Mr Hunt said: "I think someone who wants to be prime minister should answer questions on everything."
The foreign secretary played down suggestions he will benefit from the headlines about Mr Johnson and his partner, but added: "I'm going to benefit if Boris refuses to answer the important questions that a prime minister is going to have to address on day one.
"We need to know basic answers and Boris has not been answering those questions."
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With Mr Johnson being backed by Tory MPs averse to a no-deal Brexit - as well as those who would welcome leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement - Mr Hunt said: "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 actually going to get as prime minister?'
"If he's going to disappoint people very quickly, then this won't be a prime ministership that will last."
Mr Hunt also described himself as the "prime minister that Nicola Sturgeon wants the least", explaining that he "will support the Union with every drop of blood in my veins" and "not allow Scotland to be distracted" by a second "divisive, bitter" independence referendum.
The Scottish first minister responded on Twitter: "A Tory PM that Scotland didn't vote for is always my least favoured option, no matter who they are."
It came after Ms Sturgeon joined other political opponents in claiming Mr Johnson was unsuitable to enter 10 Downing Street.
The SNP leader claimed Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson looked "uncomfortable" whenever Mr Johnson's name was mentioned, adding "it would be devastating, disastrous for the Conservatives UK-wide" but "particularly in Scotland" for the ex-foreign secretary to become prime minister.
The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, was recently cautioned by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow for calling Mr Johnson "racist" in parliament.
But Ms Sturgeon admitted she agreed with her party colleague's comments as she referenced Mr Johnson's previous comparison of burka-wearing women to "letterboxes" and "bank robbers".
Asked if she believed Mr Johnson was racist, Ms Sturgeon replied: "Boris Johnson has made overtly racist comments.
"Now I don't know what's in Boris Johnson's head when he says those things, I don't know what he's thinking, what motivates him, what he actually feels about those things."
Claiming she "wouldn't even repeat" some of Mr Johnson's past comments about black people, Ms Sturgeon added: "I do think that people who are prepared to make comments like that can't suddenly throw their hands up in horror when people call them out for it and say they appear to be racist as a result of it."
In a 2002 article for The Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson described people living in the Congo as having "watermelon smiles".
Liberal Democrat MP Sir Ed Davey, who is running for his party's leadership, claimed the incident at Ms Symonds flat was "another example of Boris's character coming under question", telling Sky News: "If you add it to the other things he's done, he's a serial offender.
"Things he says which are racist, that are homophobic, that are Islamophobic."
He added: "Our country is divided, we need politicians to choose their words carefully.
"The next prime minister has to try to heal the country. Boris divides people. He divides with these sorts of comments and his behaviour.
"I don't think he's fit to be our prime minister."
Labour's shadow communities and local government secretary, Andrew Gwynne, told Sky News the latest scrutiny of Mr Johnson's personal life was "a private matter".
But he added: "When you're running for public office, when you're wanting to be the prime minister of the UK, then these matters are in the public interest.
"I've long held the view that Boris Johnson is unsuitable to be prime minister of this country."
Conservative MP Rishi Sunak, a supporter of Mr Johnson, defended the ex-London mayor and claimed he has "a way of engaging the public".
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He told Sky News: "I personally wouldn't be sitting here supporting Boris if I thought he was racist, as it's something I care very deeply about.
"When you look at the context of that article about the burka, first of all an independent panel looked at it and they described it - in the round - as being respectful and tolerant.
"Of course people are going to take particular comments out of context, but the article was making a very liberal argument about the right of women to choose what they would like to wear.
"At a time when other European countries - Nicola Sturgeon is very fond of us being connected, closer to - they were going around banning the burka and here was Boris making the argument that women shouldn't be banned, they should be able to make that choice for themselves."
He added: "Of course he's going to apologise for comments that he's made, but I don't think it's correct that he should become this 'cookie cutter' politician who doesn't have that great connection with the public and engages them and talks to them in a way that they resonate with, clearly as we can see from his track record."