Tory leadership race: Jeremy Hunt has dig at rival Boris Johnson's loyalty
The foreign secretary makes a "light-hearted" jibe at the expense of his rival, who broke ranks during his time in cabinet.
Saturday 29 June 2019 14:02, UK
Jeremy Hunt has has a dig at the lack of loyalty shown by his leadership rival Boris Johnson when he was in government.
The foreign secretary said he would "love" to have the Tory leadership frontrunner in his cabinet, joking a good role would be as "secretary of state for collective responsibility".
This will be seen as a jibe at , who as foreign secretary broke ranks and flouted convention to undermine Theresa May's Brexit stance, with his own public interventions and demands on the EU divorce talks.
At the time, Mr Hunt reminded cabinet ministers of the need to "pull in behind" the prime minister, in comments seen as directed specifically at Mr Johnson's "freelancing".
:: Boris Johnson will be interviewed on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News at 10am
Appearing at the latest leadership hustings in Exeter, Mr Hunt also defended his use of the word "coward" in his criticism of Mr Johnson for ducking a live TV debate with him on Sky News.
He said: "I have been asked about a thousand times in the last week to make comments about Boris's personal life and I have rejected every single one, but we do need to have a debate on very important issues."
Mr Hunt made his comments as his campaign was buoyed bywhich showed that he now led Mr Johnson as the public's choice by 41% to 29%.
However, among Conservative voters, who will ultimately decide the winning candidate, Mr Johnson is ahead by 48% to 39%.
:: Listen to All Out Politics on , , ,
Fielding questions from activists, Mr Hunt said: "Of course I would love to have Boris in my cabinet.
"I think if there was a secretary of state for collective responsibility I think that would be a good post for him to take responsibility for.
"Boris is someone of enormous talent. He's changed the course of course of history through his leadership of the Leave campaign.
"He should always have a very big role in taking things forward."
Mr Hunt added: "Would I serve him? Of course.
"We are in an incredibly difficult situation. Whoever doesn't win in this contest needs to put their shoulder to the wheel and serve loyally the winner so we can get through this.
"Both of us should be willing to serve the other if things don't work out the way that we want."
Challenged over his collective responsibility jibe, Mr Hunt said: "It was a light-hearted dig, no more. I think Boris is quite capable of taking a few light-hearted digs."
However, unlike Mr Hunt, the race favourite was making no job offers to his challenger.
Sidestepping the question at the Exeter hustings, Mr Johnson said: "I have a very, very high regard for Jeremy but ... I am not making commitments to anybody."
He said: "Of course, there is a wealth of talent on the Conservative benches but anything I say now about the future shape or personnel of the administration I lead would be counted as measuring the curtains."