Boris Johnson has refused to rule out suspending parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit as he stepped up his campaign to become the next prime minister.
The Tory leadership frontrunner confirmed the option was on the table after Jeremy Hunt urged him to be “straight with the people” and accused him of getting “some important facts wrong”.
Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn came under increasing pressure to sack Chris Williamson following a row over antisemitism and Theresa May met with Russian president Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Japan.
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The motion states: “Due to the exceptional circumstances in this case we are of the view that the allegation of bringing the Labour Party into disrepute made against Chris Williamson warrants an investigation by the parliamentary committee under this standing order and full consideration given to a recommendation of removal of the whip to the PLP. We therefore seek to ask the PLP to take action to suspend the whip from Chris Williamson for a period of a year.”
The signatories include Yvette Cooper, Dame Margaret Hodge, Wes Streeting, David Lammy and Diana Johnson.
In a further bid to have Chris Williamson suspended from the parliamentary party, more than 60 MPs have written to Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chair John Cryer urging him to launch an investigation.
They say Mr Williamson has the party into disrepute over the antisemitism row and call for the case to be referred to the influential backbench body at its next meeting on Wednesday.
If approved it would then go a vote of the full PLP at Westminster the following week.
According to a new YouGov poll, Jeremy Hunt has overtaken Boris Johnson as the general public’s preferred prime minister (if you had to choose between them).
Conservative voters, however, prefer Boris Johnson.
“It is impossible to tell whether the changes are because of the coverage of Boris Johnson’s personal life, the campaign itself, or just a reflection of Jeremy Hunt becoming the sole “anti-Boris” candidate, and therefore being seen more positively by those people opposed to Johnson’s coronation,” says YouGov director Anthony Wells.
An American writer describes his experience of watching Boris Johnson talking about a no-deal Brexit.
Donald Trump got several mentions in this mornings Conservative Party hustings. Mr Johnson said he “talks sense” in many areas, while Mr Hunt seems to admire his economic policies.
Meanwhile the US president was joking with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Japan, telling the Russian leader: “Don’t meddle in the election!”
Lord Chancellor David Gauke is facing de-selection as the MP for South West Hertfordshire tonight.
Fellow cabinet member Angela Rudd says the motion of no confidence is “ludicrous”, tweeting: “Rounding on colleagues in this way is the type of behaviour you’d expect from the hard left. He has my full support, and I hope this is shared by Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson.”
Leave campaigners are targeting “Remainer” MPs in an attempt to “make the Conservative party conservative again” – even though Mr Gauke voted for Ms May’s Brexit deal.
And that’s it for the hustings in Exeter. The candidates will appear at two more events tomorrow, first in Carlisle at 1pm and then in Manchester at 7pm.
Mr Hunt says he would urge parliament not to take a no-deal Brexit off the table because “if they do that it is less likely we will get a deal”.
“I believe I can negotiate a deal,” he adds. “I have talked to European leaders and they don’t want a no-deal Brexit either.
“It is wrong for parliament for take no-deal off the table, that is a very important part of our negotiating leverage. It’s one of the reasons it was difficult for Theresa May, because the Europeans didn’t believe we would walk away.”
Mr Hunt said he wanted to emulate Donald Trump by cutting taxes to boost the economy.
“Inheritance tax is one of the most unfair taxes because people have worked hard all their lives, they’ve saved up, and one of the reasons you save up is to pass things on to your children,” he told the hustings.
“But what I would say is my priority, when it comes to tax cuts, are the things that are going to fire up our economy.
“If we could boost our growth rate, just as Trump has done with his business tax cuts, if we got it up to American levels, that alone would be an extra £20 billion to spend on tax cuts, maybe an inheritance tax cut, or money for our public services like the NHS or the social care system.”
Jeremy Hunt said he would “love” to have Boris Johnson in his cabinet if he wins the leadership election.
He attempts to joke that the former foreign secretary could be his “minister for collective responsibility”. Groans are heard in the background.
Mr Hunt adds that his rival “has changed the course of our history through his leadership of the Leave campaign and he should always have a very big role in taking things forward.”
In terms of what role he would have, I think that’s a discussion that I would have with him in that situation. Would I serve him? Of course – we’re in an incredibly difficult situation.
I think whoever doesn’t win in this contest needs to put their shoulder to the wheel and serve loyally the winner so that we can get through this, get to the other side, and give the country all the exciting things that we want to do.
I think the important thing is that both of us should be willing to serve the other if things don’t work out the way that we want.
Mr Hunt says says he does not want the leadership contest to focus on politicians’ private lives.
“We all have things in our private life, things that we did twenty years ago that we would not want our mum and dad to find out about,” he said. “I’ve got lots and I’m not going to tell you, Ian, sorry – and my wife is sitting in the front row, so that’s another reason.
“I think when we are in a constitutional crisis, frankly the biggest constitutional crisis of my lifetime, it demeans that competition if we start having huge discussions about people’s private lives and I think we should stick to the issues facing the country.”
Here’s video from the hustings of Johnson’s response to claims he called the French “turds” over Brexit.
Mr Hunt ruled out bringing Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement back before the Commons.
Asked if he would confirm he would not bring it before Parliament again, he simply replied: “Yes.”
Jeremy Hunt has also pledged not to call an early election before delivering Brexit.
Asked if he would “kick the can down the road”, “If you make it an absolute hard deadline then you have to have an election to change parliament. I won’t do that. It doesn’t matter who our leader is, we would be crucified if we have an election before we left the European Union. We would be risking having Corbyn in Downing Street.”
Mr Hunt also attacks Jeremy Corbyn, calling on Tory members to vote for “our own Jeremy”.
He adds: “This Jeremy is going to win the argument for enterprise, for social justice.”
Jeremy Hunt begins his speech by saying he lived in Devon for two years. The Tory members don’t seem to be that impressed.
He goes on to say he will negotiate a deal with the EU to “deliver Brexit and make it a huge success”.
Mr Johnson says he does not want an early election. “We want to get brexit done… and then we are going to wallop Jeremy Corbyn for six.”
He tells the teenager: “My intention, sir, is that you should be able to vote in the next election.”
A 17 year-old Tory member asks if Mr Johnson will lower the voting age to 16.
The MP congratulates the questioner for becoming a member of the party and being able to vote in the leadership election but says he is “not attracted to reducing the age of the franchise”.
“I want people to value their votes. We don’t get enough 18 to 24 year-olds voting, let alone 16 to 18 year-olds.”
Penultimate question: Will you say no to Huawei?
Mr Johnson says: “I am very dubious about anything that compromises security. it may be that there are useful things that can be done in infrastructure, but we should not be doing anything that will deter cooperation with our most valuable intelligence partners.”
Mr Johnson promises to work with the Irish government and pledges that there would be no hard border with Ireland “under any circumstances”.
“The whole of the UK will come out of the EU entire and united without in any way prejudicing the government of Northern Ireland. We will get it done.”
