Tory leadership debate: Boris Johnson brandishes kipper on stage as he declares May's Brexit deal ‘defunct' at final hustings
The final Conservative Party leadership hustings with Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, as it happened
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Your support makes all the difference.Tory leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt both stood by their stated approaches to handling Brexit at the final hustings before the polls close for Conservative members to vote for their party’s new leader and the country’s next prime minister.
Mr Johnson repeatedly refused to rule out suspending Parliament as PM to force through Brexit and said the UK would leave the European Union by 31 October with or without a deal.
Mr Hunt meanwhile said he could delay Brexit beyond that point if a deal was in reach, but he has also not ruled out walking away from negotiations without an agreement.
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Now Mr Hunt is speaking about "compassionate conservative values".
"I want our social mission to be an education mission," he says, and particularly boosting literacy.
Mr Hunt promises to avoid a general election until there are more young people voting Tory. Precisely what that means is unclear.
Mr Hunt has cited a pithy quote that runs, "Only half the audience will ever like you, don't worry about the other half, the bastards."
Again, there are children in the audience.
Asked whether he would serve in government under Mr Johnson, Mr Hunt said it would be 'an honour'.
Mr Hunt says we will need to have a Queen's Speech soon after joking that it usually takes place in early November, when it is also his birthday.
Mr Hunt says the backstop "has to go" because it traps the UK in EU tariffs.
This is "not acceptable", he adds.
"I want to get a deal and so we have got to make some profound changes to that Withdrawal Agreement. That doesn't mean ripping up the whole thing but it does mean the backstop has to go," he says, although backtracking slightly, he adds that it did not need ripping up and some of it would remain.
"If you are saying that we will remove any guarantees over not having hard border infrastructure in the island of Ireland, then no," he says. "I think there is agreement in our party that we can never go back to a hard border in the island of Ireland."
Mr Hunt says his experience as foreign secretary, his experience in business and his ability to "say tough things", makes him the best candidate to carry out negotiations.
He cites his recent comments about Hong Kong to the Chinese government as a recent example of this.
Asked why he has not called US president Donald Trump's recent tweets "racist", Mr Hunt says his position as the UK's negotiator in chief means he has to calibrate his language to avoid damage to the UK.
Mr Hunt insists he is a feminist.
The Conservatives are a party of meritocracy, he says and everyone "should be allowed to prosper" no matter what their sex or sexuality.
However, he says he is not in favour of all women shortlists for that reason.
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