Hancock backs Boris as Tory rivals clash at leadership hustings
Matt Hancock, the health secretary who pulled out of the race to succeed Theresa May on Friday last week, has come out for frontrunner Boris Johnson as the remaining candidates clashed during Channel 4's televised debate.
His endorsement came after the clear favourite was criticised for failing to appear in the first of the televised leadership debates staged on Sunday evening.
Mr Hancock boosted the frontrunner's campaign by declaring Mr Johnson was 'the best candidate to re-unite the fractured Conservative Party'.
Mr Johnson's podium at the Channel 4 debate was left empty on Sunday night as his five Tory rivals set out their stall for the leadership election, the next round of which takes place tomorrow.
Writing in The Times, Hancock said he was “the best candidate to unite the Conservative Party, so we can deliver Brexit and then unite the country behind an open, ambitious, forward-looking agenda, delivered with the energy that gets stuff done.
“Boris has run a disciplined campaign and is almost certainly going to be our next prime minister ... people need to put aside their differences for a greater purpose. My view is that we need to start coming together sooner rather than later.”
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Last night’s Tory leadership debate produced no clear winners, although judging by audience reaction outsider Rory Stewart’s plain-speaking common-sense agenda was the most favoured - a view that was mirrored on social media.
Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt appeared to maintain his status as Johnson’s likeliest opponent in the final two, and took the opportunity to have a swipe at the absent man, who was represented at the debate by an empty lectern.
“Where is Boris?” he asked. “If his team won’t let him out to debate with five pretty friendly colleagues, how is he going to get on with 27 European colleagues? He should be here to answer that question.”
Said Javid and Stewart also took pot shots at Johnson: the home secretary gestured to the lectern at one point and referred to “this guy” while Stewart told the other candidates that “I hope it's one of the five of us that becomes prime minister” to applause from the audience.
The fruitiest clash of the night came when Dominic Raab, who in the absence of Johnson was the hardest Brexiteer there, claimed that Michael Gove would buckle in any negotiations with the EU “because you’ve shown you would take another extension” - a reference to the environment secretary’s stated willingness to accept a deal beyond the October 31 deadline.
“You would take no-deal off the table. You've said that you would accept legislation on a second referendum. When you do all of that, you rob ourselves of the best chance of a best deal,” Raab added.
A furious Gove hit back, saying "I won't buckle. I will defend our democracy, Dom. I will defend our democracy. And you cannot take Britain out of the European Union against the will of Parliament."
When Raab refused to rule out proroguing Parliament to force through No Deal, Stewart criticised him for being “undemocratic” and gained one of the loudest rounds of applause of the night when he said: “Parliament is not a building. Parliament is our democratic representatives and they will meet regardless of what the prime minister wants.”
The next stage of the leadership campaign takes place on Tuesday, when the current crop of six will be whittled down by at least one - the last placed candidate, plus anyone who gets the support of less than 33 MPs.
On Monday the candidates will face Parliamentary lobby journalists for another set of hustings - with Johnson again conspicuous by his absence. On Tuesday night the BBC hold their own debate, which Johnson has said he will attend.
