London: Boris Johnson stood accused Tuesday of having nothing to offer Britain but ‘blind optimism’ as he and his rival for the premiership clashed over Brexit in a bad-tempered TV debate.
Johnson is the runaway frontrunner to replace Theresa May later this month, wooing voters with a promise to take Britain out of the European Union by October 31 whatever happens.
But in their first and only head-to-head debate, his rival Jeremy Hunt accused him of not being honest about the risks of leaving the bloc without a deal with Brussels.
“If we want to make a success of Brexit it’s not about blind optimism, it’s about understanding the details that will get us the deal that’s right for the country,” said Hunt, the current British Foreign Minister.
Johnson, a former London mayor who preceded Hunt at the Foreign Office, is known for his rhetoric and jokes but has been accused of having only a vague plan for office.
He retorted that ‘we’ve had a bellyful of defeatism’, and said he would help Britain ‘get back our mojo’ and ‘off the hamster wheel of doom’.
Ballots have already been sent out to the 1,60,000 members of the ruling Conservative party who will decide the winner, with the result set to be announced on July 23.
A ‘YouGov’ survey at the weekend suggested 74 per cent of Tory members backed Johnson, but during the hour-long ‘ITV’ programme, Hunt showed he would not give up without a fight.
Hunt repeatedly interrupted and challenged Johnson, accusing him of failing to answer questions, including on whether he would resign if Brexit did not happen as promised.
Johnson, who enraged many in Brussels with his exaggerated claims about the EU during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, gave a characteristically flippant reply.
“I don’t want to hold out to the EU the prospect that they might encourage my resignation by refusing to agree a deal,” said Johnson.
Both men insist they can renegotiate the divorce terms that May agreed with Brussels, but which parliament repeatedly rejected, forcing her to delay Brexit twice.
The EU has said it will not reopen the text, and both Hunt and Johnson say they will leave the bloc with no deal if necessary.
Johnson said he would use the USD 39 billion allocated to settle Britain’s dues after four decades of EU membership to mitigate the impact, saying that with planning, a ‘no deal’ exit would be ‘vanishingly inexpensive’.
Brexit is the biggest challenge facing May’s successor and the major concern of most Tory party members.
AFP