Brexit news: Boris Johnson downgrades Tory Islamophobia inquiry and vows to sack ministers against no deal, amid Labour confusion over Corbyn stance
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Boris Johnson appears to have downgraded his promise of support for an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.
The frontrunner for the Tory crown said he wanted a probe into all types of discrimination, despite having previously backed calls for an investigation specifically into anti-Muslim prejudice.
His rival, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, also faced criticism after claiming the two sides in the Northern Ireland conflict must be treated “the same”.
At a Tory leadership hustings, Mr Johnson said it would be “absolutely folly” to rule out suspending Parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit againast the rule of MPs. He said the controversial measure should remain as “an essential tool in our negotiation”.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt conceded the winner of the contest could spend the shortest time as prime minister in history, and said he would resign if he failed to deliver Brexit.
Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson
Show all 5Mr Johnson told party members in Bournemouth that he wanted to be the prime minister of a “representative democracy, a great representative democracy in which we believe in our elected representatives to take the right decision”.
“I would rather than confiding in this archaic device to get this thing done at my own behest, I would rather confide in the maturity of common sense of parliamentarians, all of whom are now staring down the barrel of public distrust,” he said.
Mr Hunt told the hustings that he would introduce a “no-deal Bill” in the first Queen’s Speech in the new parliamentary session to ensure the country is “fully” prepared for such an outcome.
And, asked by moderator Hannah Vaughan Jones if he was “concerned by threats it could be the shortest tenure in history”, he replied: “Well, if we get this wrong, it will be.
“And we have got the biggest constitutional crisis in living memory and that is because MPs like me made a promise to the people that we would deliver the outcome of the referendum whatever it was and we failed.”
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In warning that Jeremy Corbyn, whom he described as a "left-wing populist" could make it to No 10, Mr Hunt said: "We could choose our own populist, but we can do better, we can choose our own Jeremy."
Mr Hunt warned Tory members: "If we get this wrong, we risk no Conservative government, no Brexit, no Conservative Party.
"But if we get it right, we can deliver Brexit, unleash the potential of our extraordinary country and send Corbyn packing."
On a no-deal Brexit, Mr Hunt said: "There are some people in Parliament, and I totally deplore this, but there are some people in Parliament who have voted and will vote to take no-deal off the table.
"And we have got to recognise that we can't wish that reality away.
"The quickest way to get out of the European Union is to negotiate a deal that can get through Parliament and that is what this entrepreneur, this negotiator is going to do for our party and for our country because we are one of the oldest democracies in the world and in this country we do what the people tell us and we're going to deliver Brexit."
Mr Hunt conceded the winner of the contest could spend the shortest time as prime minister in history, and said he would resign if he failed to deliver Brexit.
Asked by moderator Hannah Vaughan Jones if he was "concerned by threats it could be the shortest tenure in history", he replied: "Well, if we get this wrong, it will be.
"And we have got the biggest constitutional crisis in living memory and that is because MPs like me made a promise to the people that we would deliver the outcome of the referendum whatever it was and we failed."
He was then asked if he would resign if he failed to deliver the referendum's result.
"Of course, no PM is going to last any time at all if they don't deliver Brexit and deliver it very quickly," he replied.
"That's the reality of British politics, that's not about Jeremy Hunt that's about anyone who does that job."
Mr Hunt also said he would only pursue a no-deal Brexit with a "heavy heart", warning the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon would "make absolute hay" out of the scenario and try to break up the union.
Mr Hunt said he would introduce a "no-deal Bill" in the first Queen's Speech in the new parliamentary session.
He told the hustings: "There would be a no-deal bill to make sure that we have all the planning in place, all the preparations in place so we can fully prepare this country for a no-deal Brexit if that's what we have to do."
Mr Hunt also said he would introduce a new budget and legislation to ensure every child leaves school able to read and write.
Mr Hunt also insisted he would fulfil his pledges without raising debt, after the Institute for Fiscal Studies said his tax and spending proposals could "exacerbate" pressures on public finances.
He said: "All my commitments are funded through a pledge that I will keep reducing debt as a proportion of GDP over the economic cycle so we won't be building up debt for future generations.
"We actually have now about £26bn of headroom a year which is why we can afford some of these commitments."
Mr Hunt ruled out including Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage in negotiations with the EU.
He said: "Nigel Farage doesn't want a deal, he wants a WTO Brexit straight away.
"And while I would be prepared to do that if there was no other alternative and I'm absolutely clear about that, I think it would be much better for our businesses and much better for our Union if we could get a deal and I haven't given up on that."
Mr Hunt closed out the debate with the environment, saying cities could become "pollution-free" in a generation by running entirely on electric cars.
"I think we have to embrace the green revolution: it's a tremendous economic opportunity but it's also very important morally," he said.
"One of the things that I want to look into, and I'm going to lose an awful lot of votes right now, but I'm afraid we're going to have to dig up quite a lot of our roads to put fibre optic cable to every front door so that we all get ultra-fast broadband.
"When we do that in our cities, why don't we at the same time put in electric car charging points so that our cities can go to entirely electric cars and we can have pollution-free cities in a generation?"
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