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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| Hunt: Tory leadership contest must wait until Brexit deal agreed | Hunt: Tory leadership contest must wait until Brexit deal agreed |
| (8 days later) | |
| Jeremy Hunt has insisted the contest to succeed Theresa May as Conservative party leader must wait until after the Brexit withdrawal agreement has been voted through by parliament. | Jeremy Hunt has insisted the contest to succeed Theresa May as Conservative party leader must wait until after the Brexit withdrawal agreement has been voted through by parliament. |
| Hunt, a Brexit convert and Tory leadership hopeful, said passing the EU withdrawal bill remained a priority for the government, as reports suggested leading cabinet members were happy for May to stay in office until the autumn if she failed to get her deal through parliament. | Hunt, a Brexit convert and Tory leadership hopeful, said passing the EU withdrawal bill remained a priority for the government, as reports suggested leading cabinet members were happy for May to stay in office until the autumn if she failed to get her deal through parliament. |
| Tory leadership hopefuls fear any contest before May’s deal is approved by MPs would allow Brexiters, such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, to gain support by pledging to reopen the agreement with Brussels, according to reports on Monday. | Tory leadership hopefuls fear any contest before May’s deal is approved by MPs would allow Brexiters, such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, to gain support by pledging to reopen the agreement with Brussels, according to reports on Monday. |
| The prime minister is facing renewed calls from Tory Brexit supporters to step down as talks with Labour over the EU withdrawal bill continue during the Easter recess. | The prime minister is facing renewed calls from Tory Brexit supporters to step down as talks with Labour over the EU withdrawal bill continue during the Easter recess. |
| Hunt said: “There will be a time for all those discussions about whether this shade of person or that shade of person is the right person to take over from the prime minister. But the time for that is when she has announced she’s going and there’s a formal leadership contest.” | Hunt said: “There will be a time for all those discussions about whether this shade of person or that shade of person is the right person to take over from the prime minister. But the time for that is when she has announced she’s going and there’s a formal leadership contest.” |
| The home secretary, Sajid Javid, also cautiously endorsed May to stay on until a Brexit deal had passed through parliament. | The home secretary, Sajid Javid, also cautiously endorsed May to stay on until a Brexit deal had passed through parliament. |
| “I’m very comfortable with the prime minister and the work she is doing,” he said during a question and answer session at a speech in London. “I think everyone recognised that it has been incredibly difficult in the last few months. The prime minister had been working incredibly hard to try and reach a deal, try and reach a compromise in parliament. | “I’m very comfortable with the prime minister and the work she is doing,” he said during a question and answer session at a speech in London. “I think everyone recognised that it has been incredibly difficult in the last few months. The prime minister had been working incredibly hard to try and reach a deal, try and reach a compromise in parliament. |
| “When you have a parliament that is rejecting one proposal after another, it does mean that what the prime minister is doing now is just so vital to try and get agreement.” | “When you have a parliament that is rejecting one proposal after another, it does mean that what the prime minister is doing now is just so vital to try and get agreement.” |
| Back-stabbing and Brexit: the Tory leadership race - podcast | Back-stabbing and Brexit: the Tory leadership race - podcast |
| Addressing speculation over a leadership challenge from Johnson, his predecessor as foreign secretary, Hunt said: “There is one very big difference between me and Boris, which is that I am foreign secretary and I have a very big job to do to try and get this deal over the line. That has to be my focus. | Addressing speculation over a leadership challenge from Johnson, his predecessor as foreign secretary, Hunt said: “There is one very big difference between me and Boris, which is that I am foreign secretary and I have a very big job to do to try and get this deal over the line. That has to be my focus. |
| “I think what matters is that we have a cabinet that believes in Brexit, and we believe in Brexit, whichever way we voted in the referendum, because we’re all democrats and we think that there are great opportunities for this country, whichever choice it makes,” Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme from Japan, where he met the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. | “I think what matters is that we have a cabinet that believes in Brexit, and we believe in Brexit, whichever way we voted in the referendum, because we’re all democrats and we think that there are great opportunities for this country, whichever choice it makes,” Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme from Japan, where he met the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. |
| Hunt said a continuation of the Brexit paralysis would be damaging to Britain’s international standing, adding that Japan was worried the UK would become “submerged in the mire of Brexit indecision”. | Hunt said a continuation of the Brexit paralysis would be damaging to Britain’s international standing, adding that Japan was worried the UK would become “submerged in the mire of Brexit indecision”. |
| A Conservative leadership contest takes two stages. First, MPs vote for their choice from the nominated candidates. In progressive rounds of voting, candidates are eliminated until there are only two challengers remaining. The second stage is a postal ballot of Conservative party members to chose one of the two candidates. | |
| Theresa May's formal resignation as leader is expected on 7 June, triggering the contest. The Conservative party have set out the following timetable: | |
| Nominations close on 10 June. The first round of voting will be held on Thursday 13 June, from 10am to noon. Subsequent rounds have been pencilled in for the 18th, 19th and 20th. | |
| Conservative party HQ says the postal vote element, when the 120,000 or so party member will pick the country's new prime minister, will be completed in the week beginning Monday 22 July. | |
| He said that although a no-deal Brexit appeared less likely, he hoped a recently signed EU-Japan trade deal would roll over to the UK if it left without a deal. | He said that although a no-deal Brexit appeared less likely, he hoped a recently signed EU-Japan trade deal would roll over to the UK if it left without a deal. |
| He added: “It’s very important not to lose perspective on that: get to the other side of this Brexit process and the world is very, very optimistic about Britain’s future. They think we’re a great country. We’ve done more to shape the modern world than probably any other country except America.” | He added: “It’s very important not to lose perspective on that: get to the other side of this Brexit process and the world is very, very optimistic about Britain’s future. They think we’re a great country. We’ve done more to shape the modern world than probably any other country except America.” |
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