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Tory leadership candidates take part in press gallery hustings but Johnson stays away - live news Tory leadership candidates take part in press gallery hustings but Johnson stays away - live news
(32 minutes later)
Q: Do you think a no-deal Brexit would undermine UK security? Q: Would you commit to giving half your ministerial jobs to women?
Javid says, under a no-deal, there would be no security agreement with the EU. Raab says he wants to bring forward talented women, but he won’t set a quota.
But the UK would still be one of the safest countries in the world. Q: Are you confident you will get the 33 votes you need tomorrow? And why is Boris Johnson, the other candidate proposing what is called a “clean Brexit”, so far ahead?
He says the UK would still try to cooperate with the EU through things like Interpol. Raab says he is not proposing going straight to a WTO Brexit.
And he says he has been pursuing bilateral agreements with EU countries like Germany on law and order, despite people advising him against this. He says some YouGov polling today shows he is the only candidate who can beat Johnson amongst the membership.
Q: Do you support drug safety rooms? And he is quietly confident of getting the 33 votes, he says.
Javid says he is hesitant about this. Q: With recognition to your bigots comment about feminist, do you accept that there is systemic bias against women in society?
Call him the odd one out, but he did not take drugs when he young. Raab says as a laywer he took cases defending women’s rights. And as a war crimes law, he prosecuted people of some of the worse crimes against women. He says he is championing equality. His actions speak for themselves.
He grew up somewhere where drug dealing was prevalent. He would not want to encourage that. The quote, from a column in 2012, was about double standards.
Javid says he did not go to elite schools, like some of his rivals. He might not be as good a debate as them. But he thinks he is getting better as a communicator. Q: Theresa May failed to get her deal through because of the definition of a hard border in the joint report of December 2017. Do you accept that definition?
He speaks as someone with life experience. Raab says that was a mistake. The wording was ambiguous, so he would not accept it, he says.
He says Asian parents want their children to go into professions like dentistry because these are professions where you have to pass exams. You get judged on merit. And that was partly why he went into banking, he says. He says Asians gravitate towards professions like that because they are more meritocratic. He says technology can address the border issue. If all the options are used, there is no need for any “state presence” at the border.
Q: Will you hold monthly press conferences if you become PM? He says Dublin has over-emphasised this issue because the Irish government want to keep the UK in the customs union.
That’s an excellent idea, says Javid. Q: Has Brexit damaged the Tories’ reputation as a party of Brexit?
Q; What do you think about President Trump’s anti-Khan tweet? Raab says he would hold an early budget, and bring the “fiscal horsepower” of the Treasury into play to help business.
Javid says Trump should focus on domestic politics. Knife crime is a serious problem. But it is 10 times worse in the US than in the UK. We need more “can-do spirit”, he says.
Q: If there were another referendum, would you vote leave or remain? Q: Isn’t it the truth that people in the EU don’t trust you?
Javid says he would vote leave. Raab says people in Brussels are briefing against him because they fear him.
Q; How confident are you of getting the 33 votes you need tomorrow? He says Simon Coveney’s office briefed that Raab wanted a three-month time limit to the extension. No one who knows him believes this.
“Extremely confident”, Javid says. Dominic Raab starts by praising the media. We have the finest media in the world, he tells us.
He says there is a growing feeling in the party that the final two candidates should both be “credible change candidates”. (I don’t think we will fall for that.)
He is a good person to put Boris Johnson through his paces, he says. Raab says what he stands for his not just an opportunity society, but a second chance society. He mentions mentoring a boy at a boxing club. And he says his father, a refugee, effectively had a second chance too.
This is similar to the argument used by Michael Gove this morning, which sounded a bit like: ‘Vote for me, and I will give Johnson some useful debate practice before his inevitable victory.’ See 9.18am. Q: Will you honour the Tory manifesto pledge to protect free TV licences for the over-75s?
Javid ends with a bizarre line about how, if Labour win an early election, he does not know if Tories will be “up against the wall” first or if it will be journalists. Yes, says Hunt.
Q: Would you stop universal credit claimants having to wait five weeks for their money? Q: How disappointed were you to come so far behind Boris Johnson last week?
Javid says he supports universal credit. But he would look at aspects of how it works. It takes too long to make a claim, and he would review the appeals procedure too. Hunt says he was pleased to come second.
Q: Do you accept the definition of a hard border in Ireland negotiated by Theresa May in December 2017? And that’s all from Hunt.
Javid says he does not have that definition in front of him. Q: Do you think Boris Johnson is partly to blame for the continuing incarceration of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe?
But he is clear he would not agree to anything that would lead to infrastructure being put on that border. Hunt says he does not want to comment. Everyone makes mistake. He is sure he will make mistakes too.
Q: You were a banker before the crash. You must have known about the selling of dodgy products. What did you do to stop the crash? Q: What job did you offer Matt Hancock?
Javid says he was working in Asia. There was a different business model in that market, he suggests. It was less affected by the crash. No comment, says Hunt.
He says there was a failure of regulation before the crash. Q: Do you believe in God?
As a Treasury minister, he took the banking bill through the Commons. Yes, says Hunt.
Sajdi Javid, the home secretary, is here. Q: Has Brexit damage the UK’s standing in the world?
Q: You talk about your backstory in very eloquent terms. But you have not said much about how you would help other people from your kind of background succeed. Do you regret, for example, the closure of Sure Start centres? The vote to leave the EU didn’t, says Hunt. But the failure to deliver it has.
Javid says education was the big thing for him. He does not think that is unusual in Asian families. It is clear that his vision has been formed by his upbringing and experiences. He wants a society where, if people work hard, they can succeed. He would focus on schools and further education. We need a multi-billion pound investment programme, as we have for the NHS. Q: What do you think of John Bercow?
Q: Did you work for MI6? Hunt says Bercow’s record is mixed. He suggests he has not been impartial, but he says he has done well to open up parliament.
No, says Stewart. Q: When you were health secretary you said that was likely to be your last job in politics? What has changed?
And that’s all from Stewart. Hunt says he said that during the doctors’ strike. He was determined not to blink, and he wanted to show he would not back down, even if that were he last job.
Q: What do you make of President Trump’s latest tweet attacking Sadiq Khan? Q: What did you think of President Trump’s anti-Khan tweet?
LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse! https://t.co/n7qKI3BbD2 Hunt says Trump has his own style. But he agrees 150% that Khan should be focusing more on knife crime, and less on politicking.
Stewart says he has been a professional diplomat. You make your points forcefully - but in private. Q: What do you meant when you say you broadly agree with what Theresa May said about the hard border in Ireland?
Hunt says, when he said he broadly agreed, he meant he broadly agreed. He says he would not allow physical infrastructure on the border.
Q: An MP told me that Boris Johnson can win over wavering Tory supporters, but you can’t. Why is that?
Hunt says Johnson comes top in those polls, but he comes second. But the Tories must deliver Brexit, he says. And he is the only person who can deliver for Brexiters, and for Tories now leaning to the Lib Dems.