This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/jun/17/tory-leadership-boost-for-boris-johnson-as-gove-tones-down-his-criticism-of-his-candidature-live-news
The article has changed 20 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 2 | Version 3 |
---|---|
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: Would you commit to giving half your ministerial jobs to women? | |
Raab says he wants to bring forward talented women, but he won’t set a quota. | |
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? | |
Raab says he is not proposing going straight to a WTO Brexit. | |
He says some YouGov polling today shows he is the only candidate who can beat Johnson amongst the membership. | |
And he is quietly confident of getting the 33 votes, he says. | |
Q: With recognition to your bigots comment about feminist, do you accept that there is systemic bias against women in society? | |
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. | |
The quote, from a column in 2012, was about double standards. | |
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? | |
Raab says that was a mistake. The wording was ambiguous, so he would not accept it, he says. | |
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. | |
He says Dublin has over-emphasised this issue because the Irish government want to keep the UK in the customs union. | |
Q: Has Brexit damaged the Tories’ reputation as a party of Brexit? | |
Raab says he would hold an early budget, and bring the “fiscal horsepower” of the Treasury into play to help business. | |
We need more “can-do spirit”, he says. | |
Q: Isn’t it the truth that people in the EU don’t trust you? | |
Raab says people in Brussels are briefing against him because they fear him. | |
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. | |
Dominic Raab starts by praising the media. We have the finest media in the world, he tells us. | |
(I don’t think we will fall for that.) | |
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. | |
Q: Will you honour the Tory manifesto pledge to protect free TV licences for the over-75s? | |
Yes, says Hunt. | |
Q: How disappointed were you to come so far behind Boris Johnson last week? | |
Hunt says he was pleased to come second. | |
And that’s all from Hunt. | |
Q: Do you think Boris Johnson is partly to blame for the continuing incarceration of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe? | |
Hunt says he does not want to comment. Everyone makes mistake. He is sure he will make mistakes too. | |
Q: What job did you offer Matt Hancock? | |
No comment, says Hunt. | |
Q: Do you believe in God? | |
Yes, says Hunt. | |
Q: Has Brexit damage the UK’s standing in the world? | |
The vote to leave the EU didn’t, says Hunt. But the failure to deliver it has. | |
Q: What do you think of John Bercow? | |
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. | |
Q: When you were health secretary you said that was likely to be your last job in politics? What has changed? | |
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 did you think of President Trump’s anti-Khan tweet? | |
Hunt says Trump has his own style. But he agrees 150% that Khan should be focusing more on knife crime, and less on politicking. | |
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. |