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Hunt ramps up pressure on Boris Johnson to explain police visit Jeremy Hunt piles pressure on Boris Johnson to explain police visit
(about 4 hours later)
Jeremy Hunt has increased the pressure on Boris Johnson to explain why police were called to his home after a row with his partner by warning that the Conservative leadership frontrunner “needs to show he can answer difficult questions”. Jeremy Hunt has joined calls for Boris Johnson to explain why police were called to his home after and argument with his partner by warning that his Conservative leadership rival “needs to show he can answer difficult questions”.
Hunt – whose remarks follow calls by the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, for Johnson to explain himself – used a television interview to suggest his leadership rival had shied away from scrutiny, telling Sky News: “This is an audition to be prime minister of the UK … If Boris is refusing to answer questions in the media, refusing to do live debates then of course people are thinking, just who are we going to get as PM?” The foreign secretary joined cabinet ministers, backbenchers and a major party donor in demanding that the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May speak out about the loud, late-night altercation with his partner, Carrie Symonds, which was heard by – several neighbours.
The foreign secretary added: “What happens in people’s personal lives is really a matter for them.” But his intervention over Johnson’s refusal to engage with the media will be seen as a coded reference to his opponent’s appearance at the first hustings of the leadership race on Saturday, in which he stonewalled persistent questions about the incident, which took place in the early hours of Friday morning. Hunt intervened as Johnson came under pressure on several fronts:
Asked if he agreed with claims that Johnson’s private life made him a security risk, Hunt said: “I would never make those comments myself.” • Two other cabinet ministers demanded that Johnson explained what happened on Friday.
The story emerged after a neighbour told the Guardian he had been so concerned by a loud, late-night altercation between Johnson and his partner, Carrie Symonds, that he had felt obliged to call the police. Other neighbours confirmed the row took place and said they had been concerned by its intensity. • A senior member of the 1922 Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton Brown, called for “openness” from anyone standing to be prime minister.
Hunt’s attack is the latest broadside in a ferocious debate over Johnson’s conduct, in which a number of senior Conservatives have called on the frontrunner to explain what happened. • A party donor expressed concerns about the argument, saying it would damage their long-term prospects.
On Sunday morning, Fox said it was time for Johnson to openly explain the incident so the contest could get away from “these distractions” and return to the two candidates’ plans as prime minister. Hunt’s comment over Johnson’s refusal to engage with the media will be seen as a coded reference to his opponent’s appearance at the first hustings of the leadership race on Saturday, in which he stonewalled persistent questions about the incident, which took place early on Friday.
Concern is growing in the Johnson’s campaign that his opponent has seized the initiative in just two days since police were called by a neighbour after hearing “shouting” and “smashing” coming from the Camberwell flat that Johnson shares with Symonds.
The former mayor of London is due to take part in a digital hustings with Tory party members on Monday and is still to confirm whether he will face Hunt in a planned televised Sky News debate on Tuesday.
Hunt suggested Johnson shied away from scrutiny, telling Sky News: “This is an audition to be prime minister of the UK … If Boris is refusing to answer questions in the media, refusing to do live debates then of course people are thinking, just who are we going to get as PM?”
The story emerged after a neighbour told the Guardian he had been so concerned by a loud, late-night altercation between Johnson and Symonds, that he had felt obliged to call the police. Other neighbours confirmed the argument took place and said they had been concerned by its intensity.
This will be a contest, not a coronation, if Jeremy Hunt questions Boris Johnson’s character | Andrew RawnsleyThis will be a contest, not a coronation, if Jeremy Hunt questions Boris Johnson’s character | Andrew Rawnsley
On Sunday morning, Liam Fox said it was time for Johnson to openly explain the incident so the contest could move away from “these distractions” and return to the two candidates’ plans as prime minister.
Fox, a supporter of Hunt, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “It’s always easier to give an explanation, then we can discuss the policies.”Fox, a supporter of Hunt, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “It’s always easier to give an explanation, then we can discuss the policies.”
The former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind also urged Johnson to explain what happened or arouse suspicions that he was hiding something. A second senior minister said: “He must answer questions, for the same reason that Michael Gove had to explain why he had taken hard drugs. He is standing to be PM.”
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “If you are a candidate to be prime minister and the police have been called to your house – fairly or unfairly – the fact is there was a police visit. You don’t just say ‘no comment’. That implies you may have something you don’t want to disclose. Clifton-Brown, the vice chair of the influential 1922 Committee which coordinates Tory backbench MPs, called on Johnson to set the record straight. “In politics, I think that openness really does matter. I think that if you are standing for the role of prime minister, the nation has a reasonable expectation that this kind of issue [around personal behaviour] must be cleared up,” he said.
“It was a lack of judgment to refuse to even make a short comment. All he could have said, quite reasonably, would have been that in all relationships there are occasionally outbursts of anger and disagreement.” One Tory donor, who has given more than £500,000, told the Guardian that the issue is damaging the party. “We are a laughing stock,” he said.
Asked on Sunday about the incident, Johnson’s supporters insisted it was irrelevant to the leadership contest. The chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There’s no point in asking me, I believe it’s a private matter, I don’t think the public are concerned about that.” Gove, the environment secretary and a rival of Johnson, declined to make any comment on the issue, but did not rule out doing so in the future. “I think it is best if I say nothing at this stage,” he said.
Police confirmed they were called to the couple’s south London flat after a loud argument was heard by neighbours, who said they heard slamming and banging, adding that at one point Symonds could be heard telling Johnson to “get off me” and “get out of my flat”. Asked on Sunday about the incident, Johnson’s supporters insisted it was irrelevant to the leadership contest. The chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There’s no point in asking me, I believe it’s a private matter. I don’t think the public are concerned about that.”
A poll conducted on Saturday showed support for Johnson had fallen sharply following the incident. His eight-point lead earlier in the week had fallen to three points behind Hunt by Saturday morning. Among Tory voters, when asked who would make the best prime minister, Johnson’s lead had slumped from 27% to 11% in the same period, according to Survation, which carried out the polls for the Mail on Sunday. Police confirmed they were called to the couple’s south London flat after an argument was heard by neighbours, who reported slamming and banging, and added that at one point Symonds could be heard telling Johnson to “get off me” and “get out of my flat”.
Andrew Gwynne, the shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, said Johnson was “completely unsuitable” to be prime minister. A poll conducted at the weekend showed support for Johnson had fallen sharply following the incident. His eight-point lead earlier in the week had fallen to three points behind Hunt. Among Tory voters, when asked who would make the best prime minister, Johnson’s lead had slumped from 27% to 11% in the same period, according to Survation, which carried out the polls for the Mail on Sunday.
He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “In one sense, of course, it is a private matter, but when you’re running for public office, when you are wanting to be the prime minister of the UK, then these matters are in the public interest. The neighbour who contacted the police, Tom Penn, issued a statement saying that he wanted to put the record straight on his reasons for recording the argument and calling 999.
The neighbour who contacted the police, Tom Penn, 30, issued a statement saying he wanted to put the record straight on his reasons for recording the row and calling 999.
Penn, a playwright, said he acted only as a last resort and that he was speaking out because he was concerned by the “bizarre and fictitious allegations” made about him and his wife.Penn, a playwright, said he acted only as a last resort and that he was speaking out because he was concerned by the “bizarre and fictitious allegations” made about him and his wife.
Penn said: “In the early hours of Friday morning, I answered a phone call from a takeaway food delivery driver. At the same time, I heard what sounded like shouting coming from the street. I went downstairs, on the phone to the driver, and collected my food. On the way back into my flat, it became clear that the shouting was coming from a neighbour’s flat. It was loud enough and angry enough that I felt frightened and concerned for the welfare of those involved, so I went inside my own home, closed the door, and pressed record on the voice memos app on my phone. Several Tory MPs have criticised the actions of Penn and claimed that his complaint was politically motivated because his partner has expressed hostility on social media towards Johnson. But Penn has said they were motivated only by concern for the welfare of those in the flat.
“After a loud scream and banging, followed by silence, I ran upstairs, and with my wife agreed we should check on our neighbours. I knocked three times at their front door, but there was no response. I went back upstairs into my flat, and we agreed that we should call the police.” Dame Vera Baird, who becomes the new victims’ commissioner of England and Wales on Monday told the Guardian that neighbours were right to contact the police with their concerns.
Another neighbour, Fatimah, a nursery teacher who lives with her husband and four-year-old son in the top flat next door, told the Times she could hear “shouting and screaming … I’ve never heard anything like it.” “I am in no doubt at all that given what they [the neighbours] said they heard, they should have done what they did – knock on the door, and try and offer any personal help, and then, when they got no reply, call the police. That is what the women’s sector want potential witnesses to do,” she said.
“I think its absolutely in the public interest that people do.”
Johnson has so far declined to comment on the incident.
Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson
Conservative leadershipConservative leadership
ConservativesConservatives
Jeremy Hunt
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