Tory rivals battling to be the next UK prime minister traded insults over Brexit in the first TV debate of the Conservative Party leadership contest, as the front-runner, former British secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs Boris Johnson, was mocked for refusing to take part.
During the 90-minute Channel 4 broadcast on Sunday, the candidates argued over the radical option of suspending parliament as a last resort to deliver a no-deal Brexit.
It is an idea that has split the contenders and risks sparking a wider revolt that could fatally undermine the next leader before he has even taken office.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Johnson was unable to give his view, as he declined to join the debate. His absence was marked in the studio with an empty lectern on the stage.
Even so, he continued to pick up support with British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock, a moderate who withdrew from the leadership contest on Friday, yesterday pitching in behind Johnson in an article in the Times newspaper.
Britain is due to exit the EU by the end of October and the leading candidates to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May are all pledging to renegotiate her Brexit deal.
Johnson and former British secretary of state for exiting the EU Dominic Raab have promised to take the UK out of the bloc on Oct. 31 even if no deal has been struck in time, potentially causing an economic crash that would hit the pound and snarl cross-border trade.
Other contenders argue that lawmakers would never allow a no-deal split — which prompted Raab to threaten to suspend parliament in order to stop the House of Commons delaying Brexit again.
Johnson has not yet ruled out the draconian measure.
During the debate, British Home Secretary Sajid Javid led the attacks on Raab over his suggestion.
“We are not selecting a dictator of our country, we are selecting a prime minister,” Javid said.
Raab and his one-time ally British Environment Secretary Michael Gove then traded blows over the same issue.
Raab insisted the option should not be ruled out, accusing Gove of allowing Brexit to be delayed already and telling him: “You would buckle.”
Gove countered: “You cannot take Britain out of the European Union against the will of parliament.”
It was a passionate exchange, with the two men talking across each other as they tried to get their messages out. The outsider in the race, British International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, accused his colleagues of engaging in a macho showdown.
The issue has also galvanized opposition from pro-Europeans in the Conservative Party. Rebels are threatening to overthrow the next prime minister if he closes parliament as a step to force through a no-deal Brexit.
British Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said enough of her party colleagues would bring down the government if the leader intended to push through an exit without a deal.
Tory lawmakers are holding a series of secret ballots to whittle down the field of candidates from 10 to two. The final pair will then be put to a postal vote of the party’s 160,000 members and the winner is to be announced late next month.
Johnson dominated the first round of voting on Friday, winning the backing of 114 of his colleagues. The second round of voting will be today.
Any candidate with 32 votes or fewer is eliminated. If all candidates have more than 32 votes, the one with the fewest is eliminated.
Additional reporting by Reuters
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not