For Boris Johnson’s backers, it was a moment to silently cheer last night when Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt came second in the Tory leadership stakes.
They were dreading a bruising head to head contest against Johnson’s long-standing and bitter enemy, Michael Gove.
Mr Gove notoriously wrecked Johnson’s leadership bid three years ago, when he withdrew his support at the eleventh hour declaring that ‘Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead’.
Boris Johnson knew that Gove, his nemesis, was ready to strike again.
For Boris Johnson’s backers, it was a moment to silently cheer last night when Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt came second in the Tory leadership stakes
The Environment Secretary is a very clever man but behind that urbane exterior lurks a ruthless operator who possesses all the dark arts of the trained assassin.
Given the lead that Mr Johnson had secured, I don’t think Gove stood a chance of beating the favourite. But he would have inflicted terrible damage because he knows where the skeletons are, politically and personally.
He would have brought into the limelight all the issues that Johnson most feared.
And I fear he would have struck unflinchingly below the belt. Johnson’s politics, his personality, nothing would have been off limits to Gove, or certainly some of the sharp operators around him.
All would have been brought out into the open. And, as a result, a very bruised Boris Johnson would have entered Downing Street in five weeks’ time.
Hence the sigh of relief at the news that Jeremy Hunt, a politician who plays more by the Queensberry Rules, had won through. And that’s good news not just for Boris Johnson but also for the Conservative Party.
Jeremy Hunt leaves the Houses of Parliament following the fifth this evening. He will now go head-to-head against Mr Johnson in the race to become the next Prime Minister
Certainly, a contest between Michael Gove and Boris Johnson would have been high drama, but it would have also inflicted terrible damage to the reputation of a governing party that is already on its knees. To the rest of this divided and disillusioned country, it would have been another unedifying spectacle in which politicians put themselves before the enormous challenges we face.
Now we will see a classic political adventurer — Boris — take on Jeremy, who is the Establishment candidate.
The debate between them will be more elevated by far — though there is still plenty to divide the potential prime ministers.
First Brexit. Boris Johnson wants Britain, deal or no deal, out of Europe by October 31. Hunt, who originally supported Remain, promises to deliver Brexit, but is more ready to play the waiting game. In the hustings that lie ahead Hunt will try to get Johnson to explain exactly how he can achieve Brexit by that Halloween deadline.
A nd with Parliament adamant that it won’t permit a ‘no deal’ and Europe equally adamant that there can be no renegotiation, Boris will struggle to answer.
Michael Gove looked downcast as he left Parliament this evening having been knocked out of the Conservative leadership race
Jeremy Hunt will also want to test Boris Johnson on Nigel Farage and the rampant Brexit party. Would he be ready to ponder an electoral deal with Farage, as some of Johnson supporters want, in the event of a general election? Hunt has the opportunity to ruthlessly exploit the fundamental dilemma faced by Boris Johnson as he stands on the edge of his lifetime ambition of following in his hero Churchill’s footsteps and becoming British Prime Minister.
Does Boris want to be a great populist leader or will his priority be to lead the Tories back to the centre ground and restore sanity and credibility to a once great party? Leader of the hardcore Brexiteers or skilful helmsman navigating a pragmatic Brexit deal with Europe?
Of course Boris Johnson’s trump card will be his claim that he alone is capable of winning general elections. Hunt however, has one ace to play, too. His record in government. If I were him I would play it for all it was worth.
Mr Hunt is Foreign Secretary — he replaced Boris Johnson — and he has performed the role with more dignity. And competence.
I expect to hear a great deal from the Hunt camp about Boris Johnson’s many failures as foreign secretary, from Britain’s failure to protect Rohingya Muslims from the Burmese army in the early autumn of 2017 to our role in the war in Yemen.
H unt has been careful — so far —not to attack Johnson for his failure to win freedom for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British aid-worker jailed by the Iranians. Indeed, critics say he made her situation worse by ‘loose comments’ he made in Parliament. I expect the gloves to come off now.
And Mr Hunt is entitled to argue that his diplomatic achievements make him much better qualified to be Brexit negotiator than Mr Johnson.
I have no doubt that Theresa May, our soon to be ex-Prime Minster, would have cast her vote for Jeremy Hunt yesterday.
But for many others — MPs and Tory Party members — of course Johnson, the insurgent candidate, is the one who can excite Conservative voters. His supporters feel certain that only he can see off Jeremy Corbyn in an election.
I am not so convinced. There are many centrist voters who will be put off by Boris Johnson’s Right-wing bombast and prefer Hunt’s calmness and professionalism.
Today the most important thing is that the Johnson/Gove blood bath has been averted. A more civilised hustings is likely and, at the end of it all, the two contenders will shake hands.
The winner will be given a very big job and although the prospect of an all out Tory civil war is not over, it has at least been delayed.