Tory leadership race: Boris Johnson takes on Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson are poised to battle for the right to become the next Prime Minister in the final stage of the Tory leadership race.
Read more: Jeremy Hunt says he would delay Brexit past October
Hunt beat fellow cabinet member and rival Michael Gove to win the right to challenge Johnson in the last round of voting.
Gove fell out of the Tory leadership race despite garnering 75 Tory MPs’ votes yesterday amid speculation tactical voting led to his downfall.
But with Johnson so far out in front, can Hunt close the gap with just two weeks before Tory party members get their say?
And can Boris win the support of business leaders opposed to his no-deal Brexit stance?
Basically, what happens next?
How the Tory leadership race process works in the final round
After fighting to win the backing of fellow MPs, Johnson and Hunt must now pivot to focus on wooing the 160,000 Tory party members across the UK
The rivals will take part in a series of 16 hustings in front of Tory voters across the UK.
The first hustings starts tomorrow in Birmingham, with events running through until 6 July.
Party members will receive voting cards between 6 July and 8 July, and will have the chance to vote for their favourite in a postal ballot.
Read more: US President Donald Trump has labelled Boris Johnson as an “excellent” candidate for PM
The BBC’s Andrew Neil will grill each candidate separately before they debate policy on a special edition of Question Time.
Meanwhile Sky News will air a direct debate between the rivals.
The UK should then know who its new Prime Minister is by around 22 July, when the results of the vote are announced.
How many votes does each candidate have?
Johnson has consistently topped the Tory leadership race votes so far by a wide margin.
He saw a massive win with 160 votes in yesterday’s MP ballot, securing 50 per cent of the total votes.
Hunt received 77 votes to narrowly claim second place defeating environment secretary Gove, who won 75 votes.
Nevertheless, Hunt said: “We are going to give Boris the fight of his life.”
What are the Tory leadership race candidates’ stances on Brexit?
Boris Johnson
Johnson has appealed to the Eurosceptics in the Conservative party by committing to leaving the EU with or without a deal by the current deadline of 31 October.
Addressing Brexit, he said: “We must come out on 31 October because otherwise, I’m afraid we face a catastrophic loss of confidence in politics.”
The original departure date was extended twice from 29 March after parliament repeatedly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement.
Johnson has also vowed to slash tax for high earners, moving the 40p threshold from £50,000 to £80,000.
Jeremy Hunt
Foreign secretary and Remainer Hunt has not ruled out leaving the EU without a deal if it is “the only solution” to bring Brexit about, but he has not committed to 31 October as a hard deadline.
In fact, Hunt has called a no-deal Brexit “political suicide”, but has said he would accept it “with a heavy heart”.
He also wants to build 1.5m new homes over the next 10 years to solve the UK housing crisis if he wins the Tory leadership race.