Tory Leadership: Dominic Raab Joins Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom and Jeremy Hunt In Race
Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has formally entered the Tory leadership race with a call for a “new direction”.
Raab is joining a rapidly expanding field with Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsome and Jeremy Hunt all announcing intentions to run in the Sunday papers.
The announcements follow health secretary Matt Hancock also throwing his hat into the ring on Saturday.
Sparks began to fly in the contest with international development secretary Rory Stewart saying he would refuse to serve in a government lead by frontrunner Boris Johnson as he appeared to compare the ex-foreign secretary to Pinocchio.
Raab has told the Mail on Sunday he would prefer to leave the EU with a deal but said the UK must “calmly demonstrate unflinching resolve to leave in October – at the latest”.
The MP for Esher and Walton, who resigned over May’s Withdrawal Agreement, said: “The country now feels stuck in the mud, humiliated by Brussels and incapable of finding a way forward.
“The prime minister has announced her resignation. It’s time for a new direction.”
Former commons leader Andrea Leadsom told the Sunday Times that if elected, the UK would quit the EU in October with or without a deal, stating: “To succeed in a negotiation you have to be prepared to walk away.”
Leadsom added that she would introduce a citizens’ rights bill to resolve uncertainty facing EU nationals, then seek agreement in other areas where consensus already exists, such as on reciprocal healthcare and Gibraltar.
Hunt has claimed his business background will help resolve Brexit as the Tory leadership race fired up with Rory Stewart launching a strongly- worded attack on front-runner Boris Johnson.
Mr Hunt, who formally launches his bid to be prime minister on Sunday, told the Sunday Times: “If I was prime minister, I’d be the first prime minister in living memory who has been an entrepreneur by background.
“Doing deals is my bread and butter as someone who has set up their own business.”
He added: “The first three businesses I set up failed so I know what it’s like to have a business that isn’t working out, not to be able to pay your employees their salary at the end of the month, to realise that your products aren’t selling. I’ve had all those experiences but what do you learn? You learn to keep going.”
Hunt’s emphasis on his entrepreneurial past is being seen as swipe at Mr Johnson who reportedly once said “f*** business” in relation to Brexit.
Stewart was scathing about Mr Johnson’s no deal stance, insisting that such a position was “damaging and dishonest”.
He told the BBC: “I could not serve in a government whose policy was to push this country into a no-deal Brexit.
“I could not serve with Boris Johnson.”
Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd ruled herself out of the contest, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:: “I would be very concerned about somebody who is too enthusiastic about no deal.
“It is very important that whoever takes this on looks for a solution and tries to work to find where the majority of the House (of Commons) is.”
The timetable for the contest will see nominations close in the week of June 10, with MPs involved in a series of votes to whittle down what is set to be a crowded field to a final two contenders.
Tory party members will then decide who wins the run-off.
More than a dozen Tories are understood to be considering a bid. Hosting a radio call-in on LBC, former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey said: “I’ll put my hands up here, I better declare an interest straight away. I have put myself forward as a future leader.”
And Sir Graham Brady quit as the leader of the 1922 Committee – a position which gave him a significant role in the Prime Minister’s departure – in order to consider a leadership bid.