Jeremy Hunt forced to apologise for campaign gaffes THREE times in week of blunders
JEREMY Hunt has made a string of massive gaffes this week as he came out swinging against Boris Johnson. The Foreign Secretary has adopted a high-risk strategy, going on the attack in a bid to dethrone the runaway favourite. But he has repeatedly run into trouble with critics accusing him of repeated blunders in interviews […]
JEREMY Hunt has made a string of massive gaffes this week as he came out swinging against Boris Johnson.
The Foreign Secretary has adopted a high-risk strategy, going on the attack in a bid to dethrone the runaway favourite.
But he has repeatedly run into trouble with critics accusing him of repeated blunders in interviews and social media.
Mr Hunt had to clarify his remarks THREE times in three days after sparking anger with his gaffes.
In a BBC interview on Tuesday evening, the leadership challenger described the October 31 Brexit date as a “fake deadline”.
Boris backer Dominic Raab hit back, saying: “The question for Jeremy Hunt if he thinks October is a fake deadline, is how long will this paralysis go on for and what conditions would you accept for an extension?”
Mr Hunt clarified that he meant to say “fake promise” – because BoJo can’t guarantee leaving by Halloween.
Later that same evening, the Remain-voting minister appeared to brand Leavers “Little Englanders” in a tweet.
He promised to “deliver a Brexit that works for the 48% not just the 52% – a positive, open and internationalist Brexit, Great Britain not Little England”.
Furious Brexiteers raged that the message proved he’s not devoted to quitting the EU.
Mr Hunt responded: “That is literally the opposite of what I said. Brexit is not and never will turn us into Little England and I’d never suggest that’s what Brexiteers want.”
His third blunder came during “digital hustings” on Wednesday night when he was asked about the prosecution of Northern Ireland veterans.
He said: “The main thing and I want to be honest about this, you know, the peace in Northern Ireland was hard won and under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, there is a need to treat both sides in the same way, however angry we may have felt about what happened.”
Veteran groups and Boris-backing MPs hit back and accused him of comparing British soldiers to terrorists.
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Mr Hunt’s spokesman was forced to apologise, insisting there is no equivalence between the two groups.
The Foreign Secretary has given dozens of interviews and pledged to appear in any TV debate he’s invited to.
By contrast, Mr Johnson has run a tightly controlled campaign and signed up to just two televised head-to-heads.
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