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A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 13 July 2019

Brexit, domestic drama and Trump drive UK leadership race

By JILL LAWLESS EU by Christmas. them feel good,” said Si- In contrast 52-year-old including by many Conser-
Associated Press He told the BBC that “prime mon Usherwood, deputy Hunt’s biggest gaffe was a vatives. Johnson conced-
LONDON (AP) — The race ministers should only make director of the U.K. in a slip of the tongue in which ed that his reluctance to
to become Britain’s next promises they know they Changing Europe think- he claimed his wife is Japa- publicly back Darroch had
leader has been dominat- can deliver.” tank. nese. been “a factor” in the am-
ed by Brexit, but disrupted Critics accuse both men of “The last few years have She is Chinese. bassador’s decision to quit.
by domestic drama and making unrealistic promis- been difficult for the Con- DIPLOMATIC DRAMA But he insisted his views had
Donald Trump. es. EU leaders insist they will servatives, to put it mildly. The contest took a swerve been “misrepresented to
Britain’s 2016 decision to not reopen the withdrawal Johnson is a person to give when a newspaper pub- Kim.”
leave the European Union agreement they struck a pep talk, rally the troops lished leaked cables from DECISION TIME
divided the country, up- with May, and economists and get everything going Kim Darroch, Britain’s am- Britain’s next leader is being
ended its politics and ul- chosen by about 160,000
timately defeated Prime members of the Conserva-
Minister Theresa May. She tive Party. They amount to
resigned as Conservative about 0.25% of the overall
Party leader last month electorate — and are not
after failing to win Parlia- a very representative sam-
ment’s backing for divorce ple.
terms with the EU. Conservative members are
May’s announcement trig- overwhelmingly white and
gered a leadership contest middle class, largely male
in which a 10-strong field and strongly in favor of
of contenders was whittled Brexit.
down by Conservative law- That gives Johnson, who
makers to two: Foreign Sec- helped lead the 2016
retary Jeremy Hunt and Bo- Brexit campaign, a natural
ris Johnson, his predecessor edge over Hunt, who cam-
in that job. paigned to remain. Hunt
Party members across the has performed well on the
country are voting by post- campaign trail, accusing
al ballot, with the result due Johnson of shirking scru-
to be announced July 23. tiny and lacking substance,
The winner will take over while presenting himself as
from May as prime minister the serious, stable candi-
the next day. Britain’s Conservative Party leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt, centre, with Secretary of State for date. But it may be too lit-
A look at the contest so far: Work and Pensions Amber Rudd, centre left, arrive for the Conservative Party leadership hustings tle, too late to overtake the
BREXIT PROMISES meeting in Maidstone, southern England, Thursday July 11, 2019. front-runner.
Britain’s bungled Brexit has Associated Press ROCKY ROAD AHEAD
sapped confidence in the The new prime minister will
political system and seen say leaving without a deal again.” bassador to Washington, have barely three months
voters desert the governing on divorce terms would But questions about char- describing the Trump ad- to break Britain’s Brexit
Conservatives in droves. plunge Britain into reces- acter have long dogged ministration as dysfunc- deadlock and get a di-
Hunt and Johnson both sion. Johnson, and they resur- tional, clumsy and inept. vorce deal through Parlia-
vow to take Britain out of Those warnings have had faced last month after The president branded the ment by Oct. 31, or prepare
the EU, and say they will little impact on the leader- police were called to a ambassador a “pompous the country for a rocky no-
go back to EU leaders and ship race. Institute for Gov- blazing row between the fool,” and Darroch found deal exit.
get an improved deal that ernment researcher Tim politician and his partner, himself struck off the White But a majority of lawmak-
Britain’s Parliament can ac- Durrant wrote in a recent Carrie Symonds. The story House guest list. He re- ers oppose leaving with-
cept. blog post that the debate dominated the news for signed Wednesday, saying out a divorce agreement,
If that fails, they say Brit- was “increasingly unte- several days and revived it had become impossible and will use every tool they
ain should leave anyway. thered from the world as memories of past Johnson for him to do his job. have to stop it. Johnson has
Johnson says exiting on the it is and instead speaks to misdeeds. In London, embarrassment refused to rule out suspend-
current scheduled date of the world as Conservative When he was a journal- at the leak was followed ing Parliament if it tries to
Oct. 31 is a “do or die” is- members would like it to ist, Johnson was fired for by anger that a respected block Britain’s departure.
sue. be.” fabricating a quote. As a British diplomat had been Treasury chief Philip Ham-
Hunt would be willing to QUESTIONS OF CHARACTER lawmaker, he was sacked forced from his job by the mond, who is likely to lose
delay for a short time if a Bookies and pollsters say from a senior Tory job for ly- U.S. president. Hunt joined his job after May leaves,
deal was in sight, and said Johnson — a flaxen-haired, ing about an extramarital other senior politicians in said shutting down Parlia-
Friday he couldn’t guaran- Latin-spouting former Lon- affair. As foreign secretary praising Darroch and chid- ment would “provoke a
tee Britain will have left the don mayor — is the favorite he worsened the plight of ing Trump, saying that “al- constitutional crisis.” Former
to beat the competent but a British-Iranian woman de- lies need to treat each oth- Prime Minister John Major
uncharismatic Hunt. tained in Tehran by saying er with respect.” says he’ll take Johnson to
A born entertainer and at- incorrectly that she was a Johnson, however, merely court if he tried to bypass
tention-seeker, 55-year-old journalist. He has made rac- stressed his good relations Parliament.
Johnson is seen by many ist and offensive comments with the White House and May warned her successor
Conservatives as a politi- — calling Papua New Guin- the importance of the that overcoming Britain’s
cian who can win back eans cannibals, comparing trans-Atlantic relationship. Brexit divisions could be
voters and defeat rival par- Muslim women who wear Johnson may be calcu- harder than they think.
ties on both the left and the face-covering veils to “let- lating that it’s best not to “I had assumed mistakenly
right. ter boxes” — that he shrugs anger Britain’s most impor- that the tough bit of the ne-
“He knows how to rub them off as plain-speaking or tant ally, but his response gotiation was with the EU,”
on their tummy and make jokes taken out of context. has been widely criticized, she told the Daily Mail.q