this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at three: borisjohnson is seen in public for the first time since it emerged police were called to the home he shares with his partner — after a neighbour said she heard a loud argument. mrjohnson and jeremy hunt are taking part in the first nationwide hustings for leadership of the conservative party this afternoon. and this is the scene where those hustings will be taking place — we'll be bringing you that live in the next few minutes. long queues build up at manchester airport as an it failure prevents many passengers from checking in at all three terminals. more international airlines stop flying over iranian airspace,

following the shooting down of a us drone. a british foreign office minister will meet senior officials in iran tomorrow to call for an ‘urgent de—escalation‘ of tensions. campaigners have joined richard ratcliffe outside the iranian embassy to show solidarity with him as his hunger strike over his detained wife's plight enters its eighth day. the government announces a new permament memorial to mark the first national windrush day — which honors the british caribbean community. good afternoon. in just a few minute's time, the first of a series of hustings

events around the country will begin in birmingham. mrjohnson and jeremy hunt, the two surviving candidates for the leadership, will be questioned by conservative party members, who vote next month on which man will become their party leader and the country's prime minister. boris johnson arrived in the past ten minutes or so. here he is coming in. creating some of the members there. a lot of this coming as it emerged that police we re coming as it emerged that police were called to london, to the home of borisjohnson were called to london, to the home of boris johnson and were called to london, to the home of borisjohnson and his partner carrie symonds. after a neighbour reported hearing a loud argument in the early hours of friday morning. the metropolitan police say all of the occupants of the house were safe and well. let's go inside the whole life. peter saul is there for us. peter, we arejust life. peter saul is there for us. peter, we are just seeing pictures of mrjohnson arriving. just describe the atmosphere for us.

of mrjohnson arriving. just describe the atmosphere for usm rather took us by surprise. we were expecting him to come in through a quiet side entrance but instead, he took the entrance that none of us we re took the entrance that none of us were expecting, right through the front, confronted by quite a few journalists asking him questions about this guardian christian story. police turning up in the early hours of friday. he said absolutely nothing. you might be able to hear some anti brexit protesters which who have made their way into the conference centre. most of the members will be in the hall now for these hustings which are due to get onto any second now. timing. a lot of the timing has been brought into question, wondering whether it is still mrjohnson‘s to lose following this later boris blunder as it is being describe. yeah, and as you

might imagine, plenty of people are talking about it. a lot of members saying, what happens in his private life doesn't really matter. what is key is his plan for dealing brexit and policies for the country at large beyond that, but others are saying, perhaps we should look at what his record, morally and whether that has an impact on this race. there is quite a long way to go. this is the first of 16 regional hustings that will take place up and down the country. if you bought a tour t—shirt, you would struggle to get all the dates on it. but the first one here will focus first on the stories that have emerged over the stories that have emerged over the past 2a hours but also questions about brexit and then some big regional issues as well, hs2 is a massive story for the midlands. borisjohnson has said in the policy would be prepared scrap the high—speed railway line, that would be very controversial butjeremy hunt has said yesterday, he is very

much behind the project. 45 minutes each for those candidates to impress the grassroots members. around a thousand of whom are gathered in the hole just around the corner from where i am standing. there have been so where i am standing. there have been so many polls appearing in the build—up to this. some figures in the 70s in terms of support for mr johnson. do you get the membership going into this hustings are more or less decided or are they in the middle ground, not knowing where to turn? it is not difficult to find people that want to see boris johnson as our next prime minister. a short while ago there were about 20 of them standing and wearing black forest t—shirts. i was struck also by quite a few activists who are yet to make their minds up. they wa nt to are yet to make their minds up. they want to see what the candidates have got to say on those various issues before deciding how to cast their ballot. they have a couple of weeks before they get their ballots through the post and if there are

more negative stories around boris johnson, that may well make this contest a little bit closer than it was among conservative mps. he won the support of over half the parliamentary conservative party of though a lot of the mps in the west midlands are actually coming out and supporting jeremy hunt. yes, boris johnson, it is his race to lose at this stage of their a lot of other conservatives are thinking, this race has a long way to go and it is not a foregone conclusion. what have mps been saying in the build—up to today? we have had andrea leadsom saying she will be backing boris johnson. any more indications? we haven't had any more serious endorsements in the past 2a hours anyway, but we know from parliamentary hustings anyway that jeremy hunt has a good degree of support among conservative mps and senior cabinet ministers. the

defective deputy prime minister confirmed yesterday he was supporting jeremy hunt. none of this is really a surprise. those mps or ministers that were on the remain side of the argument in 2016 are coming out in favour ofjeremy hunt and those on more of the brexit argument are coming out in favour of borisjohnson. boris argument are coming out in favour of boris johnson. boris johnson appears to have unified mps of all different kinds of persuasions. 0ne to have unified mps of all different kinds of persuasions. one with the message you can get brexit delivered which is seen as absolutely key to the conservative ‘s electoral prospects but two, he is the man he could potentially win a majority for the conservatives should there be another general election. i was looking at one of his campaign leaflets they have been handing out and that was the first line of it, boris can get brexit done, and win an election for the conservatives. jeremy hunt playing on his record as a minister, seen as being a safe pairof a minister, seen as being a safe pair of hands. a minister, seen as being a safe pairof hands. a a minister, seen as being a safe pair of hands. a sensible, more

pragmatic alternative to boris johnson. let's talk about the conservative membership, the cross—section. they have described as classic shire tories, even the young conservatives are mainly men, boys it has been said. why is this becoming an issue? i think it goes to the heart of the question of how democratic this process of choosing oui’ democratic this process of choosing our next prime minister is. you and ido our next prime minister is. you and i do not get a boat in this, it is up i do not get a boat in this, it is up to the 160,000 or so conservative members and they are not largely representative of the country really. they are largely older, a large proportion live in the south—east and as you said, they are largely male and largely older as well, although standing here in birmingham there is quite a diverse range of activities at this event. i've spoken to people young, old,

men, women, different ethnicities as well and all of them are determined to have their say in this election because you will remember in 2016, it was pretty much a coronation for theresa may and they want to have their say this time, they are very clear on that and yes, there are those that are strong supporters of the two men but a lot of them are still biding their time, waiting to see what the two men have to say before making their minds up. do stay with us. we just want to show viewers that entrance of boris johnson when he arrives in 15, 20 minutes ago and just listen to the type of welcome he received. have you ruined your chances of becoming prime minister, mr johnson? you ruined your chances of becoming prime minister, mrjohnson? why were police outside your house last night? very forthright entrance

there. he went through the front door, head on intojournalists that we re door, head on intojournalists that were waiting there. what sort of performance does borisjohnson tend to give when he is at the podium? well, it is usually a bombastic performance. there are a fewjokes thrown in there. he is very watchable and i suppose it is his charisma which is another reason why members believe he is the man for the topjob. you can reach out to voters that might not be engaged in politics and so we can expect quite an entertaining performance from borisjohnson, an entertaining performance from boris johnson, although during an entertaining performance from borisjohnson, although during this leadership contest he has tried to paint himself as a more serious candidate. he has had a haircut, he is talking more about policy rather than bluster. there has been some criticism of him from hiding away from scrutiny. he did ultimately appear in that bbc tv debate last week. he has given a newspaper interview this week but compared to

the other candidates, we have not heard nearly as much from him as we have the others. he will not be able to hide away from scrutiny in these regional hustings though. the format is he will take some questions from the lbc presenter iain dale before then getting some questions from ordinary conservative members and these have been questions that have been submitted in advance but i am sure there will be some pretty tough questions they're coming from what is seen to be quite a sophisticated electorate. just before we go, we need to talk aboutjeremy hunt. and what we are likely to see on the podium as well. yeah, jeremy hunt will come up second. i suppose he is not quite as box office as boris johnson but he will be selling his record, the use of experience that he has had as a cabinet minister, most recently as foreign secretary and the relationships he has built up and the relationships he has built up internationally which he says

puts him in pole position to negotiate a better brexit arrangement with the european union. both of the men believe they can get something better in terms of that withdrawal agreement with the eu in spite of the repeated insistence is from brussels that the withdrawal agreement is closed. but also a little bit on domestic policy as well from jeremy hunt. quite notable yesterday when he was out campaigning in worcestershire saying he was strongly supportive of the high—speed rail project, really trying to differentiate himself from borisjohnson on that although we are yet to hear definitively where borisjohnson are yet to hear definitively where boris johnson stands on are yet to hear definitively where borisjohnson stands on that. plenty more to hearfrom over the next couple of hours, a thousand or so conservative members waiting eagerly to hear what the two men had to say. we will leave it there for now. we are going to be keeping an eye on the first of the hustings. there will be a few taking place over the next few weeks but we will bring

that to you life here on bbc news. that is the inside of the convention centre where that hustings will take place, expecting a borisjohnson and jeremy hunt to appear shortly. more international airlines have stopped flying over airspace controlled by iran, following the shooting down of a u—s drone. iran is making a complaint to the envoy for the united arab emirates for allowing the drone to take off from its territory. the foreign office is to send one of its ministers to iran tomorrow, to call for an "urgent de—escalation" of tensions in the region. yesterday, president trump admitted he came within minutes of launching airstrikes on iranian targets in retalliation. our correspondent, alan johnston, has been at the iranian embassy in central london. that attack by the americans, if it had gone ahead on thursday night could quite easily have sparked a major confrontation in the gulf. nobody doubts the extraordinary

seriousness of the situation. britain is keen to communicate its concerns directly to the iranians so the foreign office minister andrew morrison is being dispatched rapidly to tehran. he will call for urgent measures to de—escalate the situation. he will also discuss what the west regards as iran's malign influence across the middle east, issues such as their support for the syrian government in the war there. meanwhile, the war of words in all its florid language goes on an iranian army spokesman this morning saying that if america makes a mistake, it will be like firing on a powder keg. the concern is a misjudgment by the forces on the ground may spark an all—out war almost accidentally, that is how serious the situation is.

well, meanwhile — amnesty international campaigners havejoined richard ratcliffe outside the iranian embassy in london to show solidarity with him as his hunger strike over his detained wife's plight enters its eighth day. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is also on hunger strike in iran. she was jailed for five years in 2016 after being convicted of spying, which she denies. earlier, my colleague shaun ley spoke to richard ratcliffe and suggested he must be concerned when tensions rise in the country certainly increase tensions are never good for us, certainly we watch the news closely and we would be worried if things get too far so i'm glad the minister has gone over and will be trying to lobby for the de—escalation of tension and talk about nazanin‘s ok. de—escalation of tension and talk about nazanin's ok. i would expect him to take that opportunity and what hasn't been made available to previous visitors is the chance to see your wife. do you have any idea yet what sort of condition she is on at the moment since she began a

hunger strike? i certainly know he has asked to visit her so let's hope that might happen, but in terms of her conditions, she is still in the general ward with the women, some of them are looking after her, checking she is ok and the prison clinic is beginning to worry. she went to see the head of the prison clinic earlier on today. what about yourself, you have been doing this 110w yourself, you have been doing this now for a week. what effect has it had one you? day eight is getting a bit tough. as you see, i am sitting down, iam bit tough. as you see, i am sitting down, i am getting tired and slower and thinking, not hungry, it is a gradual deterioration of being able to operate. so far i am able to be strong. your intention is to carry on as this as long as nazanin does. as long as she does. it is her decision. she is waiting to see what

the responses from the iranian authorities stop what you have very graphic signs of love and support from people who have come to visit your vigil. i from people who have come to visit yourvigil. iam from people who have come to visit your vigil. i am sure you are encouraging more people to do that. what is happening today there? we are painting stones and encouraging people to bring their children and paint some stones that will be taken toa paint some stones that will be taken to a garden for nazanin up in hampstead so she can see them one day. we have had lots of messages on the wall and i got to meet lots of people following our story, so that has been really quite energising. why the stones? obviously it links back to the fact that there was a promise to leave no stone unturned and whoever and inherits the mental as prime minister, we will be pushing them to get her home stop what are you at all worried if it does become boris johnson what are you at all worried if it does become borisjohnson as minister because obviously his

stumble added to the difficulties of your family's situation. he didn't describe the circumstances your wife had been working in the one correctly. not worried. i will be pushing very hard to take him up on his previous promise and will be pushing hard to meet with him and that will be true whether it was borisjohnson orjeremy that will be true whether it was boris johnson orjeremy hunt. that will be true whether it was borisjohnson orjeremy hunt. myjob is to make sure nazanin is top of the government ‘s priorities. we are lucky we have met both of the candidates so we will be pushing to meet the prime minister whenever there is a new one. in terms of the doctor's visit, a former military doctor, he knows to ask the right question is probably about your wife's condition and her treatment evenif wife's condition and her treatment even if he doesn't get the opportunity or isn't given the opportunity or isn't given the opportunity to meet her.|j opportunity or isn't given the opportunity to meet her. i am sure thatis opportunity to meet her. i am sure that is right, i'm sure he's very qualified and very sensible and it

will be great for him to push and yes there might be a chance for them to meet, no harm in asking. that was richard ratcliffe telling us about the latest about the hunger strike he is holding there in conjunction with his wife. the first of the hustings taking place in birmingham at the international convention centre. mr johnson and jeremy hunt, they are the two surviving candidates for the leadership. they are going to be questioned by the conservative party members who in turn next month will be voting on who they want to become their party leader and so the country's prime minister. we were expecting it to start at three o'clock, boris johnson expecting it to start at three o'clock, borisjohnson arrived some 20, 30 minutes o'clock, borisjohnson arrived some 20,30 minutes ago so we o'clock, borisjohnson arrived some 20, 30 minutes ago so we know he is

there. haven't seen jeremy 20, 30 minutes ago so we know he is there. haven't seenjeremy hunt 20, 30 minutes ago so we know he is there. haven't seen jeremy hunt yet but as soon as that kicks off, we will be crossing life to that, so do stay with us here. business leaders are calling on the next prime minister to publicly commit to delivering the hs2 high speed rail project. more than 20 groups — including the cbi, federation of small businesses, and the chambers of commerce — say the scheme providing faster links between london and the midlands — and then eventually to northern england — is a "once—in—a—generation opportunity" to rebalance the economy. we are going to go back to birmingham and it looks as though the hustings is about to start. that is the lbc presenter iain dale. we let's listen in. let me tell you one or two things that will happen this

afternoon. this is the first of the 16 different hustings taking place in all regions in the uk. welcome to everyone watching the live stream on the conservative's facebook page and twitter feed and in a few moments time, he was from sky news and the bbc will be joining us as well. the conservative party isn't just choosing a party leader today. or in the next few weeks. you are choosing a prime minister for this country. these hustings are designed to put the two candidates through their paces, that is in part down to you, it is also down to me. let me tell you the format of what will happen this afternoon. we have a couple of short warm up act for you. i hope they don't mind me describing them as that. then we will show you a short video from boris johnson's campaign team before we introduced boris. he will then talk to you for a maximum of seven minutes, yes, all

of seven minutes. then i will ask him 15 minutes worth of questions, thenit him 15 minutes worth of questions, then it is over to you and you all have been asked to submit questions in advance. we have had literally hundreds. i have selected them myself, no one from conservative campaign headquarters has been involved in the questions i have selected. i have free rein on those questions and i have completely free rein to ask any questions in the interview because we all know there are always conspiracy theories in these things that think there must be some malign influence somewhere. let me tell you, if it goes wrong, it is down to me, nobody else. without further ado, let me introduce our first speaker, it is andy street, mayor of the west midlands. good afternoon, everybody. i am the warm up act and myjob is to welcome

everybody to the west midlands. mr chairman, fellow members and our future allegiance, welcome to the west midlands. the heart of the country and today the centre of this critical national decision. we have members from across the region here with us today from shrewsbury to solihull, from warwick to wolverhampton and you are all welcome. here in the west midlands i hope you can see the difference that conservative leadership is making. we are busy renewing our region, laying the foundations and you can see the cranes in the skyline. today is one of the most vibrant and diverse communities anywhere in the world. we are making huge progress. this is the fastest growing region over the last seven years. with the explore capital of the uk. and of course young people are voting with their feet. more young course young people are voting with theirfeet. more young londoners coming here than anywhere else. and at the same time, we have reduced

oui’ at the same time, we have reduced our carbon emissions by 20% over just six years. and most importantly we are working very hard to ensure that that success is shared by everyone. last year over 20% more homes built here were investing billions in transport and for the first time ever, now over half of oui’ first time ever, now over half of our population are educated and have skills to level three. so, you are here, ina skills to level three. so, you are here, in a region that genuinely is seeing a renaissance. but the most important thing for today's debate is that is happening under conservative leadership. a conservative leadership. a conservative mayor in partnership with a conservative government. and the next chapter of this story will be written by one of the two gentlemen you will be hearing from just a little later. but let's not forget that progress could all be thrown away by a hard left labour

government. so our new leader quite simply has got to secure the progress we are seeing. they have got to stop jeremy progress we are seeing. they have got to stopjeremy corbyn dead in his tracks. in this afternoon, we will debate some of the great challenges facing britain and think about our place in the world in the 21st—century. and above all else, we will hear how our new leader will ta ke will hear how our new leader will take that battle to labour and will deliver for places like the west midlands. modern, inclusive and of course progressive places in britain. ladies and gentlemen, we have all got a great responsibility to choose our next prime minister. good luck to both of the contenders this afternoon and good luck to all of you in exercising yourjudgment wisely. thank you very much.

thank you very much. there is going to be no interval, no interval act either. we are going straight from borisjohnson tojeremy either. we are going straight from boris johnson to jeremy hunt. there will be a video from jeremy hunt's campaign team before we move on to his opening statement, 15 minutes of interview and then half an hour or so interview and then half an hour or so of questions. before we get to our first contender though, let me introduce you to palm hall, vice president of the conservative party national convention. thank you. good afternoon, everyone, and i am not just part of the one up today, i am a stand—in because andrew sharp has spent a couple of hours on the m25 this morning so he is not here yet but he will be with us later. i will read you his speech. it is an honour and privilege to welcome you to this

the first of 16 hustings for the leadership candidates around the country. it is great to see so many people here and you won't be surprised to hear there is huge interest in attending the hustings and necessitated more than one change of venue. it is gratifying to see all our members engaging in such a massive scale but i am not surprised. by now we are all used to the typical media narrative that we tories are propped up in bath chairs with hearing trumpets wearing grandads tweed suits but nothing could be further from the truth. that doesn't mean they will not try and find unflattering pictures to prove their points, so breathe in, ladies and gentlemen. the party that iand my ladies and gentlemen. the party that i and my national convention collea g u es i and my national convention colleagues know, the one that we see every week as we travel around the country is made up of engaged and engaging men and women. of every colour, faith, age and sexual preference, united by their belief

in our country, our institutions and an unshakeable tradition of public service. i have never met anyone in our party who cares where you come from, we only care where you are going. we must not forget there is far more that unites us than divides us. as lord hailsham said, conservatism is not so much a philosophy as an attitude, a co nsta nt philosophy as an attitude, a constant force performing a timeless function in the development of a free society. we are here today to ta ke free society. we are here today to take a solemn duty as part of that commitment to a free society. we are not just selecting a commitment to a free society. we are notjust selecting a new party leader but our prime minister. the country which we love would expect us country which we love would expect us to ensure that this process is rigorous. we need a prime minister who will deliver brexit and beat our political opponents. someone who is those of us who knock on doors no week in and week out are less committed to that free society than we are. last saturday, the national

convention held the first hustings for the six candidates that were still in the race. i am sure you have had feedback from that event by now but if you haven't, it was an excellent day. good—humoured, positive, respectful and bursting with talent and good ideas. all of those who attended were impressed by the quality on display and i know those same qualities will dominate hustings. supported by the national convention offices, andrew made the case at the party board that the leadership campaign had to reach every pa rt leadership campaign had to reach every part of the united kingdom, all members should have access to at least one hustings and there was no disagreement. so at this point we would like to thank the party chairman, the right honourable brandon lewis for his support on this. andrew would also like to thank him more generally for his support for the voluntary party. he has been very consistent and we have more resources at our disposal and for many years in a large part to his efforts. i would like to thank

our regional team. as you will know, jim is an advocate for the west midlands and he has been held in high regard. he has now given me a quote which is from winston churchill so i am delighted for that. what he said to his association when addressing them for the last time in 1959. it resonates today and i hope it will inform our final two candidates. by our courage, our endurance and our brains we have made our way in the world to benefit of mankind. let us not lose heart, our future world to benefit of mankind. let us not lose heart, ourfuture is the one of high hope. that is spot on and we look forward to the candidates outlining their vision for our future. applause. thank you, pam. before our main event, let's hear from the chairman

of the conservative party, brandon lewis. good afternoon. it's a privilege to be back here in the west midlands, some work that is so important to our country and to our party, not just with the mayoral elections next year, with so many key seats for us it seems fitting we start our hustings here in birmingham. i also wa nt to hustings here in birmingham. i also want to thank the 1922 committee, our colleagues in parliament who had run such a proficient process in the last few weeks that has led to us having two great candidates to consider in the weeks ahead. but not just as your chairman but has a long—standing party member i appreciate the importance for all of us appreciate the importance for all of us to have the chance over the next few weeks to hear from our candidates and to cast our votes for the next leader of our party, in

this solemn absolute understood knowledge that we are selecting the next prime minister of the uk. that's why it is so important and why i'm so pleased we can hold these hustings over the next few weeks in every region and nation of the uk so every region and nation of the uk so every member has their opportunity to hear from every member has their opportunity to hearfrom our every member has their opportunity to hear from our candidates every member has their opportunity to hearfrom our candidates first hand and today we are live streaming this event so everybody can see what our candidates have two site about the future of our party and of our country. next week we will hold our first ever digital hustings that everybody across the country can view and take part in because we are determined to make sure everybody knows what we know, which is that we are the party that understands the duty that lies before us and i know all of you will take the opportunity to day and over the next few weeks to day and over the next few weeks to make that decision informed by

what you hear and i hope this afternoon and over the next few weeks you enjoy the hustings as we hear from both our candidates who will outline to all of us their vision for taking our country forward and for taking our party forward and for taking our party forward and for taking our party forward and that's a chance for us asa forward and that's a chance for us as a party to remind the country and show people why it is the conservative party that has the ideas, the vision and the enthusiasm to deliver opportunity for everybody across our country. enjoy this afternoon and thank you for coming. applause. lots were drawn and boris johnson will be going first but before we hear from him his will be going first but before we hearfrom him his campaign will be going first but before we hear from him his campaign team have done a video for us. good morning. 0f done a video for us. good morning. of course you can. if i get in we

will come out, deal or no deal in october. will that mean you come back and vote conservative? we have to do have the courage to tell people... the first of the hustings has started in birmingham in the international convention centre. currently there is a video, i boris johnson campaign video is being played. we heard from andy street, there were of the west midlands, pam holler, chair of the national convention, and brandon lewis. the event is being hosted by iain dale. as soon as this video is over we will see borisjohnson as soon as this video is over we will see boris johnson in as soon as this video is over we will see borisjohnson in action for the first time today, a lot of scandal following him after the events that took place in the early hours of friday morning at his

london home, shared with his partner, after the police were called following an argument overheard by a neighbour but what's taking place today in birmingham is that mrjohnson and jeremy hunt be questioned first by iain dale and then each will also face questions that have been submitted from the conservative membership, questions which we understand iain dale has been given free rein to choose. there has been no preparation as to what the two candidates will be facing, so a number of hustings taking place, this is the first of 16 in birmingham. also on the 27th ofjune if i take you through some ofjune if i take you through some of those hustings it will be in south central on the 28, south—west on the 29th, north to the lakes and borders, also travelling to northern ireland so the length and breadth of

the uk and wales on the 6th ofjuly. that's the end of the video. good afternoon, thank you, my friends, thank you my friends, i cannot hide it from you that we meet in dark days for our party and i have never known us to be down 17 points in the polls, i've never known a national election when we get 9% and we all know roughly what has gone wrong, it's to other parties, the brexit party and the lib dems spurting like puffballs and feeding on the decay of the two main parties because of our failure of the two main parties because of ourfailure to get of the two main parties because of our failure to get on and deliver the mandate of the people and i say to you that the hour is darkest before dawn and i'm here to tell you in all confidence that we can turn

this thing around and go on to defeatjeremy corbyn this thing around and go on to defeat jeremy corbyn and this thing around and go on to defeatjeremy corbyn and the first thing we need to do is get brexit done, and as someone who campaigned for brexit... who believes in brexit, someone who has meditated deeply on the opportunities it could bring our country, i am the right man to unleash now on that project and there is a broad consensus as you sew in the recent bbc debate about how to do it. you disaggregate the elements of the otherwise defunct withdrawal agreement, you ta ke defunct withdrawal agreement, you take the protections for the 3.2 million european nationals in our country, you put them into law and preserve the payment of the 39 billion, creative ambiguity needed there and then you solve the problems of free movement of goods across the northern irish and other

borders too where they logically belong and that is in the context of the free trade agreement we will negotiate in the implementation period after we have come out on october the 31st. and of course there will be those... they will say it will be difficult and brussels will say now and all i can say is i am utterly convinced, utterly convinced, that with the right energy and the right commitment, common sense will prevail, but in case it does not we must prepare to come out anyway and we must prepare to come out on wto terms so for the first time in these negotiations we carry conviction and it's because we will be preparing between now and october the 31st for a no deal brexit that we will get the deal we need, and if we can get this done

and get it over the line, we will pitchfork this and keep us off our backs, and the drift and be able to get on with a fantastic modern conservative agenda and if i could sum up in one sentence my ambition for this country it is to unite our country and our society and to bring the whole uk together in the way we we re the whole uk together in the way we were able to do in london because when i was elected 11 years ago, they talked of a tale of two cities in london, four of the six poorest boroughs in the whole of the uk, after two terms, eight years, at the end of my time as mayor we had none of the poorest 20 boroughs anywhere in the uk. society came together and we did it by fantastic investments in infrastructure, helped people on modest incomes get to work, we got crime down by 20%, the murder rate

down by 50% and championed the resurgence of education and now is the time to apply that formula, education, investment in infrastructure, use of technology to bring our whole country together, because too many people feel left behind by the incredible success of this country and our ambition must be nowt to bring britain, brings a whole uk together, uniting all four nations, uniting society and you do it together with increased education funding, iwant it together with increased education funding, i want to see fantastic infrastructure and i would like to help andy street to do here in the west midlands with his fantastic plans for metro rail connectivity what we were able to do with crossrail and the tube upgrades in london, we should push for broadband across the whole country and that is

the way, far quicker than the current programme, to create a platform for business to grow and invest. we know this incredible uk economy soars as it does like an eagle because it has two wings, a dynamic free market enterprise culture and fantastic public services, each giant wing propelling the other end jeremy corbyn does not understand that, it's notjust that he isa understand that, it's notjust that he is a hammer is supporting apologist for moscow, continue with all the compound adjectives you are familiar with, he would walk up taxes, corporation tax, financial transaction tax, income tax up to 50%, all to pay for his deranged £300 billion programme of renationalisation and he and john mcdonnell would pluck by taxation so many feathers from the wealth

creating wing that the whole uk economy would go into a death spiral, so let's keep corbyn outcome let's keep mcdonald's fingers away from this country and let's take... let's ta ke from this country and let's take... let's take britain forward. let's ta ke let's take britain forward. let's take britain forward and all the incredible range of businesses and industries in which we lead the world, we are here in the birthplace not just of the world, we are here in the birthplace notjust of the industrial revolution, the first industrial revolution, the first industrial revolution, birmingham, the west midlands are still to date the home of revolution in new technology that will not only cut ca to commit the battery technology that is being pioneered here, but create tens of thousands of jobs pioneered here, but create tens of thousands ofjobs this year and in the future. what we need to discover now is a new confidence in our country. we need to revitalise our party, we need to unite and defeat

jeremy corbyn, and i believe we can do itand jeremy corbyn, and i believe we can do it and encase i have failed to make this point earlier, and seeing asi make this point earlier, and seeing as i have 32 seconds left, let me remind you that last time i had to face the london labour left, more fertile and ingenious, i was able to defeat him when we conservatives work 17 points behind labour in london. we did it then, we can do what i again and i believe if i am allowed to succeed in this contest with your help, we welcome and i hope i can count on your support. thank you very much. applause.

i wish to spend as much time as possible talking about your plans for the future but there is one subject on everyone's lips today and they want to know why the police we re they want to know why the police were called to your house in the early hours of friday morning. thank you, and thank you for your kind remarks in your introduction, thank you for coming to these first and most important hustings that, i know it's not the most important, they are all important but these are the first. i think what people have come here today, seductive interviewer that you are can i think people, i don't think they want to hear about that kind of thing. unless i'm wrong... forgive me. ithink that kind of thing. unless i'm wrong... forgive me. i think what they want to hear, what they want to hear is what my plans are for the

country and for our party. we will come to that. i note you will have to come back and i salute your in the packet ability as a journalist but i'm under the sad obligation of wanting to get my message across to our party. you have just taken up a minute with an answer which has told us minute with an answer which has told us nothing. applause. if the police are called to your home, it makes it every one's business. you are running for the office of not just conservative leader but prime minister so a lot of people who would mark your politics call into question your character and it is incumbent on you to answer that question. that's a fair pointand to answer that question. that's a fair point and people are entitled to ask about me and my determination, my character and what i want to do for the country and let me tell you that when i make a

promise in politics about what i will do, i keep that promise and i deliver and sometimes i must confess when i was mayor in london i delivered some of the promises people thought were most eccentric and unwise and people said we shouldn't have an open platform on the back of the new route master bus, they said brussels was against it and it was against health and safety but we delivered it and we deliver dummy with respect you are com pletely deliver dummy with respect you are completely avoiding my question. i told you i was going to tell the good folk who have come here, you asked about my character, i'm not avoiding you... let me put it another way, when it comes to a person's private life... when you look at my determination to deliver for people who vote for me, when i say i will do x, i generally deliver x plus ten so we said we were going

to cut crime, we cut crime by almost 20%, we cut the murder rate in london by 50%, wheat massively increased investment in transport and it was broadly speaking dog and ifi and it was broadly speaking dog and if i can continue, most people would ratherjudge my if i can continue, most people would rather judge my ambitions if i can continue, most people would ratherjudge my ambitions and my character and my programme by what i know dominic applause. what they want to know is... it is a very simple question, i think any politician, i shall askjeremy hunt the same question, does a person's private life... no, no, don't boo the great man. when he answers this question i will move on. does a person's private life have any bearing on their ability to discharge the office of prime minister? i've tried to give my

a nswer minister? i've tried to give my answer exhaustively, what people wa nt to answer exhaustively, what people want to know is whether i have the determination and the courage to deliver on the commitments i'm making and it will need a lot of grit i think people are entitled to think about this and this is a releva nt think about this and this is a relevant consideration, when i was mayor we went through some tough times and we had the deepest recession for 50 years, riots which you might remember, strikes and all sorts of difficult things, the olympics themselves were no picnic to begin with, the opening, the three weeks before the olympics were a heavily disguised disaster, everything that could go wrong did go wrong and it was myjob to keep people together, to bring our city together and to get the job done and that, i think is what the people of this country are looking for now.

they are looking for somebody with the determination and courage and application to get brexit over the line, relaunch our party and then to ta ke line, relaunch our party and then to take the fight to the socialists. that's what people want. applause. just to be clear, you will not make any comment at all on what happened la st any comment at all on what happened last night. i think that's pretty obvious from the foregoing. but look, i have sat where you sat, i understand the responsibilities.” wouldn't have spent the first five minutes on that had you answered the first question. i did answer it. let's move on. it's day one, you have been appointed prime minister, you have been to see the queen, what is the first thing you as prime minister do when you sit down at your desk, what is the one thing

that has driven you that you want to accomplish on that first day? we need to do more for education funding in our country and i think the formula currently doesn't work and speaking as somebody, who was lucky, i've been very lucky but i wa nt to lucky, i've been very lucky but i want to see kids around the country have an opportunity, have the basic tool of self—improvement that every child in this country deserves and at the moment the funding formula does not work for schools across the uk. we need to level up and do it fast so that's number one. number two, i want to see, as i said i want to see a roll out of full fibre across the country, it's insane that there are whole towns in the uk, rural areas that are not getting access to the internet in the way they have in spain. the internet is no longer a luxury, it's the basic

utensil of economic growth and of communication and we now have whole areas of the country for people look at the spinning pizza wheel of doom when in spain they have 85% coverage of fibre, if they can do it in spain, we have got 7% in the uk, if they can do it there we should do it here and then this will be a busy day, as you will now, as you will now, we have an immediatejob of work to do to get ready for coming out of the eu... i want to come onto that. to do that... we will come onto brexit in a second but you will also be appointing your cabinet. i don't expect you to appoint them here but will you offer michael gove ajob? youjust here but will you offer michael gove

a job? you just said you don't expect me to appoint my cabinet here. i don't expect you to say whichjob. here. i don't expect you to say which job. you could at least be consistent. i don't expect you to tell me whichjob. consistent. i don't expect you to tell me which job. there are plenty of candidates in this room and it would be invidious to speculate on that but i will say there is at the moment probably a greater wealth of talent in the parliamentary conservative party than i have ever seen. that's enough sucking up to the front row. brexit, october 31 and important date. your critics accuse you of pivoting on your commitment to leave by that date come what may. can you reassure this audience that will happen? what i said was bizarre, i said in the bbc debate, the think was inaudible but what i said was that leaving in october the 31st was eminently

feasible, which was taken to mean i wasn't 100% feasible, which was taken to mean i wasn't100% determined to do it. feasible means not only that we will do it but it's possible. will you do it? i know we can do it but will we do it? that's the spirit, hold that thought! that's the kind of can—do attitude that will get you a place in the cabinet. oh, really? flattery will get you everywhere. but if you say it's feasible that means it's possible. what this audience wants to hear is that you are committed to doing it, we know it will be done and notjust doing it, we know it will be done and not just can doing it, we know it will be done and notjust can be done and you have a plan for that. this is obviously the number one task and clearly there was a change in politics since march the 29th when we failed to come out and then

failed again in april and as i said, what we have now is both parties really staring down the barrel because as i said we are losing votes to parties that are quite properly feasting on art failure to get this done, but the liberal democrats and of course the new brexit party and you would expect them to move into this territory because we failed to get it done, so i think all of us in the conservative party, and in the labour party who were not doing much better than us, superhuman incompetence of the labour party, they managed to go backwards in the recent council elections, we didn't do well but they also went backwards, they are facing an existential crisis unless we get this done in we come together, take our responsibilities soberly and with maturity as elected representatives and get out with a

sensible deal and as i was saying, there are various elements we have to get it right, i think we should disaggregate the provisions on citizenship and there are other things we could do super laterally and things we could pass to the house of commons, sensible things on gibraltar or whatever, then there is the question of the money and that is difficult and people will expect us to pay the £39 billion. do you acce pt us to pay the £39 billion. do you a cce pt we us to pay the £39 billion. do you accept we have to pay some of it? it's important that as the uk's negotiator we should retain creative ambiguity about the money until such time, until such time as we get a resolution. what does that say about britain if we commit to something and we are legally obliged to pay at least part of it, what does it say

if you leave that ambiguity? it says this is a country that is determined to conduct itself in accordance with the tradition of eu negotiations because... laughter i have never known an eu negotiation that did not climax with the financial settlement. one of the most eccentric features of art negotiating style in the last three yea rs negotiating style in the last three years is that we decided to anticipate that. we put the money across the line first and you raise an important point, one of the earliest things against which i protested in cabinet was this curious decision to put the money first. how will you persuade the eu, you didn't persuade theresa may? first. how will you persuade the eu, you didn't persuade theresa may7m our system the prime minister is

supreme and it was difficult to persuade not only her but the rest of the cabinet and i hope that with the kind of gung ho spirit you have shown to date, ian... i think i'm going to be brexit secretary. with the kind of determination that i know colleagues have come we can get this done but the most important point is you know is neither the provisions on citizenship nor the ongoing court cases or any of that, the most important issue is the 175 pages of what's called the northern ireland backstop. clearly there is an issue that has to be handled with great tact, great sensitivity but it can be done and everybody understands there are solutions to the problems of free movement of goods across the northern irish border, this is agreed amongst all

candidates to make on the no deal scenario, you have said we would leave under the gap 24. mark carney yesterday rubbished that, i gather liam fox has as well and today michel barnier said that could not happen, it wouldn't avoid immediate tariffs in the event of no deal. what do you know that they don't?m is logically true that to make progress under gap to 24 paragraph five b, it is vital that both sides agree and! five b, it is vital that both sides agree and i think what mark and the various others that you mention would acknowledge is that it is not in the interests of our friends and partners unilaterally to impose tariffs. but that's what would have to happen. the rules site both sides can decide not to put what would it need for the eu not to do that? if

they decided unilaterally to impose ta riffs they decided unilaterally to impose tariffs on goods for the uk, it would be the first time since that napoleonic continental system that there had been such a pointless interruption of trade between us and i don't think they would want to go down that route. the common—sense solution all the candidates in the bbc debate were in the same place or roughly the same place, the commonsensical solution is to take the questions of the resolution of the questions of the resolution of the backstop issue, take the maximum facilitation is we would need and put them where they belong, in the context of the free trade agreement we will negotiate after we come out in october at the 31st of one minute left, i will ask the same question tojeremy left, i will ask the same question to jeremy hunt, what's left, i will ask the same question tojeremy hunt, what's the biggest personal crisis you have faced and

what lessons did you draw from it? i think the london rats probably weren't the easiest time because —— riots. this was a moment... i was on holiday. i remember. it was a disaster, i was 400 miles from the nearest airport and i arrived at calgary, i had to hire two new cars andi calgary, i had to hire two new cars and i drove 400 miles and as i got to the airport, i could see the bbc tv news footage running of these riots and i felt an overwhelming sense of obligation and responsibility and hard work and of course when i got there i

immediately did all i could you get out on the streets and to help to bring the city to gather and to turn it around and actually a year later in spite of the riots, londoners came together and put on the most spectacular olympic and paralympic games ever staged. so the lesson is, don't give up because this country can achieve amazing things. time for questions. if we could have the lights up. jonathan has a question, where are you? proud parliamentary candidate for stoke—on—trent. would you increase police levels back to pre—2010

levels? yes, the police funding, along with education, we need to do more to get more police on the streets. i see figures in this part of the country, we have too many kids dying, partly because of the appalling gang crime and knife crime, being driven by county lines and other stuff going on. you need to police out there and you need stop and search. if you're going to do to reduce gang crime and knife crime, you have to have the police. stop and search is controversial, but we took something like 11,000 lives of the streets of london when i was mayor, and lo and behold, the murder rate went down 50%. the deaths of young kids also fell very sharply. we did it, to get to your

point, by keeping police numbers at or around point, by keeping police numbers at oraround 32,000. i believe point, by keeping police numbers at or around 32,000. i believe strongly in backing the police politically and legally, but also in getting them out there and helping them to do thejob they them out there and helping them to do the job they signed up to do. do you think over the last nine years the police haven't felt backed up? when theresa may was home secretary, the police numbers were cut by 20,000. when you talk to many police officers, as i do, they are demoralised. what can you do apart from increasing the numbers? what can you do to increase morale? there is something you need to do as the leader of a country what is the representative of great public services, and that is to recognise that you're notjust services, and that is to recognise that you're not just the chief consumer, you are actually they are to provide encouragement and support. in a sense, you're also the chief producer. we did that in london, i was the commissioner for policing and crime effectively, just

asi policing and crime effectively, just as i was chairman for transport for london. if you want to drive change and you want to make reforms, and you want to make savings, which you obviously have to do, we all understand that, you have to make sure you are backing up the people delivering fantastic front line services. and i would never do anything to step away from the police or to show they had anything less tha n police or to show they had anything less than my 100% support, so one mistake we made was to take the foot of the gas when it came to stop and search, and the police didn't feel they had top cover from the politicians, and i would want to give that again. would you echo the promise that sajid javid made over the campaign, to restore police numbers to 2010, as jonathan

suggested? 148 police officers —— 148,000 in 2010. i think he is a terrific home secretary and i think it was the right thing to say. are you saying it? he's the home secretary. that is his policy. he is no longer contending in this thing, but he is totally right, and i would wa nt to but he is totally right, and i would want to drive out forward. unless you have public policing, people do not necessarily have the sense of reassurance they deserve. let's go to alec bradley. in june last year, during a foreign office reception, you were asked about corporate concerns regarding a hard brexit.

you replied, don't. .. you replied, business. concerns regarding a hard brexit. you replied, business. is your attitude still as cavalier? one stray remark to the belgium ambassador, who was making the case britain would not be able to leave the european union, i don't think that should be allowed to cloud what isa that should be allowed to cloud what is a pretty extraordinary record of sticking up for a business at every opportunity, and i cannot think of any other politician from the crash of 2008 onwards who actually stuck up of 2008 onwards who actually stuck upfor of 2008 onwards who actually stuck up for the bankers. i defended them every day against those who frankly wa nted every day against those who frankly wanted to hang them from the nearest bmp wanted to hang them from the nearest lamp post. but what did you mean by

that remark? it is financial services that contributed £72 billion to the economy, and i believe passionately in uk business, and as foreign secretary, and spent and as foreign secretary, and spent a lot of my time promoting uk business in this country and abroad. i will continue to do so but in response to the belgian ambassador, you could have said businesses are resilient. but instead you said that phrase. what did you actually mean? i was referring to very powerful lobby groups who wanted an exit type that was not achievable. look at my record, as mayor of london and

everything i have written or done, i am the most passionately pro—business conservative politician. i have never known one single stray distorted remark wrenched out of context to be so erroneously repeated. but there are so many occasions after the past 15, 20 years where you have had to clarify your remarks. i love hearing questions from you, but what about more from the audience? if you go through the millions of words i have said or written in the last 30 yea rs, of said or written in the last 30 years, of course, like with our friend at the cocktail party, my own cocktail party, come to think of it, you can find things that can be made

to look as though they mean something else, you can distort them. janice sylvester hall, where are you? good afternoon. as a councillor in the city of litchfield, i am councillor in the city of litchfield, lam keen councillor in the city of litchfield, i am keen to hear your plans now for hsz. litchfield, i am keen to hear your plans now for hs2. look, let me tell you, i represent south islip, and hs2, i'm afraid, we managed to get a tunnel through a lot of it. ——, south islip. the fact is it was going to cause a great deal of difficulties. let me say i am a

passionate believer in transport infrastructure in this country, and what i have decided to do, and i hesitate before coming in and simply scrapping a great national project, i have anxieties about the business case for hs2. there are legitimate questions that any incoming prime minister would want to satisfy himself about, before what i think isa himself about, before what i think is a no—go decision in december about profiling of the spend and so on. what i will do, and i have discussed this with andy street and others, i will have a review, but that will not be a review that interru pts that will not be a review that interrupts the current timetable. i will ask the original chair of

crossrail to look at that business case and profiling, and as i say, would not interrupt the current... how long with the review last? would not interrupt the current... how long with the review last7m would enable the final decision to be taken in december. for me, thinking about infrastructure in this country, we clearly need to do better. we clearly need to do better. we clearly need to do better. that is one of the lessons of brexit. it is notjust broadband, we should be doing incredible things with northern powerhouse well, and wonderful things here in the west midlands as well. i want to have a holistic approach. interesting you mentioned visionary projects, you had a visionary project, the thames estuary airport, and i was disappointed that you have abandoned that, because i thought if you became prime minister you might bring it back. what i can say is thatis bring it back. what i can say is that is not on the agenda because

parliament has voted to give outline planning permission, as everyone knows, to the third runway. again which is in west london, and i have long had anxieties about that project as well. what i can say they are is that i will continue to be very concerned about the ability of the promoters of the third runway to meet their legal obligations in terms of noise pollution and air quality, and i will follow the current court cases with great interest. so we cannot look forward to the prospect of a prime minister lying down before the jcbs? you will have to wait until the bulldozers appear. mark malik? up in the cheap

seats. given that a substantial numberof the seats. given that a substantial number of the candidates in the selection admitted to either taking or attempting to take illegal drugs, do you think our current approach to drugs in this country is working? thanks, mark. look, i hear lots of arguments about this. one of the encouraging thing is i have seen at the moment is that actually use of drugs, cannabis, is declining. iam not an enthusiast for people taking more drugs, put it that way. i think drugs are bad. notwithstanding the solitary and inconclusive event that has been extensively documented, that took place in my room in

university when i was 19. i think drugs are bad. i really do. and so, i hesitate before moving to some glib solution of legalisation or deregulation. i listened with great ca re deregulation. i listened with great care to what the police tell me nowadays, and with great respect to some of the arguments they make, but what i think we need to do is be very tough, particularly on the cou nty very tough, particularly on the county lines gangs that are now bringing drugs and drug—related crime, including gang crime and knife crime, into areas that have not known them before. and that is the problem in my view. what i would like to see, rather than simply bringing them into the free market, i would like to see a much more ruthless campaign to round up the

ringleaders of these county lines operations and put them behind bars. it is terrible damage to young lives. i may say that middle—class drugs use, i think saj pointed this out himself, middle—class drugs use in this country is helping to encourage the dissemination of these drugs across the country and costing the lives of so many young kids involved in those gangs, and that is a tragedy. what can be done in cou nty a tragedy. what can be done in county lines gangs that is not being done now? it doesn't seem to me that we are rolling up the networks in the way we could. they used this complicated jargon, they disappear into the country as they call it,

and they vanish, and it doesn't seem to be that we are gripping it. no disrespect to the police or national crime agency or anyone involved in trying to solve this, but i talk to too many people involved in mental health services, in all sorts of social services, who really feel that the county lines drugs gangs area that the county lines drugs gangs are a massive problem, and we need to crackdown and have a national campaign to beat it. mark eastwood is next. good afternoon. i am another proud parliamentary candidate for dewsbury and west yorkshire. i would like to ask boris, i have been elected in a key seat that includes a large asian muslim population. what are you going to do to ensure we attract

more ethnic minorities to the conservatives? applause thank you, mark. i think thank you, mark. ithink our thank you, mark. i think our party has changed out of all recognition in the past 20 years regarding the breadth of its appeal, but the changes have not gone far enough. we need to do much more still to reach out to black and ethnic minorities across this. but what? you need to have visible promotion of people from diverse communities across the city, you need to have a programme of engagement in every mosque in your neighbourhood, you need to be talking to people from those communities, and they need to feel what is true, that they have the

hope of success and progress in this conservative party, and i was very proud when i was mayor of the diversity team that we had at the top of the city hall, and the message of conservatives should be that anybody can make it, anybody can make it in our society, and i said on tv the other night, i was very proud that my muslim great—grandfather would be proud of what i'm making... we need to be reaching out, and we can be very proud of our record of

success. the tory party has seriously changed a great deal in the last ten years, we have muslims in all levels of the party, and representatives of every group. in all levels of the party, and representatives of every groupm in all levels of the party, and representatives of every group. in a bbc debate you agreed with sajid javid that there should be an inquest in islamophobia in the conservative party. i think anything like this, any form of hatred is intolerable, and we must stamp it out. have you had personal experience of this, have you had people come to see you to say this isa people come to see you to say this is a real issue? yes, of course. discrimination can affect people in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of levels, and some people can deal with it more easily than others. but

when it happens it is vicious, and we should be totally opposed to it. certainly people have come to me and i have always tried to be sympathetic, and every administration i have done, we have been totally generous in our approach. nigel sable. over here. good afternoon. mrjohnson, can you give two examples that will resonate with working people where your work has had a beneficial effect on the prosperity of communities in the uk? yes, ican. i prosperity of communities in the uk? yes, i can. iwould prosperity of communities in the uk? yes, i can. i would single out what we did with the expansion of the london living wage, which was, when icame into london living wage, which was, when i came into the mayoral team, we had about 27 companies paying it, after

about 27 companies paying it, after a few years we had about 1,000 or more that were paying it. there was a huge increase, millions and millions of pounds went into the pockets of some of the poorest families in the city, and i was delighted that my friend george osborne stole that policy, an act of theft i wholly condone, and made it into a national conservative policy, and asa into a national conservative policy, and as a result conservatives can be very proud what we are doing for people on low incomes to take on more every week. and what i want for my —— the country is higher pay, not higher taxes. higher pay for the low—paid, not higher taxes, and take people on low incomes out of tax. i think the second thing i would mention... just before you get to the second thing, regarding the promise she made in one of your columns, you want to reduce tax for

people out of the top tax bracket, how does that work? it would be part ofa how does that work? it would be part of a package where we would lift allowa nces for of a package where we would lift allowances for the low—paid to help relieve the burden on the low—paid, and continue to work on expanding the living wage. but i don't think that we conservatives should be at all shy in discussing the way in which people on low incomes, and i'm talking about nurses, heads of maths departments are police inspectors, who are being captured in the higher tax rates, and that seems to me to be something that we conservatives should take an interest in, and if we can do something to reduce the burden of taxation, notjust on the country, but people on low incomes, that would be a good thing. we should not be at all shy of discussing that. applause

the second thing. well remembered, the second thing, i am very proud of that made a huge difference to people across our city, i can mention housing, we built a huge number of homes, but i want to stress, since i know this is a slightly neuralgic issue for conservatives, we were able to build them by making use of transport infrastructure to develop and field sites, transport hubs, where it was possible to build good quality homes without going onto the green belt, and that makes a huge difference to the people of the city. do you have a target per year? in 1968 this country produced about 470,000

homes, and we should be... we are well behind those numbers. i'm not going to set a target, but we are clearly falling short at the moment. to reach those numbers, we have to put in fantastic transport infrastructure. let me give you an example. crossrail two. what is happening with this guy siddique khan? —— sadiq khan. you would not only solve the problem of people coming in to london, but you would be able to build thousands of homes on brownfield sites. we should be doing it, we should get on with it, and thatis it, we should get on with it, and that is the way to do it. i don't wa nt to that is the way to do it. i don't want to set targets because you

don't need them at the moment, what you need is a more ambitious programme. nigel desmarais. how much longer have we got, ian? we have less than ten minutes. are you bored? no, ijust wondered! i can liven it up! you touched on this in your address, and the question was actually written for both contenders, so i'm sure you will not ta ke contenders, so i'm sure you will not take this personally. you split the country in 2016, you split the electorate in 2017, you split parliament and the party in 2019, and there is a danger of splitting the united kingdom. allthis happened on your watch. we are being

called the nasty party again after 17 years. please explain how you will unify all these factions. applause first of all, i think the only way to unite our party and indeed our country is to uphold mandate of the people and get brexit done. applause the paradoxes, and i think, with great respect to any other candidates, we now need somebody who wa nts to candidates, we now need somebody who wants to get it done and believes in that particular project, and who can see the opportunities it offers our country. what has happened over the last three years is that far from coming

together, far from three years is that far from coming together, farfrom healing the divisions, the tensions have grown and got worse. now is the time, get it done in a way that is positive and sensible, and then, to get onto the real heart of your question, then show what i call the essential symmetry at the heart of our conservative beliefs. and i mean that vital symbiosis between free—market economics and fantastic public services and infrastructure. and that is a winning formula. believe me, the huge bulk of the british electorate and population totally get that. indeed, there is only a tiny minority of people in politics who do not share those views, and they are represented by

the cabal that has taken over the labour party. we have to advance the agenda again, based on education, infrastructure and technology, do some fantastic things for our country in the next year or so, and believe me, that will bring our party together, and we will restore the winning position that we deserve, that's my agenda. applause how do you bring together the conservative parliamentary party? you have over half their votes, so thatis you have over half their votes, so that is a good start. hold that thought, that was a very good point that you just made! a characteristically good point, if i may say so. let me finish the question because i want to know how you can unite dominic grieve on the one side and mark francois on the

other. i don't know if you heard dominic grieve, he was essentially threatening on the today programme to bring down your government before you had even done anything. you could be the ladyjane grey of british prime ministers, if you're not careful. in answer to that, firstly i have people from all wings of the party supporting me, and you look at who we have got, neil told me yesterday he wanted to support me, who has been very much of the dominic grieve persuasion. i have people from lucy fraser to steve baker, everyone can see what i'm trying to do. there are 15 to 20 of them, dominic grieve, may be philip hammond, who have said they will vote against parliament in a vote of

confidence, if they are willing to do that, they are hardly persuadable. let's see. you know what i think? i think these are sensible, mature, good people, and they can see that politics has changed since march the 29th, and we can all see on both sides of the house, we can see the reality we face, unless we get this thing done, u nless we face, unless we get this thing done, unless we work together, unless we come together, i think we are going to have a terminal problem in our party. and that is the incentive that i think all of us face. and i think it was doctorjohnson who said, depend upon it so that nothing concentrates the mind in a man who is going to be hung in a fortnight. iam is going to be hung in a fortnight. i am misquoting, is going to be hung in a fortnight. iam misquoting, but is going to be hung in a fortnight. i am misquoting, but that is the reality. we need to do this, not

just for the sake of democracy, though that is vital, but also because our great party, our great party will otherwise not be able to go on and deliver all the fantastic things that people on both sides, all sides of our parties want to do. we need to get this thing done and move on. what do you make of the fact that rory stewart said he would be happy to work with nigel farage to bring brexit a boat but wouldn't work with you? what can i say? ijust refer you? what can i say? ijust refer you to the answer i gave a few moments ago, there is an extraordinary wealth of talent in the conservative party and i'm sure

everybody will be wanting to put their shoulders to look real and get things done and let's hope that goes for rory as well. boris johnson, thank you very much. thank you. thanks, everybody. i'll see you later on. applause. ladies and gentlemen, we will have a two minute resat and then we will see a short film from the jeremy hunt campaign. that was the first half of the conservative party hustings, the first of 16 taking place over the next few weeks and we

have just been hearing from boris johnson so a very interesting, what he said, kicking off by refusing to a nswer he said, kicking off by refusing to answer a question regarding his private life. in his introductory talk to the members he spoke about dark days of the party and its the fault of two other parties, he said, the brexit party and the lib dems, we are at 17 points down, a lot of anecdotes and colourful vocabulary used by borisjohnson at the podium and used in the quote, the darkest are all ways before dawn, he said we need to get brexit done and he was the man to be unleashed on that project, talking about creative ambiguity that would be needed to sort out the payment of the eu

divorce bill, also talking of whether common sense does not prevail, we should be prepared to come out on wto terms. we need to carry and shout conviction, he said. also talking about a dynamic free—market culture, referring to the british economy, he says we have a soaring economy, we will hear over the next few hours what the business world makes of that, referring to a number of policies byjeremy corbyn as deranged, he said we need to keep him outand as deranged, he said we need to keep him out and take britain forward and on the subject of business he was asked by the members and that comment that was made to the belgian ambassador, if you were watching

that we apologise for the language but it was used as a direct quote from borisjohnson but it was used as a direct quote from boris johnson by but it was used as a direct quote from borisjohnson by the member of the conservative party membership who posed that question to him. he also spoke about hs2, he said he had anxieties about the project and asked also how he would deal with theissue asked also how he would deal with the issue of drugs, lots of referral to his concerns over county lines and the need for a ruthless campaign, he said come to round up those leading players county lines issues, we need to round them up using a ruthless campaign, he said, and on the subject of police numbers, a direct question before this, not really responding directly to the questions posed but when asked about police numbers and the need to raise those, he instantly

said yes, he wanted to do that. also asked about whether he would include michael gove were he to become prime minister within his cabinet, more or less avoided answering that question and referring to the immense talent within the party as it is, he said he was asked about what would be the first thing he would want to get done on his first day as prime minister. he spoke about the funding of education, also quite a few referrals to fast fibre, he said he would roll out full fibre across the country. now, when asked on why he appeared to be pivoting on the question of brexit and his commitment to leave on the 31st of october and saying it was eminently feasible, his response to that was that of course we can't leave by

october 31, he wasn't wavering on that commitment and his number one task would be brexit, on the subject of his biggest personal crisis, he referred to the london riots, iain dale emphasised he was asking about our personal crisis but he said he was on holiday and he had to rush back and he wanted to get on the streets of london as soon as possible, so how are people reacting to this? david morris, conservative mp, tweeted it has been rather disappointing, no substance in his a nswe rs disappointing, no substance in his answers on how he will leave the eu, worrying lack of detail in answer to any of the questions and david morris is a conservative mp who will be backing jeremy hunt, who we will be backing jeremy hunt, who we will be hearing from shortly. we are

currently watching a video, and each candidate has had one of those videos played before he takes to the podium and gives a speech, around seven minutes long and then set to face questions from iain dale and also members of the conservative party so the video will come to a close in a few seconds, i believe thatisit close in a few seconds, i believe that is it and let's just listen in asjeremy that is it and let's just listen in as jeremy hunt heads that is it and let's just listen in asjeremy hunt heads to the podium. applause. colleagues, friends, we have had an exciting start to this campaign. for me here in the west midlands i've been to white steel factory outside kidderminster, a chocolate factory in turnberry, i have had a free haircut, i've made a balti in birmingham and the internet, because

i'm the underdog, the internet has been kind to me for the first time in my life, and they are running a campaign to help me find the slogan i should be putting to the country and to the membership and we have had to take a punt on hunt, ezza is the bezza, and hiunty mchunface. i would be careful how you say that. get things wrong and there will be no conservative government, maybe even now conservative party. get things right and we can deliver brexit, unite the party and send corbyn packing. that...

applause. that's our choice but in this brexit debate we have had a lot of discussion about how we brexit but not enough discussion about who, who is the prime minister we trust to send to brussels and lead us out of this crisis? we sent the wrong person, catastrophe awaits. if you choose me, i will be the first prime minister who has been an entrepreneur. how many people here have set up there own business? that's the conservative party, lots of hands going up and what is it we entrepreneurs do? we negotiate. if we send the wrong person there will be no negotiation, no trust, no deal

and if parliament stop start, maybe note brexit. send the right person and there is a deal to be done. send that right person and we can do what we all need to do which is to come back with something positive for our country and that's what i want to do and when we do that, what incredible opportunities await this fantastic country. as someone who set up on their own, i country. as someone who set up on theirown, iam country. as someone who set up on their own, i am champing at the bit to turn our economy into the most pro—business, fastest—growing, most high—tech green economy in europe. i wa nt high—tech green economy in europe. i want other young people to be able to do the same thing i did and we have the best universities in europe, we have more tech entrepreneurs, more medicines being developed, we could beat the world's next to silicon valley and that could happen here in the west

midlands because you have a 5g pilot in birmingham, driverless cars in work, you have so many gaming companies in leamington spa, it's been rechristened silicon spa, not the kind you take your wife to after you have got her nationality wrong, but there is this potential, incredible potential and i will take a giant step to making that happen bya a giant step to making that happen by a radical cut in corporation tax to 12.5% to turbo—charge the british economy. applause. i want to land an economicjumbojet on your‘s doorstep. so when it comes to those trade talks, we need is every bit as much as we need them. —— europe's doorstep. i'm also the

foreign secretary who wants britain to walk tall in the world. my dad was in the navy, we followed him around from plymouth to portsmouth to surrey to scotland, which is why i'm passionate about our union. thanks to his generation, we won the cold war. and the risks out there are increasing, which is why i said i will increase defence spending to beyond 2% of gdp on top of that 0.7% commitment. i've said i'll do that, not just because of commitment. i've said i'll do that, notjust because of increasing aggression from countries like russia, because at the point of brexit i want the world to know that britain, the country, one of the few countries that has championed democratic values and the security necessary to underpin it, i want the world to know britain is here,

britain's voice is strong in the world and we will defend our values. i would also be the first prime minister who has run our nhs. you have some fabulous hospitals here in birmingham u h b, birmingham women and children's birmingham u h b, birmingham women and child ren's but birmingham u h b, birmingham women and children's but you also have mid staffs, or had mid staffs and i will never forget my first month as health secretary, the department advised me not to meet the families, i rejected that advice and met a lady called julie bailey. she lost her mum in a horrible, horrible death, she looked me in the eye and said jeremy, you could change all this. and i hope i did because by the time i finished nearly 3 million more patients were using good or

outstanding hospitals compared to the time i started, but we conservatives cannotjust the time i started, but we conservatives cannot just have the time i started, but we conservatives cannotjust have an economic mission, we must have a social mission and i want our next social mission and i want our next social mission and i want our next social mission to beat the social ca re system social mission to beat the social care system for every older person so they can live in dignity. and i wa nted so they can live in dignity. and i wanted to beat the education system so that no one leaves education not able to read or write, not without rigorous qualification so they can get a decently paid job. i want us to be the first government that abolishes literacy in our society and shows the world are conservative values. and finally politics is about winning elections and i would be the first prime minister in half a century to have won a marginal

seat. i know what it's like to knock on every door, need every single vote, i'm looking at every vote right now, i love you all and there are some very important marginal seats in the west midlands. stoke, north, star bridge, walsall north, brilliant mps and we have to be there for them but i promise you two things, firstly when we go back to the british people we will get more young people voting conservative because we cannot be the party of aspiration if the most aspirational people in the country are not supporting us and we are going to get them back. the second thing i promise is i will never provoke a general election before we have left the european union. i won't do it. the lesson of peterborough is that

that would kill us. ignore that and we ignore the crocodile lurking under the surface of british politics, a labour party led by the most ruthless, dangerous, anti—western, anti british hard left cabal that has ever been under jeremy corbyn. faced with a hard left populist, we could choose our own populist or we could do better. we could choose our ownjeremy. a jeremy who is going to deliver brexit, unleash the potential of our extraordinary country, delivered through social justice, extraordinary country, delivered through socialjustice, not so much for those of us in this hall, most of us have done ok but for people watching at home, young people

desperate to get a decently paid job, family struggling to afford a home, older people who just want to live out their days with dignity and respect, we have to be there for them. that is our conservative party. let me show you how. thank you. applause. let me ask you one or two of the same questions i asked boris johnson, possibly not for the first few minutes, but she become prime minister, you go to see the queen, you walk through the door of downing street, what is the first thing you turn your attention to? what is the one issue that you want to get solved? the first issue that we have to do for this country before anything else is to solve the brexit

crisis and very important as prime minister that you only make promises, whether before you become prime minister or when you become prime minister or when you become prime minister, that you will keep, and one of the reasons... one of the reasons we failed to get a deal that could get to the house of commons is because the eu stop believing the british government could deliver the british government could deliver the british parliament so the first thing i would do it be to put together a brexit negotiating team that would include, for example, the dup, the erg, the brexit purists, scots tories, welsh tories, one nation tories, a team of people so that the eu knew that whatever we we re that the eu knew that whatever we were proposing, we could deliver it through parliament. the basic first rule of negotiation. but there is something that doesn't add up

because if you only include conservatives in your negotiating team... and the dup. if you don't include other parties how can you be sure it will get through? plenty of conservatives will be determined not to support anything you negotiate. that's not my reading, i think plenty of conservatives would consider bringing down the government if they thought we were going for a no deal brexit but they wa nt to going for a no deal brexit but they want to deliver on the democratic outcome of the referendum which is a necessity for our country, we need to recreate that conservative dup family that can get a majority, we tried it with labour, it didn't work. but even with the dup and depending how that by—election in brecon goes, you could be down to a majority of two or three, surely you need to reach out which is what some

people wanted to do in 2016, reach out to the other parties but to raise up mate refused.” out to the other parties but to raise up mate refused. i don't think that would work, i think labour has only one objective, to provoke a general election and if corbyn gets into downing street there will never be brexit. that man will never be allowed by his party to deliver brexit, which is why it is so important we hold together as a conservative dup family and deliver brexit. before he became leader of the labour party he had a eurosceptic voting record as good as john redwood's you didn't. let's look at his record since he has been leader. when he has had choices that could deliver brexit, he has chosen the opposite, when i could deliver brexit i have voted for brexit.

that's the difference between the two of us. isn't part of your problem that of your six public backers in parliament, only six voted to leave. you have liam fox and penny morant on board but all the other public supporters voted remain. you voted remain injune 2016 but you have flip—flopped on this subject. i have not come it's a matter of record that i voted and campaigned to remain in the eu but like millions of remainers i want to get on and deliver brexit, i think we can make a huge success of it, that the economy has performed far better post live out than people predicted and we can make this work but if we carry on three years after the referendum to labelling people as remainer or brexiteer we will not unite our party and get this vote

through the house of commons. we have to come together and deliver brexit. there will be plenty of people in this audience who voted lead. why should they support someone who didn't vote labour and doesn't feel it in your gut the same way they do —— didn't about leave. look at my record since that referendum, i have been clear on every occasion we need to fight hard to get the best possible deal from the eu and i have voted for brexit like my remainer colleagues, democrats who want to deliver brexit, and i have to say this language is so destructive because we will need a coalition and the conservative party, everyone from dominic grieve and ken clarke to jacob rees—mogg and steve baker, we will need all those colleagues to vote with us to get out of the eu if

we are to deliver on that result and we are to deliver on that result and we need a prime minister who binds eve ryo ne we need a prime minister who binds everyone together so we can do our historic mission. just after the referendum you wrote an article for the telegraph where you shed the uk should negotiate a norway plus option which sees full access to the single market with what you called a sensible compromise on free movement. are you open to free movement? i think i wrote that less than seven days after the referendum so people were still absorbing the result but what i actually said was that we needed democratic endorsement of the shape of brexit we have and we had that, we had a general election in which more than 80% of the country voted for parties that wanted to leave the single market and at that stage the customs union so we know what the country once, we need to get on and deliver

it and we need a prime minister who has a plan that could bring the country together, negotiate a better deal, get it through parliament and get out. you only have until the 3ist get out. you only have until the 31st of october, borisjohnson has committed we will be out on that date come what may, you haven't done that. how do you negotiate when the whole eu commission is a wait for august, you don't have a new commission until the 1st of november, you have the european summit on the 1st of october, you have a six week window and even if you do come to a deal you have to get it through parliament and we note the commission have said they will not reopen that withdrawal agreement. a wise prime minister makes choices on the basis of the options in front of them. we don't know what the situation will be on the 31st of october but if there is no prospect of a better deal, if the

eu have been as inflexible as you say and no deal is on the table, i will leave without a deal because we must keep our promise to the people but i will do so with a heavy heart because of the risks to businesses and to the union, but if we have two i would do that, but the reason i haven't made the pledge boris has made is because i think it's very important that prime ministers keep their word. it is entirely possible that parliament will roll out new deal between now and october were indeed that members of her own party... i was having a sneaky listen behind the wings, members of our own party said they might vote against the government and if that happens and parliament blocks no deal, the only way to overcome that would be to have a general election and change parliament and that would

let corbyn right in, so we must only promise what we can deliver and i wa nt to promise what we can deliver and i want to get that as soon as possible andi want to get that as soon as possible and i believe i have that negotiating skills to get us add deal that has a better chance of getting through parliament.“ deal that has a better chance of getting through parliament. if we did leave without a deal, what would you do to plan for it because you are in the cabinet, i understand no deal preparations have been wound down over the last few months when most people believe they should have been wound up. they are in a better state than they were six months ago and a lot of work has been done, but i think the one thing i would do thatis i think the one thing i would do that is different to the approach taken by theresa may and philip hammond, i mentioned in my speech i wa nted hammond, i mentioned in my speech i wanted to turbo—charge our economy by cutting corporation tax to 12.5%, one of the lowest in the world. that would also be the best insulation

against no deal because it would turbo—charge businesses, give them more cash flow and we should do these things right away and shout these things right away and shout the world that posed brexit, whatever our deal, this will be the most pro—pro— enterprise economy in the world. when you have meetings with emmanuel macron and angela merkel, they will say you just want a singapore style economy of the coast of europe, you don't want the tough regulations that they have, thatis tough regulations that they have, that is what they have accused us of. if you were talking about singapore style commission to infrastructure and there are reports, singapore entrepreneurialism, then yes please, but if you are talking about the social model, i rang the nhs for nearly six years, that is part of the social contract in this country and that will not change. —— i ran

the nhs. we will come onto the nhs in the moment. will you declare a climate emergency? these labels frankly aren't the most important thing, i think there is an emergency in the sense that if we don't take action now, by 2050 it will be too late, but what people who care about... what people who care about the climate want to see is action and what we can be proud of as a conservative government is that we have gone further and faster than any other major economy. since 1990 we have seen our gdp go up by 7% and go down by 40%, an extraordinary record but the question is not whether we have done something but whether we have done something but whether we have done something but whether we have done enough and the a nswer whether we have done enough and the answer is that we haven't done

enough. we have lost nearly half the world's coral, if go up by another degree, we will lose all of the coral in the world. —— f temperatures go up. that is just one example, when i talk to my young kids i want them to seek the great barrier reef one day, i want them to be safe in the knowledge that this generation did what it took to make sure we... when you have michael gove and angela leadsom both sank they would do that, is that not something that you what to think about, that demonstrates a commitment to tackling the issue, would you have a separate department for climate change issues? gestures are very important, as foreign secretary i have campaigned for the uk to host the next big climate change conference, it will be at