 Ladies and gentlemen, hello and welcome to excel London after 15 semi-finals We now have the live final of Tories have got talent But the question is will we need a super over? Who knows? Now my name's Ian Dale. I present the LBC radio evening show seven to ten every evening And we are transmitting this on LBC throughout the country right now Welcome also to the views of sky news and the BBC news channel now Let me tell you how tonight is going to work I'm going to introduce you to our two warm-up acts in a minute Kylie Minogue was unavailable So you'll have to make do with Andrew Sharpe and Brandon Lewis Then we will meet the two candidates firstly Boris Johnson. He won the toss and he's elected to go first Slight change to our usual format for the hustlings Boris Johnson will be introduced by one of his chief supporters Liz trust the chief secretary to the Treasury She of course was the first cabinet minister to declare for Boris Boris will then speak for 12 minutes and I'll then interview him for 10 and then it's over to you And then it'll be exactly the same for Jeremy Hunch will be introduced by Eleanor Bumbry who is Who is on the candidates list and a political blogger now then we're going to open it up to you for questions We're not going to have any pre-selected questions tonight. They'll all be spontaneous My only advice is to try to be original because the candidates have gone through 15 of these hustlings So if you ask a generic question the chances are they will have answered it before So try and think how you can scrutinize them to the best effect because they're not just running for leader the Conservative Party They are running to be Prime Minister as well So it really is going to be crucial that you ask them the right questions So I hope you enjoy the evening. It's been an absolute pleasure for me to host so many of these hustlings so far I think it's shown the Conservative Party at its best with the quality of questions that have come from the audience So you've got a lot to live up to tonight ladies and gentlemen So without further ado, let me introduce you to the chairman of the Conservative Party's National Convention Andrew Sharp And thank you all. It's a pleasure and a privilege to welcome you to this the final hustlings of this particular leadership contest And it's great to see so many people here There's been tremendous demand to attend hustlings around the country as I'm sure you're aware and that's necessitated more than one change of venue Including tonight and obviously this is a very special venue for a number of reasons Firstly because it's comfortably the largest that we've had and you are comfortably the biggest audience So pat yourselves on the back London But it's also very special because I can also Confidently say this is the only venue hustlings wise where I've actually seen the red hot chilli peppers play Now seriously, there is no doubt that this process as Ian said has actually been very good news for our party You'll have seen plenty of positive media commentary about previous events and some of the Questions have even been described by no less an organ as the FT as spot-on Both candidates have expounded a positive vision of a post-Brexit Britain Which is tolerant optimistic global in outlook pro-business and pro-free enterprise The audiences have been thoughtful engaged and sizable and this exercise therefore helps to dispel some of the typical media Narrative about us and our party although ladies and gentlemen, you have to still beware fake news The New York Times recently described all of you and us as a fanatical sect Wouldn't it be nice if in this the centenary year of the conservative women's organization They actually could celebrate some of the progressive achievements of the conservative party, which are many and varied Now as you know when you mentioned progressive and conservative in the same sentence Twitter fires up quite quickly But to all the trolls out there check your facts here are just a few animal sentience 1824 the second MP of BME dissent elected just up the road in Bethnal Green 1896 clean air 1956 and gay marriage in 2013 and let's not forget that mrs. Pankhurst herself was a conservative So we're here tonight not just to elect a party leader, but a prime minister Many of you will have already voted and if you haven't you should probably get on with it We all know the winner in a week's time and we're going to need to help the winner and unite behind him He needs to deliver Brexit and he needs to get back to the serious business of beating labor We need that we made the case at the party board that the leadership campaign had to reach every part of our United Kingdom All members we argued should have access to at least one the hustings There was no disagreement on this so at this point I'd very much like to thank Brandon Lewis the party chairman for his support and also more generally for his support for the Voluntary party over the past year in a bit I'd also like to thank at this point the ops and conferences conference teams at CCHQ led by Tom Skinner and David Cumberford Organizing all of these has been a mammoth undertaking taking and they've done an absolutely first-class job as I'm sure you'd agree I'd like to thank Ian Dale as he said by the time this is finished He's going to be well into his 20th hour of husting which is a possible book title. I think But he has moderated all of them with considerable rigor, but also very fairly and Finally, I'd very much like to thank Finally, I'd very much like to thank the regional team here in London led by Gottz Mahindra Gottz is a tireless advocate for London as I'm sure many of you know and he's deservedly held in very high regard Now before I go can I ask one further question, please on the subject of resources? You will have seen on your chairs and some campaign manager program materials If you could please read that and perhaps get involved, it would be very much appreciated We are very reliant on others for our help with this program The simple fact is where we have campaign managers. We do well and where we don't we don't so if we could all engage That would be really really very much appreciated That's it from me. Thank you very much indeed for listening. Please enjoy your event and make sure your questions are spot-on. Thank you Thank you very much Andrew just let me say one word about how the question and answer sessions are going to work Obviously given the size of this room I won't be able to say the woman in the red at the back there So it's going to be I hope you'll be able to recognize who I am pointing to and wave at me if you think it's you I will start over that side then come to this block and go forward and then backwards So we'll see how that works. Shall we now let me introduce you to our final warm-up speaker before we hear from the candidates as the chairman of the Conservative Party Brandon Lewis Good evening and first of all I just want to add to something Andrew said which is I think we could once again give a huge Thank you to Ian Dowell for hosting so many of these. I haven't quite totted it up But I suspect at the end of this Whoever the winner is Ian will be able to say he has spent more time quizzing the next Prime Minister of our country than pretty Much anybody else and he's traveled the country to do it as well. So Ian from all of us. Thank you And thank you to all of you Across the last few weeks across our entire country all four nations and all regions of the country We have held hustings and time and again as Andrew rightly said We as a party I think have shown why we are such a strong such a good as such a positive party Our members all of us as members of the party have taken our duty solemnly And I've seen very clearly over the last few weeks that our family around the country have been very clear about the fact We're not just selecting the next leader of our great party But the next Prime Minister of our country and the questions and the response has reflected that and I know it will here Tonight where we have got as you can see one of the largest audiences We've had for some time and certainly the largest of this hustling So thank you all of you for coming to these hustings all over the last few weeks And we also do need to remember that in all those regions There are seats that we do need to win to make sure that we hold great MPs and a big Thank you to my colleagues who are with us this evening and also to gain more seats back from Labour and from Lib Dems To ensure that Jeremy Corbyn can never get the keys to Downing Street and We all recognize in Parliament we have a huge role to play in making sure we have got the policies to deliver that But you have an opportunity to play your part every day and as a party and as members and as volunteers You do that week in and week out and tonight with those cards that information about those campaign managers Every pound you give is potentially going towards another campaign manager that helps us win another seat So please do look at that and that does matter because whoever wins this competition in just a few days time We want to make sure they are well-funded to go forward and defeat Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party I think we have a national duty as a party to ensure that we are making it clear that we are the party as we've seen at these Hustings that has the determination to deliver for the whole of the United Kingdom and what you're here tonight If you've been watching what you will have heard over the last few weeks from these great candidates is that we are a party With the leaders who have got vision Determination passion and enthusiasm to take our country forward Reminding all of us and everyone in our country why we are the longest standing and most successful Political party in the world and why we are clear that we have a duty to make sure we are returning Conservatives at both local and central government in the future and tonight you will hear from both those candidates that positive vision I hope you enjoy this evening. I hope you've got some great questions lined up And if you haven't already as Andrew again rightly said make sure you remember to vote enjoy the evening Right the moment has come. It's time to meet the candidates to introduce Boris Johnson It's my pleasure to welcome the woman who tries to keep Philip Phillip Hammond under control She's the MP for Southwest Norfolk and she was the first in the cabinet to endorse Boris Johnson. Please welcome Liz Truss Everybody it's fantastic to be here at XL tonight in London's Doughlands Doughlands was once the beating heart of global trade But it fell into decline and disrepair Only to be reimagined by a radical Tory who was prepared to shake things up It took the vision of Margaret Thatcher to wrestle the powers of the rubbish Labour councils And to establish the Doughlands Development Corporation These new freedoms liberated businesses to locate here and grow and now Canary Wharf is one of the financial centres of the world a few decades later The same brand of vision and leadership was realised in this very hall Where competitors from across the world flocked here to be part of the London Olympics Those Olympics captured the imagination of the world and they showed Britain at our self Confident best at the heart of it was one man Boris Johnson Boris Johnson put London on the map He was the mayor who cut crime who built houses who leveled up all parts of this great city with world-class Infrastructure and having worked with Boris for several years now I am convinced that he is the man to do that for our entire country To make our streets safer by backing the police to do their job to allow Enterprise to flourish and to champion entrepreneurs to level up and unite all parts of Britain with world-class Infrastructure to recapture the spirit of Doughlands with free ports right across the country Including brilliant places like Teeside and Liverpool to make us a global economic powerhouse the world's ideas factory But ladies and gentlemen in order to do that. We need to deliver Brexit by the 31st of October Take of our democracy for the sake of our sanity for trust in politics We must leave the EU on that date there cannot be any more diva and delay. We're ready for it Let's get on with it This leadership election is about more than just Brexit It's about having the courage to be conservatives again to make the case for conservative ideas We've been too afraid to argue for tax cuts to argue for people having control and freedom over their own lives Let's be honest We stopped inspiring people instead relying on managerialism and focus group politics People don't want to be told how to live their lives by the government They want politicians who are going to inspire them with a positive vision for the future Who are prepared to put themselves out there to take risks and to win over a new generation of young Britons Now contrary to popular belief Young people are not commune dwelling flag waving Corbyn sisters. They're entrepreneurs are innovators They actually believe in lower taxes than older people. They're more likely to set up their own business They're more in favor of personal freedom. They want to control their own lives They want to control their own future and I believe that Boris is the man who can cut through This cacophony of pessimism this doom mongering these people who say that Britain's best days are behind us That we can't do things anymore. I Don't know about you, but I'm fed up of that Now is the time for a belief in Britain It's a time for ambition and it's a time for peddling optimism is the go-getting Enterprise-loving Uplifting British freedom fighter. He is the only person in our party that can take on Corbyn and his socialist cabal He's an insurgent in a world of incumbents He's a blonde in the world of the bland Ladies and gentlemen, can I introduce you to Boris Johnson? Good evening everybody. Thank you very much. There's good evening everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you all of you for coming Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming to this to this climactic this climactic customs and Well, I think has been a very very exciting Election campaign that has I hope you all agree done huge credit to our conservative party and thanks to the everybody who's helped Organize and thanks to Ian Dale who's done about 15 of these amazing interrogations so far and of course to to my opponent Jeremy and I know that people are a bit down in the dumps about our party at the moment Son, you wouldn't you wouldn't believe it. This is the the reception here in this hall But in the last election that we held in this country who managed to get a staggering total of 8.8 percent We saw our wonderful councillors lose many of their seats in the in the May Council elections I'm more than 1,300 brilliant conservative councillors went down And I know that some people are gloomy about our prospects But I want to tell you all tonight here in this fantastic Excel building that the hour is darkest before the door And we are going to turn this thing around And we're going to come back and we're going to win And I tell you what we're going to do I tell you what we're going to do We're going to do several things first and most important We need to get Brexit done by October the 31st And to do that We need to do some essential things We need first of all to take the provisions for our European Union friends who are living here in this country Working here in this country, the 3.2 million And we need to pass those protections into law, don't we? We should have done it years ago Let's do it Let's put it into law Number two We need to take we need to take the 39 billion pounds that we're proposing to send to Brussels And place it above the talks in a state of creative ambiguity until we get the answer that we need And then of course we take the complex issues Actually not so complex, there are already solutions to all of them But we take the questions that are raised by frictionless trade across the Northern Irish border And indeed every other border between the UK and the EU And we remit them for solution to the place where they properly belong In the context of the free trade agreement that we will strike with our European friends and partners After we have come out on October the 31st Doesn't that make sense? Yes it certainly does That's the way forward And then of course at the same time we've got to get ready As in any negotiation everybody's done When everybody knows what it's about You have to be prepared to walk away if you absolutely have to On different terms Don't you? Makes sense And we will get ready This is a great country We can do it Can't we? Yes we certainly can Yes we certainly can And I've heard some glumidon poppers say that the planes won't fly If we come out on WTO terms And there won't be any clean drinking water And I've even heard it said I think by the Department of Agriculture That there wouldn't be adequate supplies of milk solids and glucose And the way wherewith to make the money Wherewith to make the Mars bars in Slau On which our children depend And I have to tell you I even heard it said That somebody at Tesco said There wouldn't be Christmas dinner If we came out without an agreement on October the 31st Do you really think this great country of ours Is incapable of making Christmas dinner Victuring the people of Britain with Christmas dinner I tell you the planes will fly Whatever deal we do And it will be a great deal Whatever deal we do The planes will fly And there will be clean drinking water My friends And there will be adequate supplies of glucose And milk solids And way to make the Mars bars that we need Because where there's a will There's a way, ladies and gentlemen As you'll have heard several times before In the course of this campaign And it is then after that that we course Actually before then As soon as if I'm lucky enough to be elected We get on immediately with a programme Of revitalising and reinvigorating Our great Conservative Party And our Conservative brand And what I want to do in a nutshell Can be summed up as uniting our country In the way that I was able I think over the eight years I ran London to unite our city And I'll just remind you that 11 years ago When I became mayor We had four of the six poorest boroughs Anywhere in the UK When I stepped down after two terms We had none of the poorest 20 Anywhere in the UK And the regeneration in this area Has been absolutely staggering And what we did it We did it by some very simple things We drove down crime And I'm delighted to see my friend And Coddy Kip Malthouse over there James Clever and others Who all of whom had played a huge part In this We drove down crime in London By about 26 We've got the murder rate down 50% And you can't fudge that statistic My friend We've got the murder rate down And it ran for fewer than 100 For four or five years Whilst I was mayor An incredible thing for a city Of eight or nine million people And that is what we did By sound conservative policies Of backing the police We also put in fantastic Transport infrastructure And we encouraged all sorts of ways In which people on modest incomes Were able to take advantage Of the opportunities In this extraordinary city And as a result At the end It was the people On the poorest quartile Of Londoners Who had seen the biggest increase In their prosperity And their life expectancy And that is what modern conservatism Is all about That is our moral case To the country That is what we believe in We believe in the symmetry The symmetry between a dynamic market economy And great public services I want to be the Prime Minister If I'm lucky enough to get this Who does for Northern Powerhouse rail What we did for Crossrail Who does for the connectivity In the West Midlands What we did with the tube upgrades And I want to level up Education funding across this country Every conservative surely believes That all the children in this country Should have the same basic access To a great education Let's lift up education funding Around this country Raise the per capita minimum Around the UK And I'll make one final point It's about education It's about transport infrastructure Of course it's about Technology of all kinds And I'll single out Full fibre broadband Is it not time That the people in this country Had the full fibre broadband The access to the internet That they deserve And by the way The people of Spain already have I think 85 or 90% coverage Whereas we have only 7% How pathetic-o I think is the word I want in Spanish Absolutely pathetic In Spain In Pueblo In Andalusia They have speed of light access Here in the UK We're staring at the pizza of doom In towns across the UK That is not right It's not fair on people In towns In communities across the In rural Britain Which believe you me Are going to be left behind On current timetables in 2033 2033 before they get Full fibre broadband We're going to accelerate that Programme route massively We're going to give everybody Full fibre within the next Five years And that is the way By education By infrastructure By technology That you level up You level up And you unleash the talents Of the whole country And people will say Well how are you How are you going to pay For these spending commitments And they're going to ask me And I've given you the answer already It's that we conservatives believe In supporting the wealth Creators of our country And we believe in enterprise And we understand enterprise And we support the business And the industries And the industries of our country And we support what they're doing By the way not just In creating wealth But also in helping to Improve the environment Because it's the breakthroughs In technology The battery technology And wind turbines And all the rest of it That are helping this country To improve the environment And to reduce CO2 And tackle global warming Whilst creating hundreds of Thousands of green collar jobs That is the future For our country Supporting wealth creation Supporting enterprise As a way of protecting The environment And producing jobs At the same time And of course there's one man One group of people Who don't get that symmetry And that balance at all Who don't understand The vital importance of wealth creation You know who I'm talking about He has an allotment He has a string vest He has a collection of unsavory views About all sorts of subjects I'm talking about Jeremy Corbyn And of course the Labour Party And it's not just that he Is not just that he supports Hamas And Hezbollah And the IRA And he backs the mullers of Tehran Over our friends in the United States When it comes to what is happening In the Persian Gulf It is far, far worse than that His economic program Would be absolutely catastrophic For this country He would put up He would put up taxes He would put up taxes on inheritance On pensions Corporation tax up To the highest in Europe Income tax Up to 50p He'd put up a tax Not just on homes But on gardens My friends In fact I revealed to the people Of Seven Oaks The other day in the form That they have to change their name To Three Oaks After Jeremy Corbyn Had finished with them We And all to finance by the way All to finance his chaotic 300 billion pound program Of renationalization Absolutely disastrous Economic program for this country We cannot let Jeremy Corbyn Anywhere near the government Of this country Absolutely not No we're not We're not going to do it We're not going to do it So we're going to beat him We're going to beat him So we need to get our mojo Back as a party We need to get on And get out of the EU On October the 31st Well done You've been I'm glad to say you've been Because at least one thing Has cut through in the course Of this election campaign And if you want to understand I'll just conclude with this If you want to understand Why it is that we must leave The EU And the advantages of coming Out of the EU And the ability To take back control Of our own democracy And of our own regulatory framework I want you to consider This kipper This kipper Which has been presented to me By just now By the editor of a national newspaper Who received it from a Kipper smoker In the aisle of man Who is utterly furious Because after decades Of sending kippers Like this through the post He has had his costs Massively increased by Brussels bureaucrats Who have insisted that each kipper Must be accompanied by a This A plastic ice pillow Pointless, pointless, expensive Environmentally damaging Elfin safety Ladies and gentlemen And where When we come out Therefore We will not only be able to Take back control of our regulatory framework End this damaging regulatory overkill But we will also be able to do things To boost Britain's economy Which leads the world in so many sectors Bioscience, academia Arts, culture, media, sport You name it We lead the world We lead the world And we will be able to Establish an identity As a truly global Britain And get our mojo back And by coming out Finally We will do the most important thing of all We will restore trust in politics And restore trust in democracy And we will prick We will prick the twin puffballs The twin puffballs of the Brexit Party And the Liberal Democrat Party That are both sprouting Saprophytically as puffballs do And feeding on the sense of decay And trust in politics And when we come out On October 31 We will prick those two puffballs We will bring the Liberal voters back We will bring the Brexit Party voters back And we will bring the kibbers back As well I've been working up to that punchline As you can tell And we will And we will send And by so doing By so doing We will send Corbyn Packing and send him into orbit Where he belongs And I will just remind you in conclusion That the last time I was called upon The last time I was called upon To defeat an emanation of the London Labour Left considerably wilyer And more devious than Jeremy Corbyn We came from behind And we defeated him When our great party The Conservative Party Was 17 points behind Labour in London We did it then We can do it again We can win We must win And with your help We will win And I hope I can count on your support Thank you very much Is that your kipper hand? Protected by very stout plastic sheep I was just worried that I'd shaken him by the kipper hand It's alright It's alright tonight It's not a red herring It's true Or at least according to the editor Of the Daily Express It's true When will you introduce A Queen's speech into Parliament? I'm not going to comment on our Programme except to say that We will obviously have a A great programme We will be looking to Do all sorts of things that I've mentioned But our priority is to get Brexit done on October 31 And I think that's what the people Of this country want us to concentrate on This session of Parliament Has gone on for two years or so It's the longest session Since I can remember It is normal to have a Queen's speech At the beginning of November Which would be a kind of Convenient timing, wouldn't it? Ian, you're a brilliant political journalist I congratulate you on your acumen On this point And I'm not going to I'm not going to descend from you He's a reasonable point But you know my point is that Two weeks before a Queen's speech You normally prorogue Parliament That is tradition I thought you were working up to that one It's precedent I thought you were working up to that one Look, I think what your question Is concealing is Do I think that MPs Are now psychologically ready To get this thing over the line? Do I think our great party Is going to come together And deliver Brexit And restore trust and confidence In democracy? Yes, I do I tell you why Because we are staring down the barrel And we've seen hundreds of thousands Of votes hemorrhage away to As I say to the Liberal Democrats Into the Brexit party And it's same goes for Labour With heroic and superhuman incompetence They're far below us In the polls I mean they're now 18% or something They're going to want to Get this thing done too They're actually beating you In the polls At the moment I saw one that put them on 18% But maybe I was a few weeks ago But when you see the new head of the When you see the new head Someone help me out here I think there was a reason why When you see the new head Of the European Commission Making a speech in the European Parliament Promoting a European army More European integration Etc, etc And Michel Barnier making a clear yet again That the withdrawal agreement Is not for reopening How do you Boris Johnson Think that you are going to get a deal Over the line by the 31st of October They're not willing to do it are they I think you've bring With huge eloquence and characteristic You may hear that But you've made the point for me That the EU is proceeding In the direction that they are choosing For themselves With further integration With moves towards What is described as European army In fact you won't amount to anything of the kind But anyway they want to do Much more integration Federalist program That's not right for this country The British people were asked a question On June the 23rd 2016 Did they want to remain part of that program Of ever closer union Creating effectively a single polity Out of 28 countries You know a federal program And they thought about it very deeply And they decided that on balance They did not want to do so And they saw a different future for the UK A global future Rekindling friendships and partnerships Around the world as we can And we will And the British people were very confident And optimistic about The fate of their country and what it could achieve And I think they've been slightly dismayed By the gloom and negativity That may be That has risen off the Palace of Westminster That may be And that's why I think MPs are getting the message And why I think we're going to get it done But the European Union are not getting the message That's my point They won't reopen the withdrawal agreement Why do you think you're in a better place To get them to do so Than your opponent? They regard you very suspiciously Whereas they regard him As someone they can do business with Well, I've never had evidence For your last assertion at all I have great many friends In the EU council of ministers If you want evidence Of my ability to negotiate With our friends in Brussels Look at what we got them to agree to After the Russians poisoned Those poor people in Salisbury We had the French, the Germans Many other European countries Immediately coming to the support Of the UK and agreeing To expel Russian diplomats Russian spies from their own countries That by incurring the Rothen reprisals Of the Kremlin to show their support And their solidarity with the UK We have friends in Brussels We have plenty of people who want to Negotiate with us throughout the summer But as I say, if there is a refusal To be flexible If there is a refusal to compromise And do whatever I think everybody can see is sensible Which is to protract the existing arrangements Until such time as we can do the free trade deal If they absolutely won't do that At any price they won't change A dot or a comma of this withdrawal agreement And I think as I say That it's dead and needs to be junked Then obviously we have no choice But to get ready to come out on different terms That's what we'll do If they agreed to abolish the backstop Would that be enough for you In terms of the withdrawal agreement Or are there other demands that you want to make? I think the whole withdrawal agreement Is effectively defunct But the backstop is certainly the bit That I find most difficult Is that a red line for you? That would have to go I don't know what everybody here feels But the problem with the backstop As everybody understands it I think now in this country Is that it poses this appalling dilemma For the UK You either have to accept That you remain forever Within the EU customs union And in regulatory alignment with Brussels Even though you have no say In setting tariffs or in setting regulations Or else you have to accept That if the UK wanted to do things differently We'd have to lose control of Northern Ireland And I think that's an utterly intolerable We'd see a division between the union And between Great Britain and Northern Ireland And I think that's an utterly intolerable choice No democratic country could submit To that kind of choice And we won't do it So as far as I'm concerned Your backstop won't work You have said that you think it's possible To do an initial partial trade deal With the United States Before October 31 Liam Fox, international trade secretary Says that's impossible You said you could do it on goods I don't know if I've said that What you can certainly do Is you can begin After we come out on October 31 You can begin the work Not just with the US But with plenty of other countries around the world Once again the UK will be able To offer its tariff schedules in Geneva And begin the work of doing free trade deals And that's a very interesting and exciting moment After 45 years We will be able to champion free trade Around the world To renew old friendships and partnerships In a way that we haven't been able to do For a long time And I think that will be a great thing Look I'm not going to pretend I think it's very important for people to understand That a free trade deal with the US Is not going to be done in a trice And it is not going to be something that Overnight adds several percentage points To UK GDP It will substantially boost our GDP over time But it's not something that's going to be done Instantly And I also think it's important for people To bear in mind That the US are very tough negotiators And we will also have to be very tough And there are huge opportunities In doing a free trade deal with the US Believe me, the huge opportunities But they will also make some very robust demands And we've got to be prepared to be robust In exchange And we certainly will be Would you describe yourself as a feminist? Yes absolutely Yes yes yes What does that A feminist is somebody A feminist is somebody who believes Who believes fundamentally Who believes fundamentally In the equality of human beings In the equality of the sexes That's what I believe So would you 20% of the Conservative parliamentary party Now is made up of female MPs I think 30% in the cabinet Is it 21? Would you consider introducing all women short lists In parliamentary selections to get that number up? Well I think that the I don't want to do anything That discourages women from getting into politics I want to encourage young women to get into politics To join our party and to lead our party Of course that's the way it should be But I'm not certain that Introducing quotas Which after all are by their nature discriminatory Is the way to solve the problem I think The answer The answer is to show what you mean by doing And if you look at the team I had in City Hall It was basically I called it a feminocracy That's a bit of an exaggeration It was more or less 50-50 The top table in City Hall And we did a huge number of things to promote The thing I'm proudest of Actually apart from the Russian thing The thing that we did in the Foreign Office Is that we championed This is just proof of my feminism by the way But it's a vital point And all Tories should think about this We championed 12 years of quality education For every girl in the world And there is I don't think people in this country Realize quite how bad the position is In so many other countries around the world Whether it's sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia You have female illiteracy rates Running at 60%, sometimes 80% In some African countries And that is the core reason For so many of the other problems That we're seeing in those countries Whether it's political tensions or whatever And if there's a single Swiss army knife policy To solve the problems of the world Believe me it is insisting on equality of education Between boys and girls around the world And 12 years of quality education Final question You used the phrase do or die About leaving the EU by 30 seconds I didn't mean that literally I want to be so stressed On the way in here tonight I asked a couple of senior political journalists What I should ask you tonight And they said well There's only one question on the lips of the lobby today Does Boris Johnson dye his hair? Dye my hair? Never But I don't normally answer personal questions But since you've you know Rage your suggestion What with? Well I've no idea Looks perfectly natural to me Right, did they really ask you? They did ask me to ask It shows this has been a long election campaign They've really run out of things to ask They know what day we're leaving the EU They know how we're going to do it They're reduced to asking about things Anyway there you go Right let's see if the audience Has got some better questions than that shall we I'm going to stand up so I can see properly We'll start over here Right let's go to the guy standing up Right in the corner there Or has he got the microphone I don't know Yeah you sir And then in this block The lady there With the hat No in front of the one with the hat Hello Yes go ahead Hi Boris There's a lot of fear mongering From your opponent About the prospects of general election Do you not think that in actual fact It's essential to have a general election In order for whoever is the next prime minister To have a mandate to go forward And take us out of the EU Well thank you I think actually The people in this country really feel that They've had quite a lot of electoral Events in the last few years There was an election in 2015 There was a referendum in 2016 Another election in 2017 I think what they want us to do is get on And deliver Brexit and that's what we're going to do And I think it would be That's what they voted for That's what we're going to deliver And then we should get on as I say With this fantastic programme of revitalising Our party pushing out With new power and conviction Our vision of modern conservatism Which is I think a great sell For the people and the broad mass Of the British people will get What we're talking about We're talking about believing in business And enterprise precisely because We're talking about economic services And once people understand It's a very simple idea isn't it But if parliament stops you From leaving on the 31st of October And I know you're going to say I'm being a pessimist But if that happens you would have No alternative but to call a general election Well I don't think as I say I don't think if I talk to friends In the Labour benches They don't show any particular enthusiasm For going to the country with their current leader Let me put it that way Anybody in the Conservative party Really wants an election now because We feel the public have had enough elections So let's get on, get Brexit done And come forward with a fantastic programme For this country which is what we're going to do Right The lady with the blue jacket Lady with the blue jacket And then we'll come to the gentleman there Can we get a microphone to the lady In the blue jacket there please There Hi everyone My name is Maxine Kerr And one of the questions that's been burning On my heart for quite some time now Is that Hashtag ban abortion in 2019 Boris What are you going to do about the nine million babies That's actually Sadly lost their lives For the past 52 years That's what I want to ask you As well as As well Thank you very much I've got to say I believe firmly In a woman's right to choose And This Is a matter of conscience In our Parliament And the MPs should decide According to their conscience That's where I am Gentlemen there Then we'll go to Gentlemen there I don't know what Gray shirt Just over there Good evening Magistrates courts Have power to deal with 95% Of crime at the moment Ladies and gentlemen The President Justice Secretary Over here The President Justice Secretary Has plans to abolish Sentencing powers for Most magistrates On the statute books There is the power to double Sentencing Where do you sit with this Generally I think that Sentencing I'm afraid become too soft And I think particularly With respect to Serious and violent sexual offences You're seeing time after time People serving only half The sentence that was pronounced in open court Or less I think that unless There is absolutely overwhelming Reasons to the contrary Serious sexual and violent offences Should serve the sentence That they have received Because I think too many people Are coming out on licence And then actually Committing new offences I think there have been I think 12 murders Committed since 2010 By people out on Who have been released early Murderers who have been released early To say nothing of serious Sexual offences of all kinds Too many people are coming out early The public have spotted it And we need to do something about it Right Gentleman there Can we get a microphone to him please Note back Don't understand why You can't see why I'm pointing Gentleman Right And then the lady down the front here Good evening Mr Johnson My name is Darren Green And although you're refusing Boris Johnson to accept the possibility Of a general election If that were to become apparent That it was following and you hadn't put Nigel Farage and the Brexit party In their box as you said you wish to do Is there any way you can envisage Any form of cooping election Working with the Brexit party To help stop a Jeremy Corbyn government Well thank you I want you to know I think it must have been 25 years ago Or more than I met Nigel Farage In a pub For a historic Sort of cold war meeting In which I tried to recruit him And he tried to recruit me And we both failed And we went our separate ways And actually I don't believe That we should do deals with any party We're a great party And we're going to We're going to get this thing done We're going to get this thing done We're going to restore trust and confidence In our democracy And then get on with selling our Conservative agenda again Why would you even meet him What Yes I will rule it out Yes I rule it out Thank you Thank you For allowing me that important clarification Why did I meet him I think I was I think I was then a journalist And I don't remember what I think he was a metals dealer And He was a metals dealer Let's go to the lady in the front row there Front row there A gentleman in the white shirt Good evening everybody You stand up Oh stand up Good evening Good evening Boris Good evening My name is Ariella Araba I want to speak on behalf of a lot of parents Who don't know what to do when it comes to Teaching the children about managing money Six out of ten children Are living in school without the Essential skills Levels of debt Mental health and everything else So can you tell me exactly what the plans are To help children From primary school age seven To learn how to manage money better Thank you very much It's so interesting You know If you do a long election campaign like this You start to realise what's on people's minds And it's so interesting how often This question has come up And clearly we're not doing enough In our schools to teach kids about money In the management of their finances And of course it's critical for people Because their lives can go off the rails Simply by making a few Elementary mistakes And they can be helped Of course the answer is better education As you rightly say Both in primary school and in secondary school We're going to put more money Into primary school As I said we're going to lift up Level up the funding to four thousand Per pupil In primary and middle of five thousand per pupil In secondary And I will consider Having listened to this campaign very carefully I will consider what we can do If I'm lucky enough To become leader I will consider with the next education secretary Or whoever is education secretary I will consider what we could do To inculcate Better understanding of finances amongst young people Because it's been raised with me so often It's clearly something we need to address Are you good at managing money I got into terrible I think you asked me a question about my personal It wasn't you, it was Hannah who asked me a question It was Hannah What can I say about it I've certainly spent a lot Yes, yes If you're going to be First Lord of the Treasury You need to be quite good at managing money I know Okay Right, gentlemen there Followed by the lady there Just following on from The question about managing money The fact is you have pledged a programme Of increased public spending And cutting taxes How will you play for this without increasing the deficit Because it was the great Tunisian Sage Ibn Khaldun in the 14th century Who pointed out That there are some taxes that you can cut That actually stimulate economic growth And I think Ibn Khaldun observed that When it came to When it came to I think it was the The date harvest or something in 14th century Tunisia I can't remember exactly what it was But they cut the tax on Which was too high And the farmers Grew more dates or olives And the tax Yield went up accordingly And That is an approach Whenever corporation taxes cut It yields more money We should be cutting business taxes now We should be stimulating growth Stimulating the economy We should also be doing things As I said just now To take the other burdens Of business And if businesses are obliged to send Plastic ice pillows through the post When they used to send a kipper That we will be able to do When we come out of the EU That we weren't able to do before But the most important thing to do Is to use fiscal measures To stimulate economic growth And champion business And don't forget The reason our mission here today Is so important Is that there is another political party That has a diametrically opposite philosophy And thinks that they can continue To pluck How shall I put it? Pluck the feathers If you imagine the UK economy Has a beautiful two winged bird Right? Most beautiful birds have two wings If this bird One is the free market Side of the economy The other is great public services and infrastructure You need both to propel the other But labour With a huge agenda of taxation That would pluck so many feathers From the wealth creating side of the Economy, from that wing That we would go into a kind of death spiral And that is what we have to Avoid That is the danger And we've got to And it's not just It's not just It's not just Jeremy Corbyn It's John McDonald John McDonald is so left wing He's sacked by Ken Livingstone For forging For forging a budget In 1984 I mean this guy, he's a crypto Well I'm going to be careful what I say He's a Marxist basically And he would do colossal damage He's a Marxist Just talking of first budgets Jeremy Hunter said he would cut Corporation tax to 12.5% In his first budget Is that something you would commit to? I will cut Corporation tax Actually I forgot to say My spending commitment so far In this election campaign Have been extremely modest By comparison with the remaining Other candidate I'm just putting that point out there They've been very very fiscally prudent But they will do great things With that spending on infrastructure and on education And on policing Another more than a billion pounds Will put into 20,000 policing That's quite good to do Will you cut Corporation tax to 12.5% I'm not going to give a figure But we'll certainly cut Corporation tax We'll make it very competitive The lady over there, I do apologise And then the gentleman at the back With the turban Hello everyone, my name is Fraser Howell We live in a world of Instant gratification Sense of entitlement Hashtag instant outrage How are you going to champion To common sense and civil Debate Thank you so much, well I do agree Look We have in this country And it's absolutely vital that we do We have very important laws Against hate speech, against xenophobia Against discrimination And racial prejudice of all kinds And it's right that we should Enshrine those protections in law We can be very very proud of what we have achieved But we also have a tradition Of robust debate and free speech And if I may say so I think sometimes We need to be We need to be prepared to Say things that we think Without necessarily getting our heads Bitten off by absolutely everybody And so I Let me put it that way But without inciting Any of the prejudices And hatreds that I described And they can be done Do you think Donald Trump should do that Or just tone it down a little bit Well I think I said something the other night That Made clear that if you're talking About what the president said His tweets about I think it was I'll repeat it in case you missed it I think it's totally unacceptable for the leader Of a great multicultural Multiracial society To start using the language of sending people Back home About a long time ago And it just isn't on And You know I'm incredibly proud Of having cunningly stationed My ancestors around the world Before I became foreign secretary The people that I was proud To be mayor of is the most diverse The most diverse city On earth and we can be incredibly proud Of that because it shows what an amazing Magnet we are for talent And There are 300 languages spoken On the streets of London Of course I deprecate that kind of language But if you use that kind of language And talk about sending people home That is racist language Why won't you or Jeremy Hunt call it out For what it is Use the word I think I made my position clear on that And I think the president of the United States To use language was unacceptable And that is my view Right, gentlemen there And then The one person waving Right at the back there Please allow me to begin with a say Greetings I've got a very serious question Boris It's regarding The British citizens Which are detained and tortured abroad So British citizen He's in India 621 days Then we got Nazni So what's your commitment When you become prime minister To release them all And bring them back to UK Thank you so much As you know I've lobbied on behalf of both those individuals And if I'm lucky enough to be elected I will continue to lobby on behalf of them But I think I would want to pay tribute To the amazing work that is done By our foreign office Around the world We have a huge number of really tragic Consular cases around the world And the foreign office do an amazing and unsung Job of helping those people In their circumstances And helping many of them to get home Right The gentleman at the back waving again Have you got the microphone sir I hope you have And then we'll go to the gentleman there Who's doing an unfortunate salute I bet it was Holy accidental It was accidental I know Hi Boris He's right at the back I just want to ask How will you ensure The government's Housing policies Don't lend themselves In creating ethnic ghettos Inadvertently Shall I tell you what you do It's very very simple You build fantastic housing In the right place And you put in superb transport infrastructure So that you can create mixed communities Where there are high quality jobs And if you look at the Disasters of planning in the 60s and 70s Where monocultural estates were built It was because there simply wasn't The transport infrastructure Look around London and look at the estates outside You can see exactly what went wrong So what we should do Is we should immediately get rid of The current useless mayor of London Sidney Khan We should He's not a patch on the old guy We should get rid of him He's doing absolutely completely invertebrate We should get rid of him And we should get on With fantastic projects like extending The Bakerloo Line which would like you to build Loads of new homes down there Down in south-east London Do Crossrail 2 Fantastic scheme Crossrail 2 would liberate Brownfield sites Brownfield sites in north-east London Enabling you to deliver about 200,000 High quality homes Within reach Of the Central Activity Zone Of London All the dynamism of the metropolis You get mixed communities there Of course you get huge numbers of affordable homes Huge numbers of homes for people on low incomes But you get all types of people living there That is what you need to do Fantastic transport infrastructure Liberating Brownfield sites That's what we're going to do An emphasis in my My speech earlier on About what I want to do with high quality Mass transit It is the great liberator And equalizer of society If people on modest incomes Can get to their place of work Then you will cheaply and conveniently You will transform their lives And the problem with those estates In the 60s and 70s There was no easy way to get to the jobs That's what we've got to do We've just left So we can fit two more questions in Boris if you can keep your answers relatively short On these two The gentleman over there Do you have a microphone? Can we have a microphone over there please? And then Seeing as you pointed so nicely Why not? If I ask my question if I may Boris I'm over here waving No sir, it's that gentleman there Sorry You Yeah Can we come to the other chap next If we can, no we're coming down here now Sorry Good evening Boris and everyone My name is Arthur Fiyu I'm a former Conservative councillor When you become RPM How would you enhance And develop positive relationship Of Conservative parties With British Muslims living in UK As a large majority of them Don't vote for our party Although their values And principles are closer Closely aligned to our Conservative party It could be crucial for our next general election As Muslim Board Bank can swing over 72 parliamentary constituencies Thank you Absolutely right And we must And if I'm lucky enough to be elected I will of course be An immediate programme of engagement Not just with the Muslim community But with all the communities that make up Our incredible society I will get into the mosques I will do everything that you would expect me to do And I will remind them In the tedious, repetitive way that I always do The only reason I'm here Is because my Muslim great grandfather Came in 1912 To Wimbledon Of all places In fear of his life That's where you go And if it hadn't been for the generosity And openness of our society Even in 1912 He would not have come to London And to the UK So what I want Is a country That breathes that spirit Of generosity To everybody who lives here That is what I want I want a spirit of generosity And inclusion to absolutely everybody Our final question comes to I think Our youngest questioner, the whole Hustings Hello Hello Boris When you are Prime Minister How Will you stop climate Change? Thank you, well I It's Everybody heard the question I salute What she's done In many ways But particularly in setting the Carbon neutral target by 2050 It sounds ambitious, it sounds crazy It sounds like we're chucking the ball too far Down the pitch, but we can do it We can reduce Climate change Causing gases And pollution of all kinds And we do it with new technology That's what we do This is the country that is Fearing revolutionary battery technology Revolutionary wind turbines It's our technological I see Nigel Hudson who pointed that Out to me a while back It is revolutionary Battery technology That is enabling this country And all sorts of green technology That is enabling this country To take the lead in tackling climate change When I was mayor of this amazing city The population increased by about 200,000 in eight years But it did, there you go And what happened At the same time of course Was that GDP went up Massively economic growth Was phenomenal, just look around Look at the building and construction That's going on in this city And yet in that period We cut CO2 emissions By 14% We cut NOx By about 20% And particulates by about 16% We used fantastic new technology We improved boilers Across the city, we did elementary things To reduce CO2 emissions So you should be very I know you're very young Quite fantastic to see you here But be optimistic About the future of our country Because we can and of the planet Because we can do it There are the technological changes That we can make And this country is in the lead For everybody else, I would also be optimistic About not just about our country But also about our party I think that you probably want me to leave the stage At the stage We're kind of getting there, yeah Boris Johnson, thank you very much Thank you On the 20th of June 2019 It was announced that the final two candidates Would include Boris And the man who I'm proud to support After hours of debating Endless interviews and touring Up and down our fantastic country Is come down to this The final hustings The final chance to appeal for your vote I started off this campaign backing Boris I believed initially Being a lever It made me a natural Boris supporter But as the campaign played out Plans were published and personalities Shown and I came to realise I could not do that with a clear conscience So I made the move that people Up and down the country Were doing and switched to hunt I stand here today Committed and proudly supporting Jeremy The man who was taken social media by storm With his sass, witty personality And infamous pizza photo Sharing a genuine Truthful side to him Which has resonated across the country It has been said time and time again That we are facing turbulent challenges Our union is under threat There is uncertainty around Brexit And support for our party is sadly dwindling In times like these We need someone who the public can trust And invest in Someone who respects the sovereignty of the union And also respects the democratic mandate Of Brexit Most importantly Someone who will not only re-establish our party As the party of business But also the party of hope and opportunity As I am sure Everyone here is aware Jeremy is an entrepreneur So who better to make the case To the EU Than an experienced negotiator From his own business To cabinet level Someone who will bring business back to Britain And fight to keep our union together As he said with every drop of blood In his veins The public service reformer Who will scrap illiteracy And with his NHS background Transform social care for the elderly Not forgetting the foreign secretary Who has the expertise Relationships and respect That we will need to rely on Post Brexit We are facing a battle Not only to unite our party But to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of number 10 The next election we face Will not be easy And we need a strong Prime Minister Who will lead from the front Let's not forget that Jeremy will be the first Prime Minister To have taken a Lib Dem marginal seat That is campaign experience I want our next Prime Minister As I'm sure you all do as well To know what it's actually like To fight tough battleground Alongside activists like all of us here So I'm going to leave you now with a quote By Sir Raymond Priestley Explorer and geologist That seems very fitting to welcome the son of a naval officer For scientific discovery Give me Scott For speed and efficiency of travel Give me Arminson But when disaster strikes Your blood is gone Get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton Jeremy is the modern day Shackleton That our country is desperately crying out for So I hope you will all join me And welcome in the man who will steer our ship Through turbulent water To a prosperous future Our next Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt Great, great job Go for it Thank you Thank you What an introduction And ladies and gentlemen Eleanor is just 21 years old She has given a speech She's given a speech To nearly 5,000 people In the Excel centre I'm humbled by what she said And I'm also proud That she wants to be a Conservative MP And aren't we lucky And I want her to know That she has been here Done that And got the t-shirt Here you are Eleanor And while we're talking about T-shirts and slogans I want to thank The genius in my campaign team Who came up with a slogan Has to be Hunt Because with a surname like mine When you think what it rhymes with Coming up with a slogan Is a very, very important thing To get right And we had some great suggestions Hashtag take a punt on Hunt We had Hashtag Jesus the Beza And then when I'm not Quite so keen on Hashtag Huntie McHuntface Just be very Careful how you say that one at home Because we are the party of the family Ladies and gentlemen What a fantastic Contest we've had As it draws to a close And I'm standing here With the privilege Of telling you The things I want to change As prime minister in our amazing country And to govern is to choose And I have chosen Four priorities I'm going to tell you All of those priorities But we can't deliver any of them Until we sort Brexit And I want to Answer a question In some people's minds How can you trust someone who voted Remain to deliver Brexit And I want to answer that question Very directly As foreign secretary I go around the world And the most Striking thing When I'm representing our country Is that wherever you go Other countries have a whole Lot more respect for us Than we sometimes seem to have For ourselves And the reason is because we are one Of the oldest and greatest Democracies in the world We have done more to fight for our Freedom and the freedom of other people And other people's democracies Than nearly anyone else And it's not just World War II It's the Barons of Magna Carta The Great Reform Act The Suffragettes And the reason that I am going to Deliver Brexit for our country Is because I want to send a message To people at home and people abroad That we are still that great democracy That does what the people Tell us to do No matter the obstacles Parliament may put in our way The hurdles our European colleagues May throw in front of us This is a country Where people like me Do what people like you The people tell us to do Because democracy is in Our DNA and you cannot Put a price on it And there's something else That's incredible about our country Which is at crucial moments in our History We have been bold Ralph Aldo Emerson The American writer Once said do not go Where the path may lead Go instead where there's no path And leave a trail And that's what we've always done The boldness Of abolishing the slave trade The boldness of banning children From going up chimneys And making them go to school The boldness of the suffragette movement The boldness of setting up The NHS Which contrary to popular myth Was a conservative minister in 1944 Let's hear it for Sir Henry Willing We haven't just been bold We've been smart We've thought with our heads As believing with our hearts And that's what we have to do with Brexit Because if we do this in a gung-ho way If we go about it the wrong way The Europeans Will block any changes to the deal Parliament will block no deal And we'll get to a general election Long before we get to October The 31st And we are going to overcome Those hurdles by telling the Europeans Politely but firmly That if we don't get a deal That can get through Parliament There won't be a deal but we're still leaving And we will tell Parliament That just like them We will leave no stone unturned To find a deal Because the quickest way To leave the European Union Is to send a prime minister To Brussels Who can negotiate a deal That will get through Parliament That's what I'm going to do as foreign secretary As an entrepreneur, that's why Penny Mordens And other Brexiteers are supporting me Because I will deliver that for Britain Now did I just mention That I was an entrepreneur Have you heard that one before Ian? I'm glad you've been paying attention I want to do something that I have done At every hustings Just because it says something about Our incredible party I want you to put up your hand If you've started your own business Just look around Would you find this At a Labour party gathering Would you find it with the Lib Dems We are the party Of wealth creators And let's send a message now from the Conservative party To every entrepreneur in the country Thank you for the brilliant things you do For our country And this is the first Of my four priorities I want to do What I did when I was in my 20s I want to help other people do the same thing To fire up our economy To be the most pro-enterprise, pro-business Greenest high-tech economy in Europe And our big Opportunity With the top universities in the world In our country, more tech entrepreneurs More medicines being developed Our big opportunity is to be the world's Next Silicon Valley And I'm going to take a giant step towards that By the most radical cuts In business taxation We've ever seen cutting corporation tax To 12.5% Irish Levels 90% Of high street businesses Out of business rates Which is a curse for all of them And other tax cuts too Because I want to land an economic Jumbo jet I want to land perfect timing It has to be hunt I want to I want to land an Economic Jumbo jet on Europe's doorstep So when it comes to those trade negotiations They need us every bit As much as we need them And that's my first objective The second I am the foreign secretary Who wants Our great country to walk tall In the world And hasn't our navy been brilliant In the last week, protecting British shipping And I'm going to increase The proportion of our GDP that we spend On defence to 2.5% And I'm going to do it Because the threats are rising in the Gulf And with Russia But I'm going to do it for another reason Which is at the point of Brexit I want the world to see that Britain That country that has always fought For democratic values Britain is here, Britain is back Our voice is strong in the world And we will fight for the things we believe in And then as conservatives We have to have A social mission People know that we are wealth creators But they don't always know About our compassionate Conservative values I ran the NHS for nearly 6 years I was so proud to do that But I want our social mission To be in education Because in our great country In this great city Sadly still nearly a quarter Of primary school leavers Don't end up being able to read And you know we are the party that believes In opportunities for everyone We want to put a ladder of opportunity In front of every single young person And whether they climb that ladder Is up to them but the first rung On that ladder is to be able to read Properly so I want us to be the Conservative government that abolishes The scourge of illiteracy in our society And that is what I'm going to do And then finally I want to make You a political promise To my friends in the Conservative party That I will not take us into a general Election until we have got More young people voting Conservative We cannot be the party of aspiration If the most aspirational people In our country aren't supporting us So I will deal With the unfairness of 6% Interest rates on student loans Just as Margaret Thatcher Put one and a half million council Tenants on the housing ladder I'm going to put one and a half million On the housing ladder I'm going to tackle climate change Because I want pollution free Cities in our country within ten years But I'm going to do all of this For another reason Which was the heart Of Corbyn's success at the last election Was his ability to attract Young people with fake And bogus promises We want them back and we are Not going to ignore A Labour party under Corbyn Which is the most ruthless Dangerous, anti-British Anti-Western, anti-Semitic Hard left cabal we've ever had In British political history Get this wrong And there will be no Conservative government, no Brexit Maybe even no Conservative party But get this right Get this right And we will deliver Brexit Unite our party Unleash the potential of our great Country and send Corbyn Packing And one final thing Ladies and gentlemen I've noticed the odd back Boris poster around Give yourselves a cheer I've noticed an awful lot of has to be hunts Give yourself a cheer Now Bruce Forsythe once said Remember only half the audience Are ever going to like you Don't worry about the other half But when it comes to the Conservative Party, Brucey was wrong Because after this contest We are going to unite the back Borises and there has to be hunts We're going to come together Because that's what our party wants And that's what our country deserves Thank you very much Jeremy, this time next week Either you or Boris will be about to spend Your first night in Downing Street If you don't win If Do you want to keep your current job If I don't win It would be a huge Honour to serve Boris in a way that Unites our party and our country And I know Boris would say the same I don't quite know it I think I know it I hope it If you do win When would you have a Queen's Speech There's a very good question And I think perhaps this is not The moment to make that announcement If you'll forgive me and I pride myself On answering the question very directly But I've said that I won't Perogue Parliament To force through a no deal Brexit I don't think you can do that In a parliamentary democracy But this Parliament has been going on For two and a half years now It's the longest Parliament I can remember There is precedent and tradition Before you have a Queen's Speech You do Perogue Parliament for a couple of weeks And it is also traditional To have a Queen's Speech in the first week of November Go figure Yes, well The first week of November is Of course a very significant week Because it happens to be the week of my birthday But look We will need to have a Queen's Speech soon If you listen to the things I was talking about In that speech There's a lot of things there that need legislation A budget very quickly And by the way the thing I will commit to tonight Is that we will have a budget With the preparations for a no deal Brexit and those big business tax cuts In the first week of September And then we'll have The Queen's Speech at the earliest Available in sense But if you can give me a date for a budget Why can't you give me a date for a Queen's Speech Because much as I love you Ian And we've got to know each other over the last few weeks I can't There are some things that we don't need to talk about In the public arena So The withdrawal agreement Is it dead? As it is now Yes We have to be I wanted to get a deal And so we've got to make Some profound Changes to that withdrawal agreement That doesn't mean ripping up the whole thing But it does mean that the backstop Has to go Go entirely or be amended Well The reason why Our parliament did not accept the backstop Is because it traps us In the EU Customs union tariffs Until such time as the EU gives us permission Not to follow EU tariffs And that is not acceptable It won't get through parliament And that is what has to go That we will remove any guarantees Over not having Hard border infrastructure on the island of Ireland Then no I think there is agreement in our party That we can never go back to A hard border on the island of Ireland Pretty patella is nodding so I'm feeling safe Saying this one But I think it's clear I think it's absolutely clear That whoever takes over as prime minister Will be absolutely committed To the Belfast Good Friday agreement That we will be able to achieve Our British diplomacy of the last 30 years But I often get calls From my LBC listeners saying The difference between Jeremy Hunt And Boris Johnson is that we can trust Boris Johnson because we know he feels Brexit in his gut Whereas Jeremy Hunt doesn't Because he voted remain You did address that in your speech I completely get that I feel democracy in my gut And that is why I'm going to deliver Brexit And I can deliver a deal In the way that Boris Johnson couldn't Well Boris can speak for himself But what I would say Is that my Experiences foreign secretary My background as a negotiator Before I came into business And my ability to Say tough things Which I've had to say incidentally to The Chinese government over Hong Kong A couple of weeks ago to President Trump Last week With some very difficult disputes When I was running the NHS The ability to say tough things That need to be said whilst maintaining Relationships and having negotiations Is an important quality that I've demonstrated throughout my life But what I won't say As someone who's seen a lot of deals Over the years is that this is going to be easy But nor is it going to be impossible And we have overcome bigger challenges In the past and we can overcome This one as well You mentioned Donald Trump there And you rightly I think Called him out for his tweets This week about the four Congresswomen But neither you nor your opponent Actually used the word racist Why not? Because I am the country's Diplomatic in chief And I have responsibility for our Relationship with our most Important ally And that relationship by the way Is the foundation of the peace And prosperity that we've had in the world For the last 75 years And I have to recognise That the words I use Need to be calibrated In a way that doesn't do Lasting damage to that relationship But I think I made my feelings very clear I think I said In that sun debate That I've got three half Chinese Children born on the NHS With British passports I would be utterly appalled, horrified It would be totally unacceptable To me or my wife if anyone Ever told them to go back to China And I hope no politician in this country Ever would Are you a feminist? I like to think so, yes What does it mean? Well, of course it means Equality between men and women But it also means Being prepared to smash the glass That have existed for centuries That stop women reaching Their full potential It means backing more Women MPs And we've made great progress In the Conservative Party, but not enough Exactly, I've been a big supporter Of Ann Jenkins' work with Women to Win It means It means more female cabinet ministers It means doing everything possible To do what we conservatives Believe in, which is no matter Who you are Your background, your sexuality or your sex We are the party of meritocracy And everyone should be allowed to flourish And prosper David Cameron had the A-list Which helps a lot of women Get selected and elected in 2010 Would you propose something similar Would you be in favour of all women Shortlist in some seats? I'm not in favour of all women Shortlists because Because we are a meritocracy And I think the risk is that That devalues the achievement That a woman makes when she achieves a job If she thinks she got it because Of her sex But that doesn't mean there aren't A thousand other things we can do to help People reach their potential And I think that's what we're all about Now, I did ask Boris Johnson If he dyed his hair Can I ask you the same question Just out of balance No, sorry to disappoint I've got a few grey ones, mind you You might have to start I'll tell you what, you'll have a few more if you get this job Says he Okay, final question from me If you could steal something From your opponent's personality What would it be? Well, I worked with Boris On the London Olympics And he was mayor And I was culture secretary In fact, a number of events were held here In the Excel Centre We used to meet You know, every few weeks And it didn't matter How serious or difficult the topics Were that we were discussing We always left those meetings With a smile on our face And I think that's a great quality Right, let's start The question and answer session And we'll start right over there Lady waving there Is it a green cardigan? And then Is there somebody here? You Thank you, Virginia Crosby Director of Women to Win Thank you The number of women Voting in the 2017 General Election for the Conservatives Declined dramatically How are you going to get women To vote Conservative again? Thank you, Virginia Well, I think The polling evidence Is that one of the reasons That the number of women voting for us declined And by the way, we can't win Unless we get the majority of women Voting for us, which is why this issue Matters to us so much, but The reason is because that was an election Where Most of the discussion in one way or another Was about Brexit And that's why we've got to get Brexit done Delivered behind us And then talk about a broader canvas of issues Such as public services Education We were on the back foot on education School funding in the last election That's why it's essential that we sort that out And by the way, I would do this In the way that I did it with the NHS I would put more money on the table But I'd say I want a ten year plan That's going to show me how we're going to make sure That young people who don't go to university Get Properly rigorous technical qualifications So we know they can get a decently paid job I want to see how we're going to abolish literacy And if you can show me how you're going to do that I'll put more money on the table And I think talking about those other issues Is how we'll succeed Virginia Right Then we'll go over here In the green Mr Hunt I would like to probe you further On a point that you made previously About Getting you back into conservatism Now we all know that The education system is Massively towards the left There's a far greater representation Of the left than there is the right And conservatism What I want to know from you, sir I want to know how you are going to bring conservatism Back into the education system How you are going to free The education system from the grips Of socialism Thank you Love the socialist trenchfist there I spotted the next William Hague Fantastic Look, I'll tell you what we've got to do We've got to make sure that we have Properly We are properly defending free speech On our campuses And we cannot have a situation We cannot have a situation where people are Harassed or intimidated Or feel threatened Because they do something as bold As to say they are a conservative And to my knowledge There is only one vice chancellor In the whole country Who openly says that he supports the conservatives And I think We need a bit of honesty From the vice chancellors In this country That what has made this country great Is free debate, enlightenment values Getting rid of the Spanish inquisition And the great things that happened In our universities before they happened Anywhere else And we need to stay true to those principles today As we always have done Why should university vice chancellors Declare their political allegiance? They shouldn't declare it Everyone can decide If they want to do that or not But I'm just making the point That of our 300 universities The fact that there is only one That feels able to declare that Is an indication of just how difficult it is To support the conservatives In academia and that isn't right Right, lady there And then gentlemen In the front row of the second section They're waving his hand in the blue jacket Thank you very much Mr Jeremy And that was a good speech My name is Shane Walker My question, at the last election I actually stood to become a councillor in Dartford And each time I told my friend I was standing as a conservative candidate They were shocked Because I'm from the ethnic minority What are we doing to actually Change the perception of people That we are actually divers and inclusive That we are not just a party for the white The black The white and the male like everybody says That we are actually inclusive Because the perception is everything Everybody perceives that when you are standing Especially from the Ethnic minority You are actually standing for Labour What is your plan? Well, Shane Walker, let me say first of all Thank you for standing up for your beliefs Because We are proud to have you as a conservative I notice the back Boris Badge But I've got a has to be hum one To give you in a minute And the answer to your question Is this Who are the most Socially diverse Color blind group of people In our society It's young people They are the people who really don't notice If someone has a different color To their skin And so the way we are going to increase the diversity Of the party Is by getting more young people involved And that's why I want them to know As a businessman The most powerful thing that you can say To a customer Is that you're hungry for their business And I want every young person in this country To know that we the conservatives Are hungry for their votes Because we offer them the brightest And best future We're going for it and we can prove that With the policies that we're going to announce We'll have a guy right by the wall Who's doing this Jeremy The social care system in this country Is broken As a former secretary of state For health and social care How will you fix it? Thank you And A great question Because we are the party That believes in fairness Between the generations So conservative in this hall That doesn't want every single older person In our country to be treated with dignity And respect And very frankly sir If I was going to talk about the austerity cuts That I had to bring in as part of David Cameron's Cabinet in 2010 I think there were two areas Where with the benefit of hindsight And it's easy to say these things They went too far and one of them was police numbers And one of them was the social care system So how do we Solve it? I think we've got to do two things First of all Local councils do need more money To deliver a basic standard of care In social care And I want a ten year plan for the social care system Just as I delivered a ten year plan For the NHS that was actually my next job But secondly It is also about personal responsibility And we need to encourage More younger people To save Costs in the very last few months of their lives Earlier Just as they save for their pensions And in this country after the war We set up a very strong pension system Which made it the norm And under our Conservative Government We made it even stronger by introducing auto-enroll And I would like to have a similar system Of auto-enroll so that people are Automatically putting aside A little bit more for their social costs Social care costs towards the end Of our lives But gradually We move to a society in which People are saving enough It'll take time but I think it's the right thing to do Just to follow up on that I remember Andy Burnham, Andrew Lansley And Norman Lamb got together I think it was in 2009 to talk about the future of social care Ten years ago You were Health Secretary for six years I take the point about austerity But do you not think it was a failure on your part Not to prioritise social care Doing your period as Health Secretary I was formally responsible for it For my last six months in the job But I was very concerned about the social care system Because I could see Our ANEs Filling up around the country because hospitals Couldn't find care packages in the community And I became absolutely convinced That you can't solve the problems of the NHS Without addressing the problems In the social care system At the same time So I do think this is something that we need to do now Right Have we got The guy in the corner By the wall, are you ready Right, we're going to go to you And then we will go to You, sir Good evening Mr Hunt, my name is Ashe Massey And I'm a deaf teacher of diverse communities Could you just wave your hand Wave your hand so I can see you, sorry Well, thank you, sir Madam, I can't see you, sorry Sorry, this is a long way away Hello Hello, yes, come on, far away Good evening Mr Hunt My name is Ashe Massey And I'm a deaf teacher of diverse communities For the Conservative Party in Coventry My question to you is I've met you in Coventry at the UCHHW Hospital I hope you remember me and then we met at the Hurston Can we get on with the question please Right, okay, my question is With the ever increasing Rise of the Christians being persecuted Both nationally and internationally Partially Christians Losing their jobs for expression of their faith What course of action will you take In order to deal or bring about Change, Mr Hunt When you become the president When you become the MP When I become Prime Minister Thank you Ashe Thank you Ashe, thank you It's a very, very important question Because 80% of the people around the world Who are persecuted for their faith are Christians And We sometimes think of Christians As white Western affluent people But actually these are some of the poorest people in the world For whom the simple act of Going to church Is taking a risk with your safety Or even your life And I think we've had a blind spot In British foreign policy Maybe for reasons of political correctness Because of the empire or our embarrassment Talking about religion We haven't done as much as we should So I commissioned the Bishop of Truro To do an independent report Into what more we can do He published that the week before last It's an excellent report And as Prime Minister I will implement All of his recommendations Come on, can we get the microphone? My name is Neil Hudson No, no, no, here And then we will go to The lady there Thank you very much I'm a British Bangladeshi councillor From Salisbury One of the criticisms I often get Is we Our party don't have a British Bangladeshi MP Where other opposition have If you become the Prime Minister Would you be able to fill the gap And give us a safety rather than a margin Thank you I think we've found our next British Bangladeshi MP So Make sure you get on the candidates list And it will be an honour to have you In Parliament with us Right Lady there Followed by the gentleman over there Waving the newspaper Hello Mr Hunt You have said that you support the people of Hong Kong So how far are you prepared to go To show your support for The 2.5 million British nationals Over the seas in Hong Kong Will you give them the new Blue British Passports Is it? Thank you Thank you for asking that question And I want you to know That the people of this country Stand four square Behind the people of Hong Kong We have a long historic relationship We are so proud Of what Hong Kong has achieved Both during British rule And after British rule And part of that responsibility Has been to say difficult things About the need for China To respect the 1984 Joint Declaration And we are prepared to use Our political capital with China To defend what was agreed in that 1984 agreement I understand your concerns about Passports, that is obviously A much bigger issue But what I want you to know Is that we will be there for you And we will defend the agreements That we made with other countries And everyone needs to remember that Right, gentlemen over there And then the lady there In the blue jacket Jeremy, thank you for the opportunity Of asking a question My name is Matthew Dorps He's over there Matthew, hi I just want to pre-amble and say As an Ulsterman, I'm extremely Comforted that both major candidates Have committed themselves to No border down the Irish Sea Taxation Two bits of it, one is you mentioned Entrepreneurship, a lot of people Set up service companies They were encouraged by their advisors They had feedback From HMRC that this was perfectly legitimate They are now being persecuted Some of them to suicide The first question is whether you Will sort out this mess of retrospectiveness Because that is something that No entrepreneur can take as retrospectiveness Second thing is a lot of people Are looking for a job And the taxation system Unfortunately under a conservative government Despite Nigel Lawson's prizes boast He got rid of a major tax every budget Has got more complex The tapering of pension relief The fact that people pay Over 100% tax rates Effectively at certain levels of income Is a national disgrace And I want to hear your plan To sort that out Well Matthew, first of all When it comes to entrepreneurs We have to do Everything we possibly can To bear down on red tape And I think that Taxation matters a lot And I certainly remember when I set up My business that the worst Taxes are the taxes you have to pay Before you have earned a penny of profit And that's why I'm particularly worried about high street Businesses that are suffering because Of the internet revolution I've said I will take 90% of high street Businesses out of business rates Which I think will make a big difference But in terms of the overall Complexity of the tax system I actually agree with you And we should be a party That simplifies the tax system Because of all the perverse incentives you get And I think the most Ridiculous thing that's going on at the moment Is the number of doctors Retiring from the NHS Because they maxed out on their pension pots They retire and then they sell themselves Back to the NHS as locums And we end up paying both their Pension and their salary and that is Completely ridiculous and that is definitely Something I want to sort out What about What about his point about IR35 And the loan charge Are you going to sign the loan charge pledge 200 of your colleagues have done so I will look at it I will look at it with sympathy I'm not going to give an answer as to What directly I would do Because I do need to get proper advice And understand what is actually happening But I am someone who understands What it's like to be at the wrong end Of these kinds of regulations The principle of HMRC Trying to back tax people 20 years ago Surely has to be wrong Well I understand that But we also have to have a fair Tax system so I'm not going to lose The votes of everyone in this room By defending everything that HMRC Says and I said I will look at it with sympathy But I need to see the facts Before I make a decision Right the lady that I pointed Where is she there Lady there and then let's go Right up to the back There and the lady in the The lady that's just turned her head round Yeah you So chairman of the kids liquid UK You said earlier That you want to get all our children reading If you become prime minister Will you stop closing our public libraries And make sure That our primary schools All have a library For the children to use Thank you Jackie great question And Here's why public libraries Matter Because if you look at this Rather shocking statistic that nearly A quarter of our primary school leavers Are unable to read to the required standard The issue Is on the whole With families where sadly parents Don't read to their children And you can spot that Very early on even at the age of four Before they've been formally taught to read You can spot the children who are at risk of that So we do need If we're going to solve this problem To put in strategies very early on When children are young and access to Books both in their school and outside Their school is a very important part of that Right The person who I pointed to Isn't standing up Over there Yes you are You and then we'll go over there The gentleman there in about the eighth row With his hand Good evening Good to see you Jeremy You're my neighbouring MP And my question is Children's mental health is in crisis According to Bernadas And Matthew Hancock was at a speech A couple of days ago talking about this Not only that, by 2030 It's going to be the first world disability Is the NHS prepared For this crisis in the UK That is such an important question And One of the things that I discovered When I was health secretary Is that half of all mental health Conditions become established Before the age of 14 And the great tragedy is If you don't catch them early These conditions Depression, anxiety can become so entrenched That they're stuck with people For life And we actually have Very good mental health treatment in the NHS But not enough of it We have probably more provision Than any other major European country But we have waiting lists that are far too long So when I was health secretary I launched a children and young people's Mental health plan We will become the first country in Europe With the provision in every secondary school To do that we need to hire An extra 9,000 people That takes time And so we're only going to get To about a quarter of secondary schools By the time of the next election But the pilots have started I think it's the right way to go And I want us to be a party That ends the scar of mental health Problems that really can be prevented If you catch them young enough Yeah It was actually you That I meant to ask that question Have you got a microphone Can we get a microphone to the lady there And then the final question will come from the gentleman Over there Mr Hunt, you said you feel democracy in your Just over there Could you give me a wave? Hi So you said you feel democracy in your guards So what I want to know is What do you think of your parliamentary colleagues Who have resigned their whip Do you think they should be forced to have by-elections Under a more radical recall programme? Well That of course is what Douglas Carswell did When he left the Conservative party And went to UKIP in the last Parliament Every MP Has to make their own Choice in this matter But what I would say is that All of us as MPs need to remember That people are sending us to Parliament Not primarily Because of our sterling personal qualities Although we may sometimes like to think that They're sending us to Parliament Because we are Conservatives And they are expecting us to behave As Conservatives And unite to deliver the Brexit That was in our manifesto At the last election Every single one of them fought on that Right, brief question, brief answer please Okay I'll try and summarize as sweet as possible But speaking The next young carer Young carers are four times more Likely to not be able to go to university 60% of them are bullied at school 26% of them are because They are young carers It's not glamorous, it's not the political issues of the day What would you do as Prime Minister to help people in that situation? Well I'll tell you exactly what I would do I want to First of all, the young carers Do an incredible job And if we are going to support you Thank you for what you do If there is a member of your family A mum or a dad or a grandparent Who has dementia Or a mental health condition Or a terminal illness or whatever it is We have to put in place whole family support And if we do that That will help you Pursue your studies Get to work, do the things that you need to do It'll also reduce costs for the NHS And the social care system If we get it right And I think it's great that we're having these questions And I think it's great that we're having these Conservative hustings Because that shows our compassionate values And as this is my very last Answer to the very last question In the whole of this series I hope you'll forgive me if I do something else Which is say a very big thank you To Ian Dale For what he has done And I actually have a little present For Ian And this is the Union Jack That I've been wearing on my lapel badge For Ian, thank you very much indeed Well I'm actually rather sad To be saying for the last time Please thank Jeremy Hunt Well ladies and gentlemen You did me proud, you asked some brilliant questions And wasn't it interesting That both for Boris and Jeremy Hardly a question, in fact I'm not sure there were Any questions on Brexit Which we're told the Conservative Party is obsessed by If you want more Conservative leadership chat Join me at 10 o'clock on LBC I'm getting a limo bike Back to Leicester Square right now Thank you very much indeed