Thread by @alexwickham

NEW: Jeremy Hunt is 36 points behind Boris Johnson. Does he have a hope of making it to No10?

Inside look at his campaign: why Hunt thinks the race is closer than believed, his path to victory, and internal fears about where things haven't gone right

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Hunt feels his only chance is a high-octane Rory Stewart-style campaign revealing “the real Jeremy”, an air war based on “carpet bombing” the media and a ground game convincing members he has the personality to deliver Brexit — and Johnson does not

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There are internal concerns that Hunt’s attacks on Johnson have alienated the Tory grassroots, that his decision not to commit to leaving the EU on October 31 has cost him, and that his description of that date as a “fake deadline” was a damaging error

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Hunt's decision to go after Johnson has divided his supporters. One MP told him to tone it down

But a cabinet minister who had reservations about backing Hunt because he thought he'd go soft was delighted with Monday's Times piece: “God, that was punchy"

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Team Hunt reckons around 80,000 members have already made their decision and will split for Johnson, but another 80,000 votes are still up for grabs

“They used to talk about it being a coronation. No one’s talking about a coronation any more"
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Hunt's plan is to ask members to "take a second look" at him and show he is “witty”, “sharp”, “tough”, “punchy” and “ballsy”

He is attempting to counter a poll that showed the word that most comes up when his name is mentioned is “boring”

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The entirety of Hunt's staff were Remainers, but he is determined prove his No10 won't be run by “Gavin Barwell 2.0”

If he becomes PM Hunt would ditch the civil service negotiating team and put Brexiteers in charge. Mordaunt and Fox would play key roles

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ca…

Hunt says his Brexit plan is almost identical to Johnson's. "They are two salesmen selling the same thing. The question is who do you want to buy it off"

But this has led some moderates like Matt Hancock to vote with their careers and back Boris

buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/ca…