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Michael Gove would do better here. A friend predicts: Hunt will be a disappointment and as a head would say to his disappointed parents, “his earlier promise was not fulfilled” #andrewneil
Neil starts with Hunt’s greatest weakness: he’s a Remainer
Now Hunt is the headteacher: “I was disappointed” (with Johnson’s failure to back Darroch)
A “huge geostrategic mistake we would regret for generations” Neil has done his research on what Hunt said about no-deal Brexit
But Hunt surprisingly pushes back and makes his argument that it would be bad if EU forces it, but Britain has to leave
Now he’s the head and Johnson is the heart – the hard truths line works quite well for him
“Turbocharge is a meaningless phrase,” says Neil
Neil is a great interviewer, crisp and well briefed, although the economy section with Hunt was dull & unrevealing
Johnson won 1st round: Neil said crime generally went down faster outside London while he was mayor, but had to accept fall in murder rate was comparable
Neil forcefully stops Johnson deflecting, and Johnson briefly looks embarrassed
Johnson comes across as shifty on the Darroch resignation
“Loose lips cost ships and you have loose lips”: Neil links Nazanin with crisis in Gulf
Too easy for Johnson to shrug off that insult
Brexit: Johnson asserting pie in sky re backstop; Neil says EU won’t agree – we get no further
Finally we get to whether parliament will block no-deal Brexit – Johnson simply asserts that MPs’ mood has changed
Neil asks why then he won’t rule out suspending parliament – Johnson: bluster
Neil wins on text of GATT: Johnson pedants away re article 24 para 5b, and Neil asks if he knows what’s in 5c. “No,” says Johnson
Utterly absurd: Johnson now time-wasting by arguing whether “laxical” is a word
Neil catches Johnson out on tax cut for the rich and forces him to say “the poorest come first”
But Neil wastes last Q on anonymous insult – and BBC forced to fade Johnson out at the end
Transcript of Jeremy Hunt interview here drive.google.com/file/d/1QsNxXx… Boris Johnson here drive.google.com/file/d/1iwyuoc…
