Is Boris Johnson going to skip seven-way leaders’ debate? PM says he will not go on TV with Nicola Sturgeon until she is an MP and ‘a serious contender to be PM’
- The First Minister this month threw down the gauntlet to her Conservative rival
- But the PM said he would only debate her if she held a seat in Westminster
- Both Mr Johnson and the Labour leader are gearing up for tonight’s showdown
Boris Johnson has dropped the strongest possible hint yet he will duck the seven-way television showdown between party leaders.
It came in the form of a snub to the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, who the Prime Minister said was not a contender in the race for Number 10 and was therefore not worthwhile debating.
The Scottish First Minister this month threw down the gauntlet to her Conservative rival, challenging him to a debate and taunting him as ‘scared’.
But Mr Johnson has poured cold water on the idea of sharing a stage with Ms Sturgeon, because he is only prepared ‘to contest the debates with whoever theoretically could be Prime Minister.’
Boris Johnson has dropped the strongest possible hint yet he will duck the seven-way television showdown between party leaders (pictured on a visit to Jimmy Egan’s Boxing Academy at Wythenshawe)
The Scottish First Minister Nicole Sturgeon this month threw down the gauntlet to her Conservative rival, challenging him to a debate and taunting him as ‘scared’ (pictured in Abroath at the weekend)
Mr Johnson’s blunt refusal to debate Ms Sturgeon was mocked by the SNP leader
In an interview with the Herald, he said: ‘Once Nicola Sturgeon takes leadership of her party in Parliament and is a serious contender to be Prime Minister of the UK that would be the appropriate moment.’
He added: ‘The candidate to be Prime Minister who Nicola Sturgeon would support is Jeremy Corbyn and that is why he is the appropriate person to debate.’
Ms Sturgeon is not an MP and her party only contests the 59 seats in Scotland, making an overall majority impossible and the odds of her becoming prime minister incredibly unlikely.
The Prime Minister also used the interview to rule out holding a second Scottish independence referendum.
He said: ‘When people voted to Remain in 2014 they should feel that democratic view is going to be honoured… And, similarly, people voted to leave the EU in 2016 and democracy should be observed. And that’s for me the most important thing.’
Mr Johnson and the Labour leader are gearing up for a live head-to-head on ITV tonight, in what is being billed as the battle for Downing Street.
The two-way format which excludes Jo Swinson and Ms Sturgeon enraged the Lib Dems and the SNP, who launched a legal appeal.
But the High Court threw out their claim yesterday, meaning their only chance to confront the Prime Minister would be at the seven-way debate scheduled for November 29.
However, Mr Johnson’s remarks that he is not willing to engage with the minor parties fuels speculation that he will send a surrogate speaker in his place.
Nicola Sturgeon poses for a selfie photograph as she meets voters and activists in Clarkston, Glasgow, last week
Boris Johnson with partner Carrie Symonds prepare to board a train to Manchester for the debate this morning
Yet his blunt refusal to debate Ms Sturgeon was mocked by the SNP leader, who tweeted: ‘Is this the ‘die in a ditch’ definition of ‘never’?’ – a swipe at the Prime Minister’s failed pledge to Brexit by October 31.
In 2017, Theresa May dodged a similar debate and asked her home secretary Amber Rudd to step in to replace her.
TV debates have been a staple of elections since their inception in 2010 – when Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg charged up the polls after a strong performance.
In 2015, under pressure from the minor parties, the leaders of the SNP, UKIP, Greens and Wales’ Plaid Cymru have also been involved.
Boris Johnson’s four questions for Jeremy Corbyn
1. You are proposing a second referendum on EU membership. In that referendum, would you recommend the UK should remain or leave?
2. Your previous manifesto promised to end freedom of movement, but following your conference it is now Labour Party policy to ‘maintain and extend’ free movement. Would you end, maintain or extend free movement, and would immigration be higher or lower under Corbyn’s Labour?
3. Asked on Sunday if you were prepared to continue to pay into the EU budget on an ongoing basis, you replied ‘clearly if you want access to a market there are costs involved’. How much would you be willing to pay into the EU budget in return for ‘access to markets’?
4. All 635 Conservative candidates standing at this election have pledged to me that, if elected, they will vote in Parliament to pass my Brexit deal. Can you guarantee that every Labour candidate supports your Brexit policy?
Although he may not be keen on partaking in the seven-way debate, Mr Johnson has been rigorously preparing for his two showdown’s with Jeremy Corbyn.
He has hired the American debating guru who coached George Bush to the presidency to train him.
Brett O’Donnell masterminded the Leave campaign’s television tactics in 2016 by training them to relentlessly hammer out their ‘take back control’ slogan.
And the Republican Party strategist is thought to be drilling the Prime Minister to emerge victorious again by clobbering the Labour leader with simple Brexit messages.
The Prime Minister headed north with partner Carrie Symonds this morning – their first joint campaigning appearance of the election campaign – ahead of tonight’s ITV head-to-head in Salford.
While the gloves will come off later they were very much on this morning as Mr Johnson visited Jimmy Egan’s Boxing Academy in Manchester – with ‘Get Brexit Done’ across his fists.
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn opted for a more leisurely pre-debate routine, visiting a barber for a beard trim before he appears in front of the cameras.
Mr Johnson will launch a full-frontal political attack on Jeremy Corbyn with an ultimatum to stop ‘dithering’ on his election and Brexit plans when the two leaders go head-to-head in the television showdown tonight.
The Prime Minister issued a challenge to his Labour counterpart warning that failure to answer on key points would leave the public with ‘no choice but to conclude that Corbyn’s Labour, propped up by the SNP, will mean dither, delay and uncertainty’.
In a letter published by the Tories last night he set Mr Corbyn four questions to answer: how he would vote in a second Brexit referendum, what Labour’s position on freedom of movement is, how much he would pay the EU for ‘market access’, and whether all of his MPs would back his Brexit policy.
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