Jeremy Hunt capitalises on Boris Johnson’s troubles

When Jeremy Hunt was announced as the candidate who would join Boris Johnson in the final two for the Tory leadership contest members’ vote, there were cheers amongst members of the Johnson camp. The view was that, unlike Gove, Hunt would prove a gentle opponent who Boris would have little bother shrugging off. However, after a weekend of bad headlines for the former mayor of London involving a late night incident with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds, that theory can now be called into question.

Johnson refused at the first membership hustings to say why police were called to Symonds’s flat in the early hours of Friday. While that refusal went down fine with the members assembled, it has since been criticised by various MPs. Critics have been quick to use the incident as a way to ask questions about Johnson’s character. For the third day in a row, the papers have splashed with various theories on the state of both Johnson’s campaign and relationship.