Jeremy Hunt calls for live TV debates before Tory voting begins

Jeremy Hunt has challenged Boris Johnson to agree to live TV debates before Conservative party members begin voting in the leadership contest. He said the candidates needed to have their character tested as part of the job.

On Friday, the Sky News anchor Kay Burley said Johnson had turned down the chance to take part in a TV debate next Tuesday in front of a Tory-supporting audience.

Hunt wrote to his leadership rival on Friday afternoon saying he believed they should take part in at least two debates in the next fortnight, before members receive their postal ballots.

Johnson has so far committed only to a debate on ITV on 9 July, by which time Tory party members will have received their ballots. The Guardian understands that Johnson’s camp agreed with ITV that this would be the first head-to-head debate, requiring Sky to move its debate back.

The foreign secretary said it was essential that candidates were tested before they took on the job of prime minister, suggesting untested candidates such as Theresa May and Gordon Brown had not been successful prime ministers and the “stakes are too high” for that to happen again.

“The purpose of this stage is to test us – our plans, our policies, our character,” Hunt wrote to Johnson. “We do this country and our democracy a deep disservice if we hide away until members have submitted their postal ballots. So my challenge to you is this: let’s have live televised debates right at the start of this contest, and specifically at least two in the next two weeks before members receive their ballot papers. I will debate you anytime, anywhere on live TV.”

The two rivals will face 16 hustings across the country where they will be questioned, one after another, by Conservative party members, but not by journalists or other members of the public.

Hunt said he wanted to ensure that the public also had an opportunity to question them, proposing a 30-minute Q&A with local media after each hustings. “I can spare half an hour to meet the public and I’m sure you can too,” he told Johnson. “Scrutiny can be uncomfortable. But if we can’t handle it with friends, we won’t deserve to lead against our opponents.”

Hunt said he had accepted live TV debate invitations from Sky, the BBC, Channel 4, the Sun and ITV. “My message is simple: if you want the job, you have to turn up for the interviews,” he wrote.

Johnson took part in a BBC Newsnight debate on Tuesday night, but declined to attend an earlier debate on Channel 4 that featured the five other candidates still in the leadership race at the time.