Boris Johnson to sack Jeremy Hunt as Foreign Secretary if he becomes Tory leader in landslide victory – The Sun
BORIS Johnson will sack Jeremy Hunt as Foreign Secretary if he wins the Tory leadership on Tuesday by a big margin, allies believe.
Two of his close confidantes have told The Sun the No10 frontrunner is still furious with his rival for launching a series of personal attacks on him during the race – including branding him a coward for initially refusing TV debates.
But they say Boris will wait to see what the marginal of his expected victory on Tuesday is before finally locking down the full composition of his Cabinet.
If Boris gets “comfortably” more than 60% of Tory members’ votes, he will remove Mr Hunt from the Foreign Office and offer him a less grand Cabinet job, such as Business Secretary.
Mr Johnson is also said to want to see how the Iran crisis plays out over the next 48 hours, which could make it easier to dump him.
Personal blame is being heaped on Mr Hunt by MPs for failing to protect British tankers from being captured by regime hardliners’ gunboats.
'IT'S PERSONAL'
One close confidante said: “Boris’s whole reshuffle revolves around what he does with Hunt."
But if the result is tighter and Mr Johnson gets less than 60% he will be under heavy pressure to keep Mr Hunt where he is in a bid to unite the party and pacify Mr Hunt’s followers.
If not, Mr Hunt is likely to be replaced by an elder statesman figure seen as more loyal to Boris, such as ex-Cabinet minsters Sir Michael Fallon and David Davis, or Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
Iain Duncan Smith is also a contender, who Brexiteer Tory MPs are also pushing to be Boris’s deputy PM.
The Sun can also reveal that Boris appointed the first member of his Cabinet last week, asking a senior MP to become his Chief Whip.
'STRICT SECRECY'
The 55 year old senior Tory was yesterday working on his new Government in strict secrecy, with the mystery chief whip figure one of the very few at his side.
In other Cabinet jockeying, Liz Truss is telling friends she now thinks she can win the hotly contested race to become Chancellor.
Once seen as a shoe-in, former contender and Home Secretary Sajid Javid has riled Boris’s team by secretly already beginning preparations for a fresh leadership campaign if Boris’s premiership collapses.
Ex-Development Secretary Priti Patel is also tipped to make a return to the Cabinet,and is fancied by many as party chairman.
Other former leadership rivals are also expected to win places in Boris’s Cabinet, including his old London mayor deputy Kit Malthouse and James Cleverly, with Michael Gove to be promoted.
Some Boris allies want former deadly rival Mr Gove to be offered the job of Brexit Secretary, or Housing Secretary if he refuses.
To fulfil his pledge to have a woman in one of the great four offices of state, Mr Johnson could also move Penny Mordaunt to Home Secretary, allowing him to install his oldest Commons ally Ben Wallace as Defence Secretary.
PM ‘is not my focus’
DEFENCE Secretary Penny Mordaunt says she is too focused on her day job to worry about the race to become PM.
Ms Mordaunt had backed Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as leader.
The Brexiteer dodged questions about her prospects after a future Cabinet reshuffle.
On a visit to Mali, she said: “I’m not concerned about that. As long as I have this job I’m focused on combating the threats.”
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