Jeremy Hunt on Thursday’s General Election in the UK

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: When we last spoke, you were foreign secretary. In fact, you were also challenging Boris Johnson for the party leadership, and you were most definitely not on his side then. You did not believe in Brexit, you’re a Remainer. Where are we today? Who is going to win?

JEREMY HUNT, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE: Well, actually, just to correct you on that last point, I did vote remain, but I’ve always thought we have to implement the referendum result. So, I was in a — very, very much on his side in terms of believing we need to get on with Brexit. But, you know, this is a moment — I can’t remember a moment of such an enormous choice for the country. Because normally in an election, you know, there will be a little shade to the left, a little shade to the right. But this time you have the Conservatives under Boris Johnson, who will deliver Brexit, if we get that majority. Put that issue to bed and move on with a centre-right agenda. And then you have a radically different alternative with Jeremy Corbyn, the most left-wing manifesto that we’ve had in my lifetime, wholesale nationalization of private companies, the utility companies, the rail companies and so on. And that’s why I think this is going to be an interesting election for turnout, because despite the horrible weather, despite the winter, I think people do feel there’s a lot of stake.

AMANPOUR: There certainly is a lot of stake. Many people are saying, though, you know, they feel a little down, they are downcast, that they are voting against, rather than for. I just want to take a couple of the things you mentioned. Obviously, your party’s slogan has been Get Brexit Done. You’ve just said Boris Johnson with a majority, if he gets that, will deliver Brexit. Are the two slightly semantically differently? It’s one thing to have a majority and pass a vote through the House of Commons, that might happen. But getting Brexit done, that’s just the beginning of trying to get Brexit done, right? Because the rest is trying to create a new relationship with Europe and with all the other countries. That is not the end point, this election.

HUNT: Well, I don’t accept this argument that we won’t substantively be able to get Brexit done, because if we pass through the deal that Boris Johnson has negotiated, we will legally leave the European Union by the end of January. So, Brexit will have been delivered. The trade deal, of course, is going to take a bit longer to do. But we know the outline of that, because we have seen it in the political declarations be made and we’ve had indications in the E.U. that they think the bare bones of a trade deal could be delivered by the end of next year. So, I think that is to come. But I think we know the shape of it, and I think the key point is that people voted to leave by the end of January. Legally, we will have left.