HEAD-TO-HEAD ON BREXIT

BOURNEMOUTH (England) • His shirt sleeves rolled up, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt bounded into the hall, ignored the lectern and headed straight to the front of the stage to make his pitch that he should lead the country out of its paralysing Brexit maze.

But right from the start, Mr Hunt, 52, was playing catch-up. He is one of two candidates to be Britain's next prime minister, and his rival and predecessor as foreign secretary, Mr Boris Johnson, had already won cheers from this audience with his pro-Brexit bombast.

Mr Johnson had grabbed eye-catching headlines by claiming he would beat Mr Hunt in a naked mud-wrestling contest.

Tall, lean and fit, the serious-minded Mr Hunt would probably more than hold his own against his less-toned opponent in that contest, but defeating the theatrical Mr Johnson for the Conservative Party leadership is another matter.

The two men are competing for the votes of about 160,000 party members, who will choose a new leader, and prime minister, this month, as the Conservatives hold a working majority in Parliament.

Reasonable, cautious and wholesome to the point of blandness, Mr Hunt is the opposite of 55-year-old Mr Johnson, whose charisma and bumbling, confected persona have made him the clear favourite in the contest, despite an early setback when neighbours summoned police to the home of his girlfriend after a loud argument.

After considerable deliberations, Mr Johnson decided to campaign for Brexit in the 2016 referendum. That cause is embraced with cult-like certitude by almost all Tory members now, and Mr Johnson has doubled down, promising to leave the European Union with or without a deal by the Oct 31 deadline.

He says that by taking a tougher stand than Prime Minister Theresa May did, and by believing in the Brexit project, he will persuade a resolute EU to offer concessions it has so far ruled out.

Mr Hunt is a former Remainer whose pitch is less emotionally appealing to many Tories: He is, he says, the best negotiator, the man who can be trusted to deliver Brexit and avoid the inevitable economic pain of withdrawal without an agreement.

Yet, the party faithful doubt his commitment to a Brexit at all costs.

In Bournemouth, one hardliner heckled him, demanding that any member of his team should be willing to support a no-deal departure. A few days later, Mr Hunt hardened his stance by saying he would decide at end-September whether Brexit talks were going anywhere and, if not, would prepare for a disorderly withdrawal and compensate farmers and the fishing industry for the damage it would do.

As the underdog, Mr Hunt has targeted Mr Johnson's reluctance to take part in TV debates, his preference for carefully selected interviews and his contradictory - sometimes misleading - statements about Brexit.

Mr Johnson's avoidance of media scrutiny amounted to "cowardice", Mr Hunt said of his rival, adding later that he had "got some important facts wrong" and that only a head-to-head televised debate would give party members the chance to decide if Mr Johnson understood the issues around Brexit.

The two men were scheduled to face off in a TV debate last night.

Dr Paul Whiteley, professor of government at the University of Essex, said it was Mr Hunt's taunt of cowardice that forced Mr Johnson to come out into the open and submit himself to more interviews.

Yet, while Dr Whiteley believes it would be an earthquake were Mr Hunt to win the election, he notes that he is no pushover and sees him as a "polite but steely figure".

"He has a ruthless streak in him, and the accusation of cowardice is a case in point," he added. "He talks softly, but carries a big stick."

NYTIMES