Matt Hancock is dropping out of the Conservative leadership race and will pivot behind a rival who can deliver Brexit and champion enterprise, he revealed to the Evening Standard today.
“I have decided to withdraw from the race and work out what is the best way to advance the values that I care deeply about,” he announced in his first interview since yesterday’s ballot.
Mr Hancock will hold talks with the six other candidates left in the race, including runaway favourite Boris Johnson before deciding whom to back.
He opened the door to endorsing a frontrunner such as Mr Johnson, Jeremy Hunt or Michael Gove by saying his keynote appeal for a “fresh face” for the future had been lost in the clamour to sort out Brexit right away.
“I was trying to make the argument that we needed to concentrate on the candidate for the future, but it’s clear that the party is looking for a candidate for the unique circumstances that we face now,” he said.
The Health Secretary, aged 40, was the youngest candidate left in the battle to inherit Theresa May’s Tory crown.
In yesterday’s first ballot of the 313 Conservative MPs he polled 20 votes, enough to progress to the next ballot but, he concluded, too few to stand a realistic chance of winning.
“I’ve been incredibly grateful for the enthusiastic and growing support that I have received, both among MPs and wider party and the public,” he said.
“But it is clear that I can’t win from here. I’m proud that we set the agenda in the campaign, wining arguments that the party needs to be focused on the future and needs to be a pro-enterprise and pro-business party, and putting forward a credible plan to deliver Brexit so we can move forward.”
Asked if he could back a candidate who had said “f--- business”, he replied: “I’m ruling nothing in or out.”
Mr Hancock said Martha, an osteopath, was “very understanding” of his decision to withdraw from the contest. “I came to this decision yesterday evening over a long discussion which Martha was a crucial voice in,” he said. “She is extremely wise and I respect her political voice.”
Looking tired and rubbing his eyes during the interview, Mr Hancock said he had been buoyed by his family’s support. “My elder two children were enthusiastic cheerleaders.”
“I want to spend more time with them, and I’m going to carry on running the Health Service. In the midst of this campaign we landed the junior doctors contract and made progress on a whole host of health matters.”
On the idea of proroguing, or suspending, Parliament, which neither Mr Johnson Nor Mr Raab Have Ruled Out, he said: “Proroguing Parliament is wrong and it would undermine our values.”
Asked if he was worried there would be another coronation of Boris, he said: “I think there is a lot of colleagues who think the contest should last its full course.”
He said all the candidates should take part in the TV debates “because this is a contest not just for a Prime Minister but a party leader”.
He praised Mr Stewart’s “terrific insurgent campaign” which had “made important arguments mirroring mine about how the party needs to appeal beyond its normal boundaries”
Mr Javid, he said, had “made important arguments about the sorts of people that Conservatives ought to stand for .. and the importance of aspiration”.
However, he suggested that the next generation candidates would have to wait until after Brexit was sorted out.
“I’m going to talk to all the other candidates and consider how best I can advance the values that I care deeply about, like how we win the argument for free enterprise and a free society, how the party is at its best when it’s open, outward facing and optimistic. We need to both deliver Brexit and then move forward and focus on the future.”
Mr Hancock supported Chancellor Philip Hammond’s call for candidates to commit to reducing Britain’s debt over time, saying the pledge was a “very important economic anchor”.
Mr Hunt earlier suggested it would be cowardly for Mr Johnson to skip Sunday night’s TV debate on Channel 4.
He told the BBC: “We can only have that debate if our front-runner in this campaign is a little bit braver in terms of getting out into the media and actually engaging in debates. Engaging in the TV debates.”
He added: “What would Churchill say if someone who wants to be prime minister of the United Kingdom is hiding away from the media, not taking part in these big occasions?”
