Theresa May has refused to say that she will not deport EU nationals from the UK after Brexit (Picture: [copyright]) Theresa May has promised to be “bloody difficult” during Brexit talks with the European Commission president while speaking at a hustings for Tory MPs before the second round of voting to choose the party’s new leader.
Referring to unguarded comments recorded by Sky News by Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke, in which he referred to Mrs May as “a bloody difficult woman”, the Home Secretary joked that the next person to share his view would be Jean-Claude Juncker.
“Ken Clarke might have found me to be a ‘bloody difficult woman’”, said Mrs May. “The next person to find that out will be Jean-Claude Juncker”, she added with her response receiving cheers from MPs, ITV reports.
The hustings also saw Andrea Leadsom, who came second in the first round of voting in the party’s leadership race on Tuesday, say that she would not be releasing her tax returns, as other candidates have, unless she made the run-off on Thursday.
The minister told MPs they could come to see a summary of her tax affairs personally if they wanted to.
Michael Gove, who fished third in Tuesday’s vote, was questioned over what some MPs see as his “betrayal” of Boris Johnson, but the Justice Secretary said he had decided to run because he thought the former-London mayor was not suited for the job.
He was also challenged over a text sent by his campaign manager urging Ms May’s supporters to vote tactically in the second round of voting in the Tory leadership battle on Thursday in order to block Ms Leadsom from the final run-off.
Campaign manager Nick Boles has since been forced to apologise after the text was leaked and said over Twitter that Mr Gove “did not know about it let alone authorise it”, adding “it does not reflect his views.”
The Home Secretary is expected to be confirmed on Thursday as one of the two contenders chosen by MPs to go forward in a vote of around 150,000 Conservative members to elect a new leader – and prime minister – on 9 September.
She comfortably won the first round of voting on Tuesday with 165 votes and has promised to “unite [the Conservative] party and the country” in the wake of the EU referendum.
Mrs May was followed by Andrea Leadsom with 66 votes, Michael Gove on 48 and Stephen Crabb on 34.
The former defence secretary Liam Fox was eliminated from the race after receiving only 16 votes from MPs. Mr Crabb later withdrew from the leadership contest and both he and Dr Fox announced their support for Ms May.
In addition to his comments about Ms May, Mr Clarke was also heard telling former colleague Sir Malcolm Rifkind that Michael Gove was so right-wing he would likely start wars with “at least three countries” and that he did not really think Andrea Leadsom wanted to leave the EU.