Rory Stewart promises alternative to ‘fairystories’ as he launches Tory leadership campaign

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Rory Stewart pledged a break from “fairystories" promised by other candidates as he launched his Tory leadership campaign this afternoon.

The International Development Secretary said he hoped to offer the country a path based on “prudence” rather than false promises as he delivered a speech at the Spiegeltent, at the Underbelly Festival on London's Southbank.

Addressing an audience inside the velvet-lined tent, Mr Stewart said the British people wanted “leadership” and “action” and not false promises.

"One of the fundamental things that distinguishes my campaign from the other campaigns is I do not believe in promising what we cannot deliver,” he said.

"I do not believe in pretending that you are going to get some new deal out of Europe by October 31, I don't believe in pretending that there is something called no deal which you are able to drive through parliament, I don't believe in promising money we don't have."

Rory Stewart launched his bid to be Prime Minister from a big top type tent on London's Southbank
REUTERS

Speaking on Brexit, Mr Stewart, 46, said he would back any attempt to stop a no-deal, suggesting he might support Labour's cross-party motion scheduled for Wednesday.

"Nobody can get no-deal through Parliament, because we, including me, will stop no-deal going through Parliament," he insisted.

However, in the hour following his speech, he clarified his position on Labour's fresh plans to block a no-deal by tweeting: "For the avoidance of any doubt - I have read the Labour motion proposed for tomorrow and I will NOT be voting for it.

"My opposition to No-Deal is unwavering - the best and securest way to take No-deal of the table is to vote for me to be our next Prime Minister."

Back at his speech in the circus tent, Mr Stewart went on to attack leadership rivals for advocating a no-deal Brexit, accusing them of peddling "fairystories".

"It is not just no to a deal. It is no to everything. It is no to Europe, it is no to trade, it is no to Parliament, it is no to reality. We are not a 'no' country," he said.

"Underlying all these stories that the other candidates are putting forward that masquerade as optimism is a failure – a failure to grasp reality. What they are giving you is fairystories.

"The way that you change the world is by being honest to the way the world is."

People queue outside the tent in which Mr Stwart launched his campaign.
Getty Images

Continuing his preferred theme, he said the country was faced with a choice between two paths: one of a “fairystory” idea of populism, the other of “prudence” and “realism”.

“People are asking why I wish to take up this poison chalice. But it is exactly now when we have to make a choice, a choice of two different paths for our country."

In a swipe at campaign speeches made by his fellow leadership contenders, Mr Stewart, said he "did not believe" in the £84 billion of tax cuts that had been promised.

He said: "The energy to change this country is also about conviction. In the end the problem with a lot of these candidates is that it feels as though their policies have been generated either from a think tank or some kind of focus group.

"But when I say I want this country to be fairer, greener and more united, it is because I feel these things."

The former prisons minister added: "Leadership is about listening, leadership is about vision, but above all leadership is about getting things done, it is about doing things, about action. It's not good enough to sit around a table and debate great abstract questions on prison policy when your prison is filthy."

Coming to his final questions from the media, Mr Stewart answered why he wouldn't support another referendum or revoke Brexit altogether.

"My project in the end is fundamentally just about one thing – it's about moderation, it's about compromise. The theme is, in the end, we have much much more in common than divides us, we have to live together, we know that we're split on all these different issues.

Anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray speaks to Mr Stewart before the start of the launch.
AFP/Getty Images

"We know if we listen to each other, and begin to think, we find we have much more respect for each other, much more capacity to compromise with each other than we could ever imagine.

"In all these places I have been talking to people what comes to me again and again is the energy of the British people. In the end we're bound together because we experience together, the same frustrations.

"The only wisdom is the wisdom of humility."

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