Brexit figurehead Boris Johnson will look to cement his stranglehold of the UK leadership race Wednesday after emerging unscathed from a TV debate against his four remaining rivals.
The former foreign minister kept his cool and made no evident stumbles in a showdown that followed a second-round ballot in which he grabbed more votes than his three nearest challengers combined.
Johnson had ducked out of the first TV debate on Sunday and has carefully stage-managed his media engagements in a contest that remains his to lose.
He cast himself Tuesday as the one politician able to bring Britain successfully out of the European Union and therefore deliver the Brexit that UK voters called for three years ago.
“We must come out on October 31 because otherwise I’m afraid we face a catastrophic loss of confidence in politics,” said Johnson in the hour-long BBC question-and-answer session with voters.
“I think the British people are thoroughly fed up.”
But neither he nor the others raised their hands when asked by the BBC to do so if they could “guarantee” that Brexit will happen by October 31.
The field will narrow to four when the 313 Conservatives party lawmakers in the lower House of Commons hold their third secret ballot on Wednesday.