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Favourite for the Tory leadership Boris Johnson has revealed that December would be D-Day for HS2 if he wins.

The decision could mean that the whole project is scrapped after a review about spending on the route.

Mr Johnson was enthusiastic in his support for the Crossrail 2 proposal for London but less so when asked about the HS2 project to link London and the Midlands and north of England with a new high speed railway when questioned at a Hustings event in Birmingham.

Mr Johnson said: "I represent Uxbridge and South Ruislip and HS2 I'm afraid ...we managed to get a tunnel out through a lot of it, but the fact is it is going to cause a great deal of difficulties for my constituency."

He said he is a "passionate believer" in transport infrastructure, adding: "I have anxieties about the business case for HS2.

"I think there are questions, legitimate questions, that any incoming Prime Minister would want to satisfy himself about, herself about, before what I think is a go or no go decision in December about profiling of the spend and so on."

(Image: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

Mr Johnson said he would have a review that would not interrupt the current timetable, but did not say how long the review would last.

Tory MP David Morris, who is backing Jeremy Hunt, accused Boris Johnson of having "no substance" in his answers about Brexit.

He tweeted: "Disappointing from @BorisJohsnon in Birmingham no substance in his answers on how he will leave the EU. Worrying lack of detail in answer to any of the members questions £ConservativeLeadership £HasToBeHunt"

Asked what the biggest personal crisis he had ever faced was, Mr Johnson said the 2011 London riots.

He said: "I was on holiday. It was a total disaster and I was literally 400 miles from the nearest airport. It was a catastrophe."

On seeing news footage of the riots as he arrived at an airport to come back to the UK he said: "I felt an absolutely overwhelming sense of obligation and responsibility and horror."

Asked by an audience member if he would increase police officer numbers back to pre-2010 levels, Mr Johnson said: "Yes, I think that police funding, in addition to education funding, we need to do more to get police out on the streets."

Jeremy Hunt described himself as "the underdog", saying: "The internet, because I'm the underdog, the internet has been kind to me for the first time in my life.

"And they're actually, they're running a campaign to help me find the slogan that I should be putting to the country and to the membership.

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"And we've had £TakeAPuntOnHunt, £JezzasTheBezza and £HuntyMcHuntFace.

"Now be very careful how you say that one because we're the party of family values."

On a more serious note, he went on: "Friends, we are in a very serious situation. Get things wrong and there will be no Conservative Government, maybe even no Conservative Party.

"Get things right and we can deliver Brexit, unite the party and send Corbyn packing. And that's our choice."

Mr Hunt said if the wrong person is sent to Brussels, "catastrophe awaits".

(Image: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

He added: "If you choose me I'll be the first prime minister whose been an entrepreneur by background."

Mr Hunt said entrepreneurs negotiate, adding: "If we send the wrong person there's going to be no negotiation, no trust, no deal, and if Parliament stops that, maybe no Brexit.

"Send the right person and there's a deal to be done. Send that right person and we can do what we all need to do, which is come back with something positive for our country.

"And that's what I want to do."

Mr Hunt said he will increase defence spending and called for Conservatives to have a "social mission", saying the one he wants to focus on is the social care system for older people.

Mr Hunt, who said he wants to end illiteracy, also vowed to get more young people voting Conservative.

But he added: "I will never provoke a general election before we've left the European Union. I won't do it."

Boris Johnson tweeted: ''Thank you, Birmingham! As PM, I'll deliver Brexit by 31st October, stop Jeremy Corbyn, and bring the whole country together with a modern Conservative agenda.''