Boris Johnson was forced to defend his ability to represent minority groups in the UK at a Conservative party hustings in Nottingham on Saturday.

Johnson and his rival Jeremy Hunt were taking questions from local Conservative members who will be voting to choose the next leader of the party.

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The Tory leadership contender was asked whether he could represent minority groups having made such “derogatory and arguably racist” comments, referring to his newspaper column comparing veiled Muslim women to letterboxes.

He told the audience: “If you look at that article … it was a strong, liberal defence of the right of women to wear the burqa.” He added that he had received letters from Muslim religious leaders after the article was published, supporting his stance on integration.

However, the person who asked the question, Amar Bhandal, a Conservative party member who is supporting Hunt for the leadership, said he felt Johnson was “basically deflecting the question”.

Bhandal, 15, a former member of the youth parliament for Telford and a member of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “I thought the response was a bit insufficient. He was trying to defend the comments he made by trying to argue that he was saying women should choose whether they wear the burqa, even though it was obvious from what he wrote that he wasn’t doing that.

Quick guide Tory party leadership contest Show Hide What happens next in the Tory party leadership race? As she announced on 24 May, Theresa May stepped down formally as Conservative leader on Friday 7 June, although she remains in place as prime minister until her successor is chosen. In a Conservative leadership contest MPs hold a series of votes, in order to narrow down the initially crowded field to two leadership hopefuls, who go to a postal ballot of members.

How does the voting work? MPs choose one candidate, in a secret ballot held in a committee room in the House of Commons. The votes are tallied and the results announced on the same day. In the first round any candidate who won the support of less than 17 MPs was eliminated. In the second round anybody reaching less than 33 votes was eliminated. In subsequent rounds the bottom placed contender drops out until there are only two left. The party membership then chooses between them. When will the results be announced?

The postal ballot of members has begun, and the Tory party says it will announce the new prime minister on 23 July.. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

“He went on to talk about his grandfather being an immigrant – he was basically deflecting the question.

“He should have apologised and been truthful about what he said, instead of trying to make out that he’s a good guy.

“I was really surprised by the reaction [from the audience] afterwards. I thought I would get quite a hostile response. But afterwards a lot of people came up to me and shook my hand.”

Earlier in an interview in the Daily Mail, Johnson called for a tougher approach on criminal justice issues, including removing restrictions on police stop-and-search powers and longer sentences for serious violent or sexual offenders. He said: “There are too many people … who have committed serious violence or sexual offences who are being let out … after they’ve served only half their sentence.”

But lawyers criticised his comments, with the Secret Barrister, who writes about the law, saying on Twitter that the comments were “legally illiterate” and ignored the already severe indeterminate prison sentences that exist for serious violent offenders.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeremy Hunt appeared second at the hustings in Nottingham on Saturday. Photograph: Darren Staples/Getty Images

Hunt appeared second at the hustings to argue that despite his preference for getting a deal with the EU that removes the contentious backstop, Brexit must happen even if it is with no deal. Otherwise, he said, the Conservative party “will be toast”.

“If that is the way we have to leave then we must leave [with no deal].” He said there would be preparation for the possibility of no deal, including £20bn of support for businesses currently dependent on trade with Europe.

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Hunt also acknowledged cuts had gone too far on social care and policing, saying: “I believe that we did the right thing because we had to put the economy back on its feet, we had the worst financial crisis since the second world war.”

But he added that “in a couple of specific areas, the cuts went further than we anticipated. We do have some headroom … that would allow us to find extra funding for those public services.” But he acknowledgeda no-deal Brexit would put that at risk.



“If we had a no-deal Brexit, then those resources initially will need to go to supporting businesses, but hopefully we can get a deal and then start to address some of those issues,” he said.