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Boris Johnson waved a smoked kipper above his head as he used the final Tory leadership hustings to hit out at EU food rules.

The favourite to take over as prime minister brandished the fish as he addressed thousands of party members at the event in east London.

Mr Johnson, who has pledged to deliver Brexit by October, said kipper smokers are "furious" with the bloc's food regulations.

Taking to the stage ahead of his rival Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday night, he told the crowd: "If you want to understand why it is that we must leave the EU and the advantages of coming out, I want you to consider this kipper which has been presented to me just now by the editor of a national newspaper who received it from a kipper smoker in the Isle of Man who is utterly furious because after decades of sending kippers like this through the post, he has had his costs massively increased by Brussels bureaucrats who insist that each kipper must be accompanied by this, a plastic ice pillow.

Mr Johnson added: "Pointless, expensive, environmentally-damaging health and safety, ladies and gentlemen. When we come out therefore, we will not only be able to end this damaging regulatory overkill, but we will also be able to do things to boost Britain's economy and we will be able to establish an identity as a truly global Britain and get our mojo back."

He said the entirety of outgoing PM Theresa May's Brexit deal was "effectively defunct" but that the backstop to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland is the most egregious part.

"I think the whole Withdrawal Agreement is effectively defunct but the backstop is certainly the bit I find most difficult," he told those gathered at the Excel Centre.

The former foreign secretary said the backstop could mean being trapped in the EU customs union indefinitely or "lose control" of Northern Ireland.

He said: "We would see a division between the union between and Great Britain and Northern Ireland and I think that's an utterly intolerable choice.

"So as far as I'm concerned the backstop won't work."

Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt agreed Mrs May's Withdrawal Agreement was “dead” and added he would seek to alter the Northern Ireland backstop.

Asked whether the deal is "dead", he replied: "As it is now, yes. I want to get a deal and so we have got to make some profound changes to that Withdrawal Agreement. That doesn't mean ripping up the whole thing but it does mean the backstop has to go."

But he said the backstop did not need ripping up and some of it would remain. "If you are saying that we will remove any guarantees over not having hard border infrastructure in the island of Ireland, then no.

"I think there is agreement in our party that we can never go back to a hard border in the island of Ireland."

While Brexit continued to dominate the conversation in the battle for the keys to Number 10, the leadership candidates also faced questions on abortion and feminism.

And asked what it means to be a feminist, Mr Hunt said: "It means equality between men and women and being prepared to smash the glass ceilings that have existed for centuries which stop women from achieving their full potential."

Pressed on abortion laws, Mr Johnson told Tory members: "I believe firmly in a woman's right to choose. This is a matter of conscience in our Parliament, and MPs should decide according to their consciences."

The final hustings of the campaign came after Mrs May warned that she is "worried about the state of politics" as she gave what is expected to be her final major speech as Prime Minister.

The PM told an audience on Wednesday in Chatham House, London, that the country has "grounds for serious concern" about the state of politics.

She said: "It has been democratic politics, an open market economy, and the enduring values of free speech, the rule of law and a system of government founded on the concept of inviolable human rights that has provided the nexus of that progress in the past.

"And a healthy body politic will be essential to consolidating and extending that progress in the future. It is on that score that today we do have grounds for serious concern.

"Both domestically and internationally, in substance and in tone, I'm worried about the state of politics."