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'Chicken' Boris Johnson snubbed the first TV debate of the Tory leadership race.

The flapping former Foreign Secretary who wants to be Prime Minister clucked off rivals by refusing to attend the 90-minute showdown.

The poultry excuse for a potential PM boycotted the studio head-to-head in Stratford, east London – but the placard-wielding Mirror Chicken was there to highlight his Channel 4 no-show.

TV bosses humiliated the bookies’ favourite by leaving a podium empty on the stage.

Tight-lipped aides refused to say where he was hiding as he denied hungry viewers the chance to see the frontrunner for the Conservative coop grilled on air.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty said: “Truth is Boris is nothing but a massive chicken and a coward, scared of his appalling record as Mayor of London and Britain’s worst Foreign Secretary in decades being put under the spotlight.

“But Boris is no harmless curiosity - he’s dangerous, irresponsible and divisive just like his idol Trump.”

The power-hungry coward instead left fellow candidates Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Rory Stewart, Sajid Javid and Dominic Raab to clash without him.

Just before 7pm after a guest asked another question about EU withdrawal, Mr Hunt said: “We have been talking about Brexit for 25 minutes now and where is Boris?



“If his team won’t allow him out to debate with five pretty friendly colleagues, how is he going to fare with 27 European countries?

“He should be here to answer that very question.”

Earlier, Mr Hunt blasted Mr Johnson’s “fundamentally flawed ... submarine approach”.

He told the BBC: “This is auditioning for the most important job in the country, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

(Image: David Dyson)

“You will be under immense scrutiny from day one in that job and, if you run away from taking part in TV debates, if you don’t appear on the (BBC Radio 4) Today programme, if you just restrict what you do to friendly newspaper interviews, then you are not allowing people to see how you perform under pressure.”

Arriving for the debate, Mr Stewart roasted his rival over the snub.

He said: “We’re choosing a Prime Minister and the public has the right to hear from us and judge who had the qualities to be Prime Minister.”

The five who dared to appear tangled over how they would tackle Brexit, unify divided Britain and confront the dangers to the Tories posed by Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage.

But they were unable to even agree on whether a future PM should sideline Parliament in a bid to force through a no-deal Brexit.

Hard Brexiteer Mr Raab refused to rule out locking the doors to ensure MPs do not thwart withdrawal on October 31.

But the audience cheered Mr Stewart as he hit out at the “undemocratic, deeply disturbing” plan which “strikes at the heart of our constitution”.

Mr Raab hit back saying Mr Stewart’s idea to let 50,000 ordinary people sort out Brexit through a “citizens’ assembly” was the “Venezuelan option”.

Joining the attack, Mr Gove said: “I will defend our democracy - and you cannot take Britain out of the EU against the will of Parliament.”

Mr Hunt said shutting Parliament would be a “profound mistake” and “wrong”, while Mr Javid also ruled it out.

He added that tackling “division in our society” was “the number one thing” to address.

Mr Stewart raised eyebrows when he compared trying to sort Brexit to pushing more bin bags into a full bin.

Mr Gove was quizzed about his confession he took cocaine on several social occasions 20 years ago.

“I made a mistake,” admitted the Environment Secretary, “I learnt from my mistake.”

Despite being in Cabinet for most of the nine years the Tories have been in power, he said children, particularly those growing up in poverty, were his priority.

The former Education Secretary claimed: “We need to make sure they have the opportunities that all of us enjoyed.”

Home Secretary Mr Javid, a millionaire ex-banker, repeatedly portrayed himself as an “outsider” and said public services - with a focus on education - were his priority.

He “relied” on them to rise to his position, he insisted.

Mr Stewart said “adult social care” was his top priority, adding: “It’s a real disgrace, it’s the great unfinished revolution of our society.”

As well as targeting the absent chicken, Mr Hunt also turned his guns on Labour.

Playing to the Tory grassroots who will decide the next PM, he claimed Mr Corbyn “is against aspiration, he is against British values, he is against Britain”.

He added: “We will only get a majority if we reach out to the centre ground.”

But most of the 90 minutes was taken up by candidates arguing with each other about their Brexit strategies and over who would be the best leader.

Mr Johnson is also set to dodge Monday's hustings in front of Westminster journalists - despite the other hopefuls signing up.

He is however due to take part in Tuesday's BBC’s debate, hours after the latest candidate for No10 is ejected from the field.

Hopefuls need 33 votes to progress to round three on Wednesday.

The MP with the fewest votes will be eliminated in each stage with the final two expected to be revealed on Thursday.

The duo will hold a series of hustings in front of Tory activists over the coming weeks, with only members having a say on who will replace Theresa May .

Mr Johnson was boosted by the support of former Tory leadership contender Esther McVey, who threw her weight behind his bid after being eliminated in the first ballot of MPs last week.

“He has promised to deliver Brexit on October 31, deal or no deal, and has shown time and time again that he is a dynamic leader, capable of building a strong team around him that will deliver on his promises,” she wrote in The Sunday Telegraph.

Warning of the risk to the Conservatives of delaying EU departure for a third time, Mr Raab said told Sky News the “Tory Party will be toast, if we are not out by October 31”.

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, who is backing Mr Hunt, warned there were enough Tory MPs ready to block a no-deal departure by backing a no-confidence vote in the Government.

“There are a number of colleagues who have gone public saying that they would consider doing that, and there are a number I know of privately who say that,”

Meanwhile, it emerged Mr Hunt’s Chinese wife Lucia Guo calls him “Big Rice”.

“My grandma found it very hard to say ‘Jeremy’ so she would just call him the ‘big mi’,” she revealed.

“Mi means ‘rice’, so I call him ‘Big Rice’.”

He calls her Precious.

In a further bizarre twist in the battle for Downing Street, cocaine-shame candidate Mr Gove styled himself as the “Chumbawamba” option - a reference to the band’s 1997 hit.

He told the Sunday Times: “Someone said the other day, ‘Michael, you are the Comeback Kid, you are the Chumbawamba candidate - you get knocked down, but you get up again’.

“That’s been true throughout my career.”