17:37

One of Hillary Clinton’s most striking adverts in the 2008 US presidential election campaign asked voters who they would want answering the phone at 3am in the White House in a crisis. David Lidington, Theresa May’s de facto deputy, who is now backing Jeremy Hunt, has been asking the same question. Speaking to reporters in Edinburgh, where he has been attending a Law Society of Scotland, he said the key issue for Tories in choosing a new leader should be who would be best best for security.

When I’ve tried to weigh up in my mind the criteria. It seems to me first is which man is going to be better to shoulder the security responsibilities that come with the job of prime minister.

Lidington said prime ministers had to consider how to respond to terror attacks and hostage situations. He went on:

The prime minister will have to take those decisions often under severe time pressure and almost inevitably on the basis of intelligence evidence that is by it’s very nature going to be incomplete.

Asked who would deal best with these situations, Lidington said he would choose Hunt. Then, asked if he was saying Johnson did not have the temperament to be PM, Lidington replied:

I am not implying anything … I am saying very clearly from having worked with both of them in cabinet … In my judgement Jeremy is the one who is best equipped to deal with the 3am call.

Hillary Clinton 3am ad.

Lidington also criticised Johnson for avoiding the media.

I think it’s wrong and it’s also unwise for him to duck out of interviews and debates. We’re choosing not just a party leader, we’re choosing a prime minister, so I think the country is entitled to know what both the candidates for that office would have as their priorities and how they would go about discharging those responsibilities. So I hope he thinks again and I hope he does agree to take part.