Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to be Britain's prime minister, promised he would take the United Kingdom out of the European Union by October 31, saying that only by preparing to leave without an agreement could a no-deal Brexit be prevented.
Johnson, a former foreign minister and London mayor, is the clear favourite to replace Theresa May. He won the backing of 114 of 313 Conservative lawmakers in a first round of voting on Thursday, almost three times as many as his nearest rival.
The contest has been dominated by the question of how and when Britain will leave the EU, Britain's biggest political crisis in a generation.
In his first broadcast interview since the campaign started, Johnson gave an unequivocal pledge that Brexit would happen by the latest Brexit deadline of October 31 and Britain had to prepare for a no-deal exit, which he said would not be a disaster.
"All those who say that we should delay ... I think they risk doing terminal damage to trust in politics. We have to get on and do this. We've got to be out by October 31," Johnson told BBC radio on Friday.
"If we have to get out on what is called no-deal terms, or WTO terms, then it is our absolute responsibility to prepare for it. And it's by preparing for it that we will prevent that outcome."
May resigned as Conservative Party leader having failed three times to get her EU divorce deal through parliament.
The bloc has said repeatedly it will not renegotiate that agreement, which was aimed at taking Britain out of the bloc on March 29, before the date was pushed back twice to October.
Johnson said he did not want a no-deal Brexit but he ruled out a further extension beyond the current October 31 deadline.
"It would be absolutely bizarre to signal at this stage that the UK government was willing once again to run-up the white flag and delay yet again," he said.
Johnson provided few details but said the so-called Irish backstop, an insurance policy to prevent the return of border controls between Northern Ireland and the Irish republic, could be solved by having goods checked away from the border.
"(The EU) will see that politics has changed in the UK and in Europe," he said.
Johnson's interview came after rivals accused him of hiding from scrutiny because of his history of gaffes.
Australian Associated Press
