Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Conservative Contenders Harden Brexit Language, Prompting EU Warnings

Jamie Dettmer

   Both candidates to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader and
   Britain's next prime minister are now laying the political groundwork
   for a so-called "hard Brexit"-- and are ready to leave the European
   Union without any withdrawal deal, an outcome independent observers and
   analysts warn could poison relations between Britain and its European
   neighbors for decades.

   The exit Boris Johnson and his rival Jeremy Hunt, the country's current
   foreign minister, are plotting would likely involve Britain withholding
   all or some of the $50 billion the country already agreed formally it
   would owe the EU for past financial obligations on exiting.

   Johnson, the frontrunner, former London mayor and onetime journalist,
   is turning to hardline Brexiters in his party to draw up his plans and
   says the withdrawal agreement Theresa May struck with Brussels last
   November, and which she failed three times to get approved by a
   deadlocked House of Commons, is dead.

   His rival is also hardening his Brexit rhetoric in what is turning into
   a 'bidding war' between the contenders as they vie for the votes of the
   160,000 Conservative party members who will choose between them. The
   party members are being balloted by mail with the result scheduled for
   July 22. In recent months the party has seen a wave of new members with
   an estimated 30,000 new recruits being dubbed 'Brexit entryists.'

.