A BORIS Johnson-led government would collapse when faced with key decisions on Brexit and lead to Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister, his leadership rival Jeremy Hunt has warned Tory members.

The Foreign Secretary said Johnson, the front-runner in the contest to succeed Theresa May, had put together a “fragile” coalition of supporters and opponents of a no-deal Brexit which would quickly disintegrate in office.

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His warning came as Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood said around a dozen Tory MPs could support a vote of no-confidence in the government to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

“I think a dozen or so members of Parliament would be on our side, would be voting against supporting a no-deal and that would include ministers as well as backbenchers,” he told BBC One’s Panorama programme.

Hunt said Ellwood’s comments underlined the danger of pushing to leave the EU by October 31 – as Johnson has promised – without a majority in Parliament.

“He is going to come to power on a very fragile coalition of people like Matt Hancock, who wants no-deal taken off the table, Mark Francois, who wants no-deal,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“Sometimes in politics you can fudge and get away with it but in the case of Brexit you are going to have to make decisions immediately and that very fragile coalition will collapse immediately when you have to make those decisions.

“If that happens we won’t have another leadership contest, we will have Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10 and there won’t be any Brexit at all.”

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Johnson used his column in the Daily Telegraph to reaffirm his commitment to deliver Brexit by October 31 in an attempt to refocus attention after police were called to the flat where he lives with his partner Carrie Symonds last Friday.

He wrote: “We must leave the EU on October 31 come what may. It will honour the referendum result, it will focus the minds of EU negotiators. We are just over four months away from the date on which, by law, we must leave the EU, and this time we are not going to bottle it. We are not going to fail. This time we are not going to shrink in fear from the exit, as we have on the last two occasions.”

Meanwhile, on a visit to Scotland, Hunt supporter David Lidington said he was supporting the Foreign Secretary as he believed he would deal better with a 3am emergency phone call about a terror threat than Johnson.

“I am saying very clearly from having worked with both of them in Cabinet ... in my judgement is that Jeremy is the one who is best equipped to deal with the 3am call,” he told journalists in Edinburgh.

Hunt sidestepped questions about whether Johnson is a fit person to be PM, suggesting he needs to earn the trust of voters.

“The way to earn that trust with Conservative Party members and with the country is to subject yourself to scrutiny to answer questions about what you actually want to do,” he told the BBC.

He said it was “disrespectful” of Johnson to refuse to take part in any TV debates until after ballot papers have gone out to party members, by which time many will have already voted. Writing in The Times, he accused Johnson of cowardice.