Tory leadership debate: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt condemn Trump tweets but fail to call them racist

Conservative leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have condemned Donald Trump's attack on a group of congresswomen - but neither would go as far as to call the comments racist.

It follows Mr Trump prompting widespread fury and accusations of racism after suggesting that certain politicians should "go back" to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came".

In their strongest criticism of the US president to date, the leadership contenders agreed with Theresa May that Mr Trump's remarks were "completely unacceptable", but stopped short of describing them as "racist".

Mr Trump did not specify who he was referring to, but the attack was widely interpreted as being aimed at congresswoman of colour, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, who have all be critical of Mr Trump's immigration policies in recent days.

Asked about Ms May’s views on the comments, her official spokesperson told journalists on Monday: “The prime minister’s view is that the language used to refer to these women was completely unacceptable.”

Speaking at a debate hosted by The Sun, Mr Johnson was asked if he agreed with the prime minister that the comments were "completely unacceptable".

"If you are the leader of a great multiracial, multicultural society you simply cannot use that kind of language about sending people back to where they came from," he said. "That went out decades and decades ago and thank heavens for that so it's totally unacceptable and I agree with the prime minister."

But he was pressed on whether the comments were racist. "I simply can't understand how a leader of that country can come to say it," he said.

Pressed again, he replied: "You can take from what I said what I think about President Trump's words."

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