Boris Johnson under pressure to explain police incident

Boris Johnson, the front-runner in the race to become Britain's next prime minister, was facing mounting calls Sunday to fully explain an incident in which police attended an alleged altercation at the London home he shares with his girlfriend.
Johnson ducked repeated questions during a leadership hustings in Birmingham the day before. Questioned by journalist and CNN Talk host Iain Dale, he said: "I don't think they want hear about that kind of thing," prompting applause from party members. "I think what they want to hear is what my plans are for the country and the party."

Jeremy Hunt, Johnson's rival for leadership of the Conservative Party, said in a piece for The Times of London on Monday that he was not interested in Johnson's private life, but challenged his opponent to provide an explanation to the public about both his policies and the incident.
"Scrutiny of the candidates matters. One of the strengths of our system is that we scrutinise our politicians with more intelligent ferocity than anywhere in the world," Hunt wrote.
"Don't be a coward Boris, man up and show the nation you can cope with the intense scrutiny the most difficult job in the country will involve."
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC that while Johnson's private life "does not concern me," he added: "I think it is always easier to just give an explanation."
Former Conservative Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind also told the BBC: "If you are a candidate to be prime minister and the police have been called to your house -- fairly or unfairly -- the fact is there was a police visit. You don't just say 'no comment.'
"That implies you may have something you don't want to disclose."
Rifkind, who has hinted he might back Hunt in the race to be the next Conservative leader and by extension the next PM, added: "It was a lack of judgment to refuse to even make a short comment. All he could have said, quite reasonably, would have been that in all relationships there are occasionally outbursts of anger and disagreement."
Labour opposition politician Andrew Gwynne said Sunday Johnson was "completely unsuitable" to be PM.
He told Sky News: "In one sense, of course, it is a private matter, but when you're running for public office, when you are wanting to be the prime minister of the UK, then these matters are in the public interest."
But Gwynne added that Johnson's actions as a politician were more important. "I just think his record throughout his time both as mayor of London -- wasting money on the garden bridge, wasting money on Routemaster buses, wasting money on water cannon that couldn't be used -- through to his disastrous tenure as foreign secretary just renders him completely, I think, unsuitable to be the prime minister of our great country."