Boris Johnson is EMPTY CHAIRED in first Tory leadership TV debate

Boris Johnson was humiliatingly 'empty chaired' in the first Tory leadership TV debate tonight - as he became the only candidate to refuse to take part.

Channel 4 deliberately put a podium out for Mr Johnson alongside those for his five rivals, even though he had already said he would not be there.

Presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy jibed that there was still time for Mr Johnson to 'get a taxi from North London' to the studios.

The public shaming came as the other hopefuls slammed the front runner for his 'submarine' campaign strategy, with Rory Stewart jibing that no-one 'knows what he believes'.

His nearest challenger Jeremy Hunt also made a pitch for support from the Tory Remain wing, saying he would exhaust all options before contemplating No Deal.

'The difference between me and Boris is I would try for a deal,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr show. 

The battle for the keys to No10 is turning nasty as contenders desperately struggle to overhaul Mr Johnson's commanding lead. They are scrambling to pick up votes from those already eliminated - with Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who had 20 supporters, yet to decide who to back.

Mr Johnson was criticised yesterday for bustling into a hustings event in London without taking questions from journalists - and sneaking out the back door afterwards.  

By contrast his rivals stopped to talk to reporters.

Although Mr Johnson has snubbed the Channel 4 programme, he has suggested he will join a BBC showdown on Tuesday, after the next round of voting by MPs. 

As the Tory leadership combat moved into a frenetic new phase: 

Mr Johnson is facing a backlash after making clear he will snub a Channel 4 debate between Tory leadership candidates tonight - although he will take part in a BBC show on Tuesday;  Former chancellor Ken Clarke said he was ready to vote no confidence in any 'idiot' who made a bid to take the UK out of the EU without approval from Parliament;  Allies of Theresa May have suggested once she quits No10 she will join forces with pro-Remain ministers such as Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd to avoid No Deal; Senior Eurosceptics insisted the Conservatives would be 'over' and they would defect to the Brexit Party unless the leadership front runner follows through on his vow to leave by Halloween;  Tory rival Dominic Raab hit out at would-be PMs who are going 'weak at the knees' about pushing through Brexit - warning the party will be 'toast' unless it happens by October;   Nigel Farage sought to exploit Tory splits by warning Mr Johnson 'will not deliver on his promises', adding: 'Tory defectors would be welcome in the Brexit Party'. 

A clearly infuriated Mr Stewart stepped up his attack on the former foreign secretary on the Marr Show this morning. 

'How is Boris going to deliver Brexit? How?' the Aid Secretary said. 

'I don't even know what he believes. He won't talk to me, he won't talk to you, he won't talk to the public. 

'We want to know what he believes. We want him to sit at this debate tonight and tell us.'

Mr Stewart also tried to drawn a line under confusion over whether he would serve in the Cabinet if Mr Johnson becomes leader. 

'I wouldn't serve in a Boris Cabinet,' he said.  

Mr Johnson has put the Tories in an election war footing - as a poll today found voters believe he can win back Eurosceptics and defeat Corbyn.

The leadership favourite fuelled rumours of an early ballot by telling a hustings event he would 'get Brexit done and get ready for an election'. 

The dramatic vow yesterday came as a survey found 47 per cent of the public think he can see off Labour and Nigel Farage - while just 22 per cent think he would lose.

His ratings are way ahead of other leadership contenders such as Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove.

However, in a worrying sign for Mr Johnson's supporters, nearly six in 10 said he was not the kind of man they would buy a used car from. 

The scale of the challenge he faces was also underlined with the YouGov research showing that overall the Brexit Party is still leading on 24 per cent - three points ahead of both the Conservatives and Labour. 

If replicated at a general election the finding would likely put Mr Farage in No10, although the ratings for the Lib Dems and other parties have yet to be published. 

Mr Farage told MailOnline today: 'It would appear that Mr Johnson wants a head to head fight. If that's what he wants, he's going to get it.' 

Mr Hunt has said he believes it is possible to negotiate a new deal with the EU that would do away with the need for an Irish border backstop. 

'When you talk to European leaders as I do they want to solve this problem,' he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show. 

'They say that if they were approached by a British prime minister, someone they were willing to deal with, who had ideas how to solve the Northern Irish border, they would be willing to re-negotiate the package. 

'They are prepared to look at whether you could get much more detail onto the future relationship - potentially that could be legally-binding, let's see - so that you don't need a backstop. 

'I would never pretend that this is going to be easy but nor is it impossible.' Mr Hunt said it could even be done by the deadline of October 31, but added that it would be a mistake to commit to leaving the EU by that date. 

'I am not committing to an October 31 hard-stop at any costs. If you do make that guarantee and you go with the wrong approach, then you are committing us to nothing other than a hard Brexit, a no-deal Brexit,' he said. 

Mr Johnson goes into the second week of the Tory campaign the red-hot favourite to succeed Theresa May, having racked up support from 114 MPs in the first ballot - more than his next three rivals combined.

Mr Johnson's position received a further boost with the support of Esther McVey, who was eliminated from the contest after finishing last in the first ballot.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph she said: 'He has promised to deliver Brexit on October 31, deal or no deal, and has shown time and time again that he is a dynamic leader, capable of building a strong team around him that will deliver on his promises.'

Meanwhile, there was growing alarm among pro-European Tories at the prospect Mr Johnson takes Britain out of the EU on October 31, even if he has been unable to secure a new deal with Brussels.

Veteran former chancellor Ken Clarke said that in those circumstances he would vote to bring down the Government.

'If some idiot was sailing into a No Deal Brexit I'd decide politics had finally gone mad and vote against it,' he told The Observer. 

Mrs May's allies told the Mail on Sunday she has privately vowed to thwart any attempt by Mr Johnson to take the UK out of the EU without a deal.

The disclosure comes as senior party figures told The Mail on Sunday that Mrs May had voted for ultra-Remainer Rory Stewart in Thursday's ballot of MPs, which led to a landslide victory for Mr Johnson.

Mrs May, who says she will stay on as an MP after she leaves Downing Street next month, has suggested she would join forces with pro-Remain Ministers such as Chancellor Philip Hammond and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd to try to stop Mr Johnson from leaving after the October 31 deadline 'Deal or No Deal'.