REFILE-UK PM candidate Johnson: Britain must leave EU by Oct. 31 or pay the price

Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to be Britain's prime minister, repeated his pledge on Tuesday that he would take the United Kingdom out of the European Union by Oct. 31, saying otherwise the government would face a catastrophic loss in trust.

"We must come out on the 31 Oct. because, otherwise I am afraid we face a catastrophic loss of confidence in politics," Johnson said in a televised debate with the other four remaining candidates seeking to be Britain's next leader. "Unless we do it, unless we get out on Oct. 31 I think we will all start to pay a really serious price." (Reporting By William James and Costas Pitas. Writing by Andrew MacAskill, editing by Elizabeth Piper)