From the BBC:
“Boris Johnson wins race to be
Tory leader and PM”
Boris Johnson has been elected
new Conservative leader in a ballot of party members and will become the next
UK prime minister. He beat Jeremy Hunt comfortably, winning 92,153 votes to his
rival's 46,656. The former London mayor
takes over from Theresa May on Wednesday. In his victory speech, Mr Johnson promised he
would "deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn". Speaking
at the Queen Elizabeth II centre in London, he said: "We are going to
energise the country. "We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and
take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring with a new spirit of can
do. "We are once again going to
believe in ourselves, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and
ping off the guy ropes of self doubt and negativity." Mr Johnson thanked his predecessor, saying it
had been "a privilege to serve in her cabinet". He was Mrs May's
foreign secretary until resigning over Brexit. The outgoing PM - who is
standing down after a revolt by Conservative MPs over her Brexit policy -
congratulated her successor, promising him her "full support from the
backbenches". Foreign Secretary Mr
Hunt said he was "very disappointed", but Mr Johnson would do "a
great job". He said he had "total, unshakeable confidence in our
country" and that was a valuable quality at such a challenging time. Mr
Hunt added: "It was always going to be uphill for us because I was someone
who voted Remain and I think lots of party members felt that this was a moment
when you just had to have someone who voted for Brexit in the referendum. "In
retrospect, that was a hurdle we were never able to overcome." US
President Donald Trump also sent his congratulations to Mr Johnson, tweeting:
"He will be great!" Almost
160,000 Conservative members were eligible to vote and turnout was 87.4%. Mr Johnson's share of the vote - 66.4% - was
slightly lower than that garnered by David Cameron in the 2005 Tory leadership
election (67.6%). The former London
mayor and ex-foreign secretary spoke to staff at Conservative Party HQ after
his victory was announced. He is currently addressing Tory MPs, who gave him a
rousing reception when he arrived for the meeting in Parliament. He will
announce his new cabinet after he is invited to form a government by the Queen
on Wednesday. However, it has already been confirmed that Mark Spencer, MP for
Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, will become chief whip, the person responsible for
enforcing party discipline in the Commons. A number of senior figures have
already said they will not serve under Mr Johnson, though, citing their
opposition to his stance on Brexit. He
has pledged the UK will leave the EU on 31 October "do or die",
accepting that a no-deal exit will happen if a new agreement cannot be reached
by then. Education Minister Anne Milton tweeted her resignation just half an
hour before the leadership result was due to be revealed, insisting the UK
"must leave the EU in a responsible manner". And International Development Secretary Rory
Stewart confirmed he would be returning to the backbenches, where he would be
spending more time "serving Cumbria" and "walking". David Gauke, another vocal opponent of a
no-deal Brexit, announced he was resigning as justice secretary. They join the likes of Chancellor Philip
Hammond, Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan and Culture Minister Margot
James who have all said they disagree too strongly with Mr Johnson's Brexit
strategy to work closely with him.
Boris Johnson will become our
next prime minister.
A sentence that might thrill you.
A sentence that might horrify you. A sentence that 12 months ago even his most
die-hard fans would have found hard to believe. But it's not a sentence,
unusually maybe for politics, that won't bother you either way. Because whatever you think of Boris Johnson,
he is a politician that is hard to ignore. With a personality, and perhaps an ego, of a
scale that few of his colleagues can match. This is the man who even as a child
wanted to be "world king". Now,
he is the Tory king, and the Brexiteers are the court. The EU Commission's Brexit negotiator, Michel
Barnier, said he was looking forward to working with Mr Johnson "to
facilitate the ratification of the withdrawal agreement and achieve an orderly
Brexit". Mr Johnson has previously
said the agreement Mrs May reached with the EU was "dead", having
been rejected three times by MPs. Guy
Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's chief Brexit co-ordinator, said the
parliament would hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday in response to Mr
Johnson's election. Jeremy Corbyn reacted to the news of Mr Johnson's victory
by tweeting that he had "won the support of fewer than 100,000
unrepresentative Conservative Party members", but "hasn't won the
support of our country". "Johnson's no-deal Brexit would mean job
cuts, higher prices in the shops, and risk our NHS being sold off to US
corporations in a sweetheart deal with Donald Trump," the Labour leader
continued. "The people of our
country should decide who becomes the prime minister in a general
election," he added.
What happens now?
Wednesday 12:00 BST onwards:
Theresa May takes part in her last Prime Minister's Questions. After lunch she
will make a short farewell speech outside No. 10 before travelling to see the
Queen to tender her resignation. Boris Johnson will then arrive for an audience
at Buckingham Palace where he will be invited to form a government. After that he will make a speech in Downing
Street before entering the building for the first time as prime minister. Later,
he will begin announcing his most senior cabinet appointments, such as
chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary, and will make and take his
first calls from other world leaders. Thursday:
Mr Johnson is expected to make a statement to Parliament about his Brexit
strategy and take questions from MPs. Parliament will break up for its summer
recess later. Boris Johnson's family - father Stanley, sister Rachel and fellow
Tory MP Jo - attended the announcement Newly-elected
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said Mr Johnson had "shown time and time again
that he isn't fit to be the prime minister of our country". First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon
congratulated Mr Johnson, but said she had "profound concerns" about
him becoming prime minister. The new
leader also received congratulations from Arlene Foster, the leader of Northern
Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, whose support has kept the Conservatives
in government since the 2017 general election. She said the pact - known as a confidence and
supply agreement - continued and would be reviewed over the coming weeks
"to explore the policy priorities of both parties". Leader of the
Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson, who backed Mr Hunt in the campaign, also
sent her congratulations, adding that the new PM had "an enormous task
ahead of him". In the often divisive Brexit world of "them and
us" it's easy to forget that, beyond Brexit, EU leaders still see the UK
as a close partner and ally. Today's messages of congratulation to Boris
Johnson from across Europe were a timely reminder. Whatever happens with Brexit, France, Germany,
Poland et al still very much hope to work closely with the UK on international
issues like Russia sanctions, Iran, and human rights protection. But EU leaders' welcoming tone does not signal
a willingness to accept whatever Prime Minister Johnson might demand in terms
of changes to the Brexit deal. He's
right when he says a no-deal Brexit is bad for Brussels, but he overestimates
EU wiggle room. Amendments will only be forthcoming if EU leaders deem them
workable and are convinced the new prime minister commands a majority in Parliament
to get an agreement through once and for all.
^ Hopefully Johnson will either
end the UK’s withdrawal from the EU (which I doubt) or he will at least have
the UK leave with a deal because leaving with a No-Deal would do more harm than
good for the UK. ^
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