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News > United Kingdom

Boris Johnson Expected to be Named New UK Prime Minister

  • Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson addresses the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, October 3, 2017.

    Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson addresses the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, October 3, 2017.

Published 23 July 2019
Opinion

The winner will be announced at about 1045 GMT at an event near parliament and will formally take over as prime minister on Wednesday afternoon, succeeding Theresa May, who stepped down over her failure to get parliament to ratify her Brexit deal.

The former Mayor of London Boris Johnson is expected to be elected as the new leader of Great Britain’s ruling Conservative Party and the next prime minister on Tuesday.

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The Conservative Party member will be tasked with following through on his “do or die” pledge to deliver Brexit in just over three months time.

Johnson and his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, have spent the last month crossing the country seeking to win over the fewer than 200,000 Conservative Party members who will choose Britain’s new leader.

Johnson, a former London mayor who resigned as foreign minister a year ago over May’s Brexit plans, is the clear favorite to replace her, with several polls putting him on around 70 percent.

“It’s all to play for,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived at his office in Westminster.

He will inherit a political crisis over Britain’s exit from the European Union, due to take place on Oct. 31. Johnson must persuade the EU to revive talks on a withdrawal deal that it has been adamant cannot be reopened, or else lead Britain into the economic uncertainty of an unmanaged departure.

The only divorce deal on the table has been rejected three times by parliament and many lawmakers - including pro-EU rebels in the Conservative Party - are vowing to block Johnson from trying to take Britain out of the EU without a deal.

He has said he would ramp up preparations for a no-deal to try to force the EU’s negotiators to make changes to the accord.

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