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Boris Johnson Bests Jeremy Hunt to Succeed May as British Prime Minister
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July 23, 2019
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Jul 23, 20191:00Now PlayingBoris Johnson, the public face of the Brexit campaign, won the contest to succeed Theresa May as British prime minister, taking over a country in crisis and a government on the brink of breaking apart.
After a six-week leadership race, which he led from the start, 55-year-old Johnson defeated his rival Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt by a landslide in a ballot of the Conservative Party’s roughly 160,000 members.
“I say to all the doubters ... we are going to energize the country, we are going to get Brexit done on Oct. 31, we are going to take advantage of all the opportunities that it will bring in a new spirit of can do,” Johnson said in acceptance speech. “Like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity.”
The pound erased the day’s losses against the dollar, and was up against all major peers after the announcement.
The result marks the end of a bruising battle for the biggest job in British politics and the start of what threatens to be a brutal new phase in the civil war inside the government over Brexit.
The incoming prime minister has just 100 days to negotiate a new divorce deal with the European Union before the U.K. is due to leave the bloc at the end of October.
He must do so despite opposition from the EU and a growing rebellion from his own colleagues, including a group of ministers quitting the government because they can’t work for him. Within minutes of Johnson’s victory, Justice Secretary David Gauke confirmed he was resigning from the government.
An hour later, International Development Secretary Rory Stewart also announced he would quit. On Sunday, Philip Hammond said he would stand down as finance minister. Hammond has declined to rule out voting to topple Johnson’s government if it’s the only way to stop a no-deal Brexit.
The rebels inside the party Johnson now leads are vowing to fight his policy of exiting the EU with or without an agreement -- “do or die” -- by the hard deadline of Oct. 31. Adding to his problems is the Tories’ lack of an automatic majority in Parliament -- and Democratic Unionist Party, the small Northern Irish grouping that props up the Conservatives, wants to renegotiate the terms of its continuing support.
Even with the DUP on board, Johnson’s majority is perilously small, after a number of defections and defeats. Some Conservative believe a general election is inevitable and Johnson’s team have been war-gaming their options for a snap poll in the fall.
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