Boris Johnson, a hard-line Brexiteer who has vowed to leave the EU by the end of October with or without a deal, was set to win the top spot and he certainly just did.
Johnson will become Britain’s next prime minister after being elected leader of the Conservative party, defeating Jeremy Hunt in the party’s leadership contest.
Johnson won the contest by a convincing margin of 92,153 votes to 46,656, with 66% of the vote. Turnout was 87.4% among 159,320 party members.
Source: The Guardian
American President Donald Trump commented on the news in his infamous twitter channel:
Congratulations to Boris Johnson on becoming the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He will be great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019
In his first speech as a party leader, the brand new Prime Minister reminded his audience of ministers and party staff:
Deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn… I say to all the doubters: dude, we are going to energise the country!
Johnson will not take office formally until Wednesday afternoon. Theresa May will face her final prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons before tendering her resignation to the Queen.
You can see Johnson’s first speech as a party leader here.