Boris Johnson Elected New UK's Prime Minister as He Won Tory Vote

Theresa May became Tory party leader in 2016 but has failed in her most important task - to deliver Brexit. The party’s 160,000 members have now voted for a new leader to replace her.

Boris Johnson has been elected leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party after defeating his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The former Mayor of London, famous for his mop of blonde hair and political and linguistic gaffes, promised Tory members he would deliver Brexit before 31 October, despite a seemingly interminable stalemate in Parliament.

Mr Johnson won 92,153 votes, compared to 46,656 for Mr Hunt.

​Mr Johnson will replace Theresa May in 10 Downing Street later on Tuesday, 23 July, and will set about reshuffling his Cabinet.

In his first speech as leader, Mr Johnson paid tribute to Mrs May and then moved on to describe what the future holds.

He said many people will question the wisdom of him becoming the Tory party leader and prime minister.

Mr Johnson said: "No one party has a monopoly on wisdom but you will see that we Conservatives have had the best insight to human nature...and time again it is to us that the people have turned."

He said: "I say to all the doubters, we are going to get energised and we are going to get Brexit done."

​Mr Johnson said: "We are going to unite this incredible country."

Commenting on Brexit, he said there was a need to reconcile the desire for free trade and the desire for democratic self-government. 

​The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, and Justice Secretary, David Gauke, both said they would resign if Mr Johnson won the contest.

Mr Johnson may decide to retain his rival, Jeremy Hunt, in the Foreign Office to maintain consistency and stability at a time when Britain is engaged in a diplomatic crisis with Iran over the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero.

Mrs May stepped down after repeatedly failing to get Parliament to ratify her Brexit deal.

Mr Johnson has promised to push through a “no deal” Brexit if he cannot renegotiate a new deal with the European Union, despite fears Tory rebels will ally with Labour and the Liberal Democrats to block a no deal Brexit in Parliament.

​The EU has repeatedly said it will not revive talks on the withdrawal deal and Mr Johnson will be forced to engage all his legendary charm to get French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders to budge.

​Last month Mr Johnson told TalkRadio: “We will of course be pushing our plan into action, and getting ready to come out on 31 October, come what may ... do or die.”

​The Tories are only able to govern at the moment because of the backing of 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs from Northern Ireland and they are urging Mr Johnson to renegotiate the “Irish backstop” part of Mrs May’s deal, which they fear makes Northern Ireland a separate entity from mainland Britain.

​If he is unable to get a new Brexit withdrawal deal and cannot push through a no deal Brexit, Mr Johnson will have little choice but to call a General Election, although many Tory MPs fear they would lose their seats to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party or to the Liberal Democrats, who are now the party of Remainers and have a new leader, Jo Swinson, who was chosen on Monday 22 July.

Mrs May, 62, has said she intends to stay on as Conservative MP for Maidenhead but is likely to go down in history as Britain's worst prime minister in recent memory. 

She congratulated Mr Johnson on his victory and said she would give him her "full support from the back benches".

Sputniknews.com