LONDON: Boris Johnson is expected to be elected leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party and the country’s next prime minister. He has given 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 crisscrossing the country seeking to win over the less than 200,000 Conservative Party members who will choose Britain’s new leader.
Voting closed at 1600 GMT on Monday and the result is due to be announced on Tuesday morning. The winner 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.
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. He will inherit a political crisis over Britain’s exit from the European Union, currently 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. (Agencies)
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