Boris gets boost in race to become PM

LONDON: Boris Johnson got a boost in his campaign to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday when one of his former rivals and EU supporter Mat Hancock backed him saying he was almost certain to win the contest.

Johnson, a former London mayor and foreign minister, is way out in front in the race to become leader of the Conservative Party and despite so far deciding to steer clear of debates with his rivals, his popularity has yet to be dented.

Most of the other five hopefuls concede that Johnson, whose career has been marked by gaffes and scandals, will almost definitely make the final two in the race, when mainly pro-brexit Conservative Party members will cast the deciding votes.

But the race is on to decide who will challenge him.

Health Secretary Hancock, who dropped out of the race on Friday ater winning 20 votes in the first ballot of Conservative lawmakers, said Johnson was the best candidate to lead the party.

“Boris has run a disciplined campaign and is almost certainly going to be our next prime minister,” Hancock said in an article in The Times newspaper, which tapped him as a strong contender to become finance minister.

“My view is that we need to start coming together sooner rather than later.” Johnson, the face of the official campaign to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, has promised to lead the United Kingdom out of the EU with or without a deal. But parliament has indicated it will try to stop a no-deal Brexit, which investors warn could roil markets and shock the world economy, while the EU has said it will not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement that May agreed.

According to economists polled by Reuters, the likelihood of a no-deal exit has jumped in the past month.

TWO-HORSE RACE Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the EU, the country, the parliament and both main parties are still deeply divided over Brexit. But all of the Conservative leadership contestants agree they must take Britain out of the bloc.

Johnson won the support of 114 of 313 Conservative Party lawmakers in the first round of the leadership contest. The second round is on Tuesday with the result due around 1700 GMT.

Any candidate with 32 votes or fewer is eliminated. If all candidates have more than 32 votes, the one with the fewest is eliminated.

For the other five, the fight was on to prove they had what it takes to challenge Johnson, or at least test some of his arguments.