Johnson, Hunt square off for PM job
Britain’s next prime minister will be a man in his 50s who went to Oxford University — either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, the two finalists selected yesterday in a race to lead the governing Conservative Party.
Johnson, a flamboyant former foreign secretary and ex-mayor of London, topped a ballot of 313 Conservative lawmakers with 160 votes — more than half the total — and is runaway favourite to become the party’s next leader. He has led in all five voting rounds of a contest that began last week with 10 contenders.
Hunt, Britain’s current foreign secretary, came a distant second with 77 votes and will join Johnson in a runoff decided by 160,000 party members across the country. Hunt edged out Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who got 75 votes, after Home Secretary Sajid Javid was eliminated earlier in the day.
The winner of the runoff, due to be announced the week of July 22, will become Conservative leader and prime minister, replacing Theresa May.
Many in the party doubt that anyone can beat Johnson, a quickwitted, Latin-spouting extrovert admired for his ability to connect with voters, but mistrusted for his erratic performance in high office and his long record of inaccurate, misleading and sometimes offensive comments.
“Boris will say absolutely anything in order to please an audience,” historian Max Hastings told the BBC. “Boris would have told the passengers on the Titanic that rescue was imminent.”
Hunt, who has held several senior government posts including culture secretary and health secretary, is considered an experienced, competent minister, but unexciting. He has billed himself as the “serious” candidate, in implicit contrast to Johnson. He will try to halt Johnson’s momentum by picking away at his plans for Brexit as the two speak to meetings of party members across the country over the next few weeks.
Both Johnson and Hunt vow they will lead Britain out of the European Union, a challenge that defeated May. She quit as Conservative leader earlier this month after failing to win Parliament’s backing for her Brexit deal.
Brexit, originally scheduled to take place on March 29, has been postponed twice amid political deadlock in London.