Boris Johnson favored to lead Britain after May

Trump calls US-born politician ‘friend of mine’

LONDON – A U.S.-born British politician who told USA TODAY that the chance of him becoming prime minister was about as likely as finding Elvis on Mars or being reincarnated as an olive is the front-runner to take over for outgoing British leader Theresa May, according to an opinion poll by YouGov.

Boris Johnson was born in New York City to British parents but renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016 amid an IRS crackdown on the global earnings of dual nationals. He last lived in the USA as a 5-year-old.

“Boris Johnson is a friend of mine. He has been very, very nice to me, very supportive,” President Donald Trump said in July last year after Johnson resigned as May’s foreign secretary over her handling of Britain’s attempt to leave the European Union – the Brexit.

Like Trump, Johnson enjoys the limelight and attracts controversy. He apologized to the nation of Papua New Guinea for comparing infighting in his Conservative Party to “Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing.” He was fired as a journalist for making up a quote.

May’s fraught three-year tenure in office will officially end June 7, she announced Friday. The 62-year-old Conservative Party leader will remain as a caretaker prime minister until party lawmakers and members vote to elect a successor. In Britain, the public elects a party, not a candidate, meaning the government stays the same until there is an election. The process is likely to take about six weeks. First, Conservative Party lawmakers will hold a series of votes to whittle the field to two candidates. Then, those candidates will be voted on by party members across the country.

British-American goodwill has accrued through two World Wars, the Cold War, several conflicts in the Middle East and close cooperation in fighting international terrorism. Often, it’s said, the two nations are divided only by a common language.

So it’s unlikely that Britain’s next leader would rewrite one of the closest diplomatic, economic and military alliances in history: its “special relationship” with the United States, as coined by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1946.

Trump has described his relationship with May as the “highest level of special,” but the two clashed on policy – his Muslim travel ban, in particular.

“The special relationship hasn’t been so special recently,” said Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary, University of London. “Partly because the president couldn’t stop himself criticizing the way May had gone about Brexit and partly because she and other British politicians have been a little wary about associating themselves too closely with a guy who most Brits (rightly or wrongly) treat as either downright dangerous or a laughingstock, or both. Whoever takes over won’t be looking for a full-on (b)romance.”

Richard Whitman, a professor of politics at the University of Kent, said the “chemistry between May and Trump was awkward.” He said Johnson-Trump would be a “clash for the title of the greatest showman.”

“The special relationship hasn’t been so special recently . ... Whoever takes over won’t be looking for a full-on (b)romance.” Tim Bale Queen Mary, University of London, on U.S.-British ties