Boris Johnson Elected New Conservative Party Leader, Will Move into No. 10 Downing Street

July 23, 2019 (EIRNS)— As widely expected Boris Johnson has won the leadership race for the Conservative Party and will now move into No. 10 Downing Street as Her Majesty’s next prime minister. He will officially take office on July 24, Wednesday afternoon, when he will also present himself to the Queen. He won 66%, 92,153 votes, to Jeremy Hunt’s 46,656. Turnout was 87.4% among 159,320 party members. While he received more votes than other prime ministers, it is not considered spectacular. David Cameron had received 68%, when he ran in the last decade. While he received a higher percentage than Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the previous Labour Party race, it must be noted that the Labour Party has 600,000 members.

In his first speech before his ministers and party staff, he repeated his campaign mantra: “Deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.” He added that “some wag” had pointed out that the initials spelled out “dud,” and he went on to joke that the final “e, for energize,” had been left out. “I say to all the doubters: Dude, we are going to energize the country!” He said he would “get Brexit done by Oct. 31” with a “new spirit of can-do.”

President Donald Trump, upon hearing of Johnson’s election, tweeted: “He will be great!”

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn stated of Johnson’s election: “After almost a decade of austerity, we need a prime minister on the side of the many, not the few,” pointing out he had won the support of fewer than 100,000 “unrepresentative” Conservative Party members by “promising tax cuts for the richest, presenting himself as the bankers’ best friend, and pushing for a damaging no-deal Brexit.”

Labour is holding a rally in Parliament Square on July 25 demanding a general election.

Johnson will be busy over the next days appointing cabinet ministers to positions vacated by ministers who resigned because they did not agree with his no deal Brexit policy. This includes Alan Duncan, who quit the Foreign Office, and Anne Milton as Education Minister, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Justice Secretary David Gauke, and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart are expected to resign in the coming days. He will also have to deal with the Tories’ wafer-thin parliamentary working majority, which could be whittled down further next week to two, if the Liberal Democrats win the Brecon and Radnorshire by-elections.