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Next Prime Minister: Boris Johnson elected new Conservative Party leader

BoJo for the win!

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Boris Johnson has been voted the next Conservative Party leader and Britain’s next Prime Minister.

The Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip beat out current Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in a two-man leadership battle voted for by around 160,000 Tory party members.

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The leadership contest was waged after current PM, Theresa May, resigned on May 24.

Initially, 10 Conservative Party MPs threw their hat into the ring – including Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Andrea Leadsom, Sajid Javid and Rory Stewart – but after rounds of voting it came down to Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt.

It was thought that Mr Johnson was the frontrunner throughout the contest, despite no-shows for two of the televised debates.

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It was announced in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London that Mr Hunt got 46,656 votes, and Mr Johnson got 92,153 votes with a 87.4% turnout.

In a speech accepting his nomination, Mr Johnson said: “We know the mantra of the campaign that just went by… it is deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn. And that what we are going to do.”

“We are going to energise the country, we going to get Brexit done on October 31, we going to take advantage of all the opportunities that it will bring in a new spirit of ‘can do’,” he continued.

“And we are once again going to believe in ourselves and what we can achieve. And like some slumbering giant, we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity, with better education, better infrastructure, more police, fantastic full-fibre broadband sprouting in every household.

“We are going to unite this amazing country.”

Read more: Eamonn Holmes calls Theresa May “the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had”

Mr Johnson’s appointment as Tory leader and Prime Minister has divided his opinion.

Ministers Alan Duncan and Anne Milton have quit their posts in protest at Johnson’s victory, while outgoing Chancellor Of The Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said he would also resign.

With Mr Johnson promising Brexit by October 31, and not ruling out a no-deal withdrawal from the EU, Mr Hammond said that this was “not something I could ever sign up to”.

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