Boris Johnson Dominates Race to Be U.K. Leader After First Round
Boris Johnson Dominates Race to Be U.K. Leader After First Round
(Bloomberg) --
Pro-Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson took a huge lead in the race to become Britain’s next prime minister, after his Conservative colleagues in Parliament overwhelmingly backed him as their preferred candidate.
In the first round of voting on Thursday, Johnson -- who has vowed to deliver Brexit with or without a deal -- won the support of 114 Tory members of Parliament out of the 313 who voted. That was far ahead of his nearest rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, with 43.
The contest is not over and more votes among MPs are scheduled next week to narrow down the field of seven remaining candidates. But Johnson’s dominant performance means that the favorite is now certain to be one of the two contenders who make it through to the final run-off stage in the contest, if he can avoid a major mishap.
“I am delighted to win the first ballot, but we have a long way to go,” Johnson wrote on Twitter after his victory in the first round.
A Johnson victory would radically reset British politics and redefine the U.K.’s policy on its troubled divorce from the European Union. As the face of the pro-Brexit campaign in 2016, he has called for a clean, quick break with the EU, resigning from Theresa May’s cabinet last year in protest at her plan to retain the bloc’s trade rules.
Johnson has promised to take the U.K. out of the bloc on Oct. 31 with or without an agreement, a pledge that won him crucial backing from euro-skeptic Tories in Parliament.
Yet he has not fleshed out his blueprint for Brexit in any detail during the leadership campaign, sparked by May’s resignation last month over her failure to complete the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU.
Instead, Johnson has been criticized for restricting his media appearances, and keeping his policies free of detail. With such a commanding lead in the contest, the gaffe-prone favorite is playing safe, aware that one slip could seriously damage his momentum.
Johnson’s unwillingness to give a clear answer provoked an attack from one of his leadership rivals. Rory Stewart told Sky News he would seek a way to topple a government led by Johnson if he tried to force through a no-deal divorce by suspending Parliament.
Candidates who are open to a no-deal Brexit were bolstered later on Thursday when Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, the country’s top civil servant, said the government is “in pretty good shape” for such an eventuality after “one of the most impressive pieces of cross-government work” he’s experienced. “We’re ready to support any decisions ministers make as we run up to October,” he said.
The pound initially fell on the result of the ballot, as investors consider Johnson a risk because of his views on a no-deal exit. It traded unchanged at 3:30 p.m. in London, but investors are expecting more volatility as the campaign intensifies.
In a veiled dig at Johnson, who is known for his entertaining -- and sometimes offensive -- oratory, his nearest rival Hunt said Britain needs “a serious leader” to negotiate with the EU at a serious time. “The stakes have rarely been higher for our country," he wrote on Twitter.
The third-placed candidate, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, insisted he still had a chance, after winning 37 votes. “I now want to make sure that we have a proper debate about ideas,” Gove said, after the opening days of his campaign were dominated by revelations about his cocaine use.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond on Thursday evening wrote an open letter to all candidates urging them to be restrained in their spending plans. He said money was available “if we leave the EU in a smooth and orderly way” -- a warning that a no-deal departure would make it much harder for a government to meet fiscal targets while also cutting taxes or raising spending, as several have promised.
In total, seven Tory candidates won through to the second round of voting among MPs while three were knocked out.
- The other contenders going into round two are: Dominic Raab in fourth place with 27 votes, Sajid Javid (23 votes), Matt Hancock (20 votes), and Rory Stewart (19 votes).
- Candidates will need a minimum of 33 votes to make it through the second round of voting on Tuesday.
- Brexiteers Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey were eliminated, along with former chief whip Mark Harper.
- Under the leadership election rules, Conservative MPs hold a series of votes to whittle down the candidates until two are left. These two move forward to the national campaign among the party’s 160,000 grassroots members. After a postal ballot of the membership, the new party leader is expected to be announced in the week of July 22. Candidates are subject to a campaign spending limit of 150,000 pounds ($190,000).
- Grassroots members are pro-Brexit, and one poll shows a majority back no-deal.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas, Robert Hutton
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