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TEHRAN, Jun 20 - A final round of internal votes in Britain’s ruling Conservative Party to pick a new leader and the next prime minister of the country has ended with the elimination of one more candidate as the current and former foreign ministers reach a postal ballot of Tory grassroots members.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The vote held on Thursday saw environment minister Michael Gove eliminated with 75 out of 313 votes from Conservative lawmakers as ex-foreign minister and former London mayor Boris Johnson increased his lead to 160 votes, or 51 percent of the ballot.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt ended with 77, just two votes more than Gove. One vote was invalid.
Johnson and Hunt will now face off in a postal ballot of 160,000 grassroots members later next month to win the party’s leadership and replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.
Bookmakers say Johnson, who campaigned for Britain’s departure from the European Union before the Brexit referendum in 2016, is almost certain to win the members' vote and become the next prime minister.
Hunt, a so-called Remainer, has opposed Johnson on his promise that he will implement Brexit on its deadline of October 31 with or without a deal. The former health minister replaced Johnson last summer when he resigned from the cabinet protesting against May’s Brexit strategy.
Many believe Hunt will have no plan on Brexit but to continue on the path taken by May who suffered three defeats in the parliament on her divorce deal with the EU.
May announced her resignation on June 7 to trigger the leadership race in the Tory party.
Source: Press TV
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