(Newswire.net — June 18, 2019) — After failing to deliver her most important task, Brexit, Theresa May has announced that she has stepped down as the UK Prime Minister. Now, 10 conservative members have applied for the role of Britain’s future political leader.
The election results have led to Boris Johnson coming first and a likely candidate for the next UK prime minister. After receiving 114 votes out of a possible 313 from his fellow conservative party members, Johnson tweeted ‘Thank you to my friends and colleagues in the Conservative and Unionist Party for your support. I am delighted to win the first ballot, but we have a long way to go.’
Jeremy Hunt finished second, with a score of 43, and Michael Gove came third with a score of 37. With such a lead in the votes, Boris Johnson could well be on the way to becoming the next prime minister. Further ballots will take place next week, which will thin the competition down to the final two candidates- who will fight to become the leader of the party, and the country.
Some newspapers have commented on ‘the desperate nature’ of the Conservative party for having voted for Boris Johnson- a man who failed dramatically as a foreign secretary, provided false information about the Leave Campaign (who wanted Brexit to occur) and has notoriously sparked outrage when commenting on some Muslim women’s outfits.
However, it is not all praise for Johnson. One tory MP, Mohammed Amin, a long-time member who chairs the Conservative Muslim Forum, has announced that he will quit if Johnson becomes prime minister. Amin criticised Boris in a harsh interview on BBC Radio 4, stated that the frontrunner is a ‘buffoon’ and criticised how he mocked ‘Muslim women who wear a niqab and burka for his own purposes.’
Now, there are 6 candidates left, all male, who are vying to become the next prime minister. To decide the new prime minister, votes will take place until only two candidates remain. Finally, a postal ballot will be sent to all those ho have paid membership to the Conservative party. What is perhaps most interesting about this, and perhaps the most controversial, is that there are only 160,000 members of the Conservative party, and it is these few (most of whom are over the age of 55 and of the top social class) who will decide the next prime minister, in a country of more than 65 million people.
The winner will be announced on the 22nd of July. Until then, contenders for the role of PM will battle it out to become the new leader of the country, and, for now, it looks like Boris Johnson has a strong chance of becoming the new prime minister of the UK.