The hard brexiter Boris Hohnon won yesterday the Tory leadership election and will take on in office as PM of the United Kingdom succeeding Theresa May today.
He defeated Jeremy Hunt (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs )who had already announced he would resign from his position as head of the Foreign Office in the event Johnson was elected.
Johnson obtained 92,153 votes -66% of party members- against the 46,656 supporting Hunt.
The new PM’s tenure at 10 Downing Street starts off with a Government crisis as other members of the Cabinet had announced as well they would resign if the hard brexiter won the election.
“Thank you all for the incredible honour you have done me. The time for campaigning is over and the time for work begins to unite our country and party, deliver Brexit and defeat Corbyn. I will work flat out to repay your confidence”, said the new PM after he has been elected today.
Johnson summarised his program from his Twitter officical account as well: “It’s time to get to work to deliver Brexit by 31st October, unite the party, defeat Jeremy Corbyn, and energise our country!”
It’s also time to remember that Johnson’s compromise on delivering Brexit includes a “hard divorce” between the EU and UK, or what it is the same a Brexit with no agreement.
Leaving aside the Brexit challenge among the deepest divide between UK citizens, Boris Johnson must face other two crisis as he takes on the office. The first one Iran-UK escalation of tensions with the seizure of UK-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero just some days ago at Hormuz Strait. And the second one, a Cabinet crisis.
David Gauke (Justice Secretary), Rory Stewart (Secretary of State for International Development), The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, and Anne Milton (Education Minister) have announced they will leave the Cabinet and more resignations are expected before the new PM announces the key names for his so called by some British media “Brexit Government”.
Former London Mayor and Foreign Affairs and Common Wealth Secretary, Boris Johnson holds both the US and the brittish nationality and has more than once said that UK should not be affraid to leave the European Union without an exit agreement.
Below.-Foreign Secretary arrives at Tokyo Metropolitan Government to call on Governor Koike, and photographed here with a GREAT branded Aston Martin Rapide. (c)British Embassy Tokyo under CCBY 2.0 on Wikimedia Commons.
He shows skeptical on the total integration path chosen by the European Union : ” The US has a single culture, a single language, a single and powerful global brand, and a single government that commands national allegiance. It has a national history, a national myth, a demos that is the foundation of their democracy. The EU has nothing of the kind. In urging us to embed ourselves more deeply in the EU’s federalising structures, the Americans are urging us down a course they would never dream of going themselves. That is because they are a nation conceived in liberty. They sometimes seem to forget that we are quite fond of liberty, too.”
Image over the headline.- Boris Johnson (PM of the UK). © Government of UK
Related Eastwind links:
Theresa May resigns.- Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt top the tentative list to succeed her
The International Energy Agency, ready to act on the Strait of Hormuz situation, if needed
Related external links:
Boris Jonson’s tweet thanking he has been elected as PM of the UK
