Boris Johnson to become new UK PM: What that means for Brexit
Boris Johnson, the controversial British tabloid editor-turned-politician, was chosen as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom on Tuesday after winning an election to lead the Conservative Party.
Charged with unifying a politically divided country, Johnson will lead the U.K. in the face of an impending Oct. 31 Brexit deadline after he easily defeated Jeremy Hunt, his Conservative rival, garnering two-thirds of the votes of about 160,000 party members.
“I say to all the doubters: ‘Dude, we are going to energize the country, we are going to get Brexit done,’” Johnson, a former London mayor and British foreign secretary, said on Tuesday.
Although Britain faces a number of other challenges such as increased tensions with Iran after Tehran seized a British-flagged oil tanker, Brexit is expected to be the economic and political issue that ultimately defines Johnson’s administration.
Johnson has been one of the staunchest supporters of the U.K. leaving the 28-member European Union -- although some have questioned whether it was merely a political tool that he embraced in order to shake support for former British Prime Minister David Cameron (he resigned to make way for a new prime minister after Britain voted in support of Brexit).
In his speech on Tuesday, Johnson promised to “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn,” the leader of the opposition Labour Party. He insisted that he could get the EU to renegotiate Britain’s exit deal -- the bloc insists it won’t -- but if not, he said Britain will leave by the end of October, “come what may.”
Economists warn that a no-deal Brexit will disrupt the economy and plunge the U.K. into a recession.
Johnson, however, seems to have some support across the pond: President Trump congratulated the new prime minister -- who will officially take his spot at 10 Downing Street after Queen Elizabeth II formally asks him to form a government -- saying he is “going to do a good job” and “will get it done.”
“We have a really good man is going to be prime minister of the U.K. now, Boris Johnson,” Trump told a youth conference. “Good man. He’s tough and he’s smart. They say ‘Britain Trump,’ they call him Britain Trump, and people say that’s a good thing.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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