LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is set to become Britain's new Prime Minister after he won the election to Conservative party leadership convincingly.
In a voting process spread across two and a half weeks among party members, Johnson won 92153 votes, while rival candidate and current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt won 46656 votes.
He will take over as Prime Minister on July 24, Wednesday, succeeding Theresa May.
May, who has already resigned as Conservative leader, will officially tender her resignation as prime minister to the Queen Wednesday after taking part in Prime Minister's Questions.
Johnson will take office shortly afterwards, and will be facing a daunting task of breaking the impasse over Brexit.
The Brexit deal had been endorsed by EU leaders but it failed to win the UK Parliament's approval to come into force.
The United Kingdom was set to leave the European Union on March 29, but the deadline was extended after the MPs failed to reach a consensus on the Brexit deal.
The contest for a new Conservative leader was triggered by Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to resign following her successive failures in garnering support for the British government's withdrawal deal she had negotiated with the European Union.
Johnson, who led the Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, had been tipped to win from the day he announced his candidacy to the country's top political post.
Addressing his party colleagues, the former London Mayor said, 'We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring with a new spirit of can do.'
Johnson said he has three priorities - to deliver Brexit, unite the county and defeat Jeremy Corbyn, the Opposition leader.
In its first response after Johnson's election, the European Union said it is ready to re-work the Bexit deal.
US President Donald Trump congratulated Johnson, saying, 'He will be great.'
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan and Education Minister Anne Milton resigned in protest against Johnson's victory.
Chancellor Philip Hammond and Justice Secretary David Gauke had said they would resign if Johnson becomes Prime Minister.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
