Boris Johnson tops second round of race to become UK PM
Boris Johnson has won a second round of a leadership race in Britain’s ruling Conservative Party as he seeks to become the country’s next prime minister.
Johnson secured 126 out of 313 votes from Tory lawmakers in a Tuesday contest which saw six senior candidates competing to remain in the race for leadership of the party.
Former Brexit minister Dominic Raab came last with 30 votes and was eliminated from the rest of the contest. The five others, namely Johnson, foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, environment minister Michael Gove, aid minister Rory Stewart and interior minister Sajid Javid, made it to the next round which is due on Wednesday.
The race will continue until two candidates remain for a final vote planned for late July which will be held between some 150,000 members of the Conservative Party.
Johnson had been expected to win by a large margin in the Tuesday vote. He had gained 114 votes in the first round last Thursday.
The former foreign minister who is quite known for his time until 2016 as mayor of London has campaigned on a pledge to bring Britain out of the European Union on its new deadline of October 31 even it would be in a disorderly manner. That comes after outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May failed to secure the support of parliament for a Brexit deal she signed with the EU in November.
In a major boost to his chances of winning the race, two of the candidates who lost the first round have also declared they would support Johnson to make him the next prime minister.
Johnson and his four rivals are expected to attend a highly-anticipated BBC debate tonight where many fear he would harms his chances by making the kind of gaffes he has repeatedly been criticized for.
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