Boris Johnson, one of the biggest voices in the Brexit movement, won the Conservative Party leadership race and will become the U.K.’s next prime minister.
The leadership contest took place after Theresa May announced she would resign as prime minister following repeated rejections of the Brexit deal she struck with the EU last year.
How Johnson will proceed with Brexit now will be an immediate focus, given an impending deadline to leave the bloc of Oct. 31, and still no deal agreed upon by the U.K. parliament.Johnson is infamous for his off-the-cuff remarks and somewhat eccentric character, and he has long been an influential and outspoken member of the Conservative Party. His decision to support the "Leave" vote ahead of the U.K.
Since then, Johnson has made more controversial remarks over Brexit; most recently insisting that the U.K. must leave the EU on Oct. 31 "do or die, come what may" despite widespread concern over what a "no-deal" departure could mean for U.K. businesses and the economy. Leaving without a deal with the EU would mean there is no transition period for the country to get used to life outside the EU's trading bloc. Trade and transport links between the EU and U.K. could therefore be severely affected.
Johnson also got into hot water in recent weeks for his apparent reluctance to support the U.K.'s ambassador to the U.S.Following the announcement of Johnson's victory on Tuesday, U.K. opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted that Johnson had only won the support of fewer than 100,000 Conservative Party members by "promising tax cuts for the richest, presenting himself as the bankers' friend, and pushing for a damaging no-deal Brexit.
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