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Boris Johnson is expected to be named Britain's next PM

Other News Materials 23 July 2019 13:54 (UTC +04:00)

Boris Johnson is expected to be elected leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party and the next prime minister on Tuesday, tasked with following through on his “do or die” pledge to deliver Brexit in just over three months time, reports Trend citing to Reuters.

Johnson and his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, have spent the last month crossing the country seeking to win over the fewer than 200,000 Conservative Party members who will choose Britain’s new leader.

The winner will be announced at about 1045 GMT at an event near parliament and will formally take over as prime minister on Wednesday afternoon, succeeding Theresa May, who stepped down over her failure to get parliament to ratify her Brexit deal.

Johnson, a former London mayor who resigned as foreign minister a year ago over May’s Brexit plans, is the clear favorite to replace her, with several polls putting him on around 70 percent.

“It’s all to play for,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived at his office in Westminster.

He will inherit a political crisis over Britain’s exit from the European Union, due to take place on Oct. 31. Johnson must persuade the EU to revive talks on a withdrawal deal that it has been adamant cannot be reopened, or else lead Britain into the economic uncertainty of an unmanaged departure.

The only divorce deal on the table has been rejected three times by parliament and many lawmakers - including pro-EU rebels in the Conservative Party - are vowing to block Johnson from trying to take Britain out of the EU without a deal.

He has said he would ramp up preparations for a no-deal to try to force the EU’s negotiators to make changes to the accord.

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