Boris Johnson has been announced as the winner of the Conservative election, defeating Jeremy Hunt to become party leader and will be Britain’s next prime minister.
CNN reports that Johnson polled 92,153 votes as opposed to Hunt’s 46,656 votes.
He will take over as PM on Wednesday.
Watch his first speech:
Johnson began his acceptance speech by praising his predecessor, saying it had been “a privilege to serve in her cabinet”. He promised the audience he would “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn”.
Outgoing PM Theresa May congratulated Johnson, promising him her “full support from the back benches”. Almost 160,000 Conservative members were eligible to vote and turnout was 87.4%. Johnson’s share of the vote – 66.4% – is slightly lower than the share won by David Cameron in the 2005 Tory leadership election (67.6%).
Photo Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
