London - Boris Johnson is expected to be
elected leader of Britain's governing Conservative Party and the
country's next prime minister on Tuesday, tasked with following
through on his "do or die" pledge to deliver Brexit in just over
three months time.
Johnson and his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, have
spent the last month crisscrossing the country seeking to win
over the less than 200,000 Conservative Party members who will
choose Britain's new leader.
Voting closed at 1600 GMT on Monday and the result is due to
be announced on Tuesday morning. The winner 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
favourite to replace her, with several polls putting him on
around 70 percent.
He will inherit a political crisis over Britain's exit from
the European Union, currently 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 deal on the table has been rejected three times by
parliament and many lawmakers - including pro-EU rebels in the
Conservative Party - are also vowing to block Johnson 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.
"We will of course be pushing our plan into action, and
getting ready to come out on October 31st, come what may...do or
die, come what may," Johnson told TalkRadio last month.
Johnson is not likely to start announcing key ministerial
appointments until Wednesday, but his victory in the leadership
contest is expected to prompt several resignations in the deeply
divided Conservative Party.
Two junior ministers have already quit over Johnson's
willingness to leave the EU without transition arrangements and
finance minister Philip Hammond and justice minister David Gauke
have both said they plan to resign before they are sacked.
Brexit without a divorce deal - as anti-EU hardliners would
like - would abruptly wrench the world's fifth largest economy
away from the bloc. Critics say this would undermine global
growth, buffet financial markets and weaken London's position as
the pre-eminent international financial centre.