Boris Johnson has been elected leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and will become the next prime minister.
He beat Jeremy Hunt comfortably, winning 92,153 votes to his rival’s 46,656 in a ballot of party members.
The former mayor of London will take over from Theresa May on Wednesday.
In his victory speech, Mr Johnson promised he would deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.
Johnson vowed to “unite this amazing country and take it forward” while pulling it out of the European Union to “take advantage of all the opportunities that it (Brexit) can bring,”
He replaces the beleaguered May, who was forced out after repeatedly failing to deliver a deal for Britain to leave the EU that the British Parliament could agree on.
Johnson will take the reins of power in the U.K. just ahead of a crucial split in the road for Britain’s political future.
Britain is currently scheduled to leave the European Union on October 31 — per the wishes of a majority in Britain’s four countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) expressed in a 2016 public referendum.
Johnson has been a hardline “Brexiteer” since before the referendum, pushing for the U.K. to exit the trade and customs bloc it helped found more than half a century ago. He has vowed to deliver that exit on Oct. 31, with or without a deal in place with the EU to lay out new rules for trade and travel to replace the web of regulations built up over decades among the 28 member states.
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