Brexit campaigner Johnson far ahead in race to lead UK

Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary who helped lead the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, continued his progress towards the top job on Thursday when he trounced his rivals again in the race to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May.

In a fourth ballot of Conservative lawmakers, which eliminated interior minister Sajid Javid, Johnson was again way out in front of his rivals. The result of a fifth and final ballot was due on Thursday.

Johnson, who served as London mayor for eight years, has cast himself as the only candidate who can deliver Brexit on Oct.31 while fighting off the electoral threats of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.

Despite a series of scandals in the past and criticism about his attention to detail, Johnson has dominated the race since May announced a month ago that she would step down after repeatedly failing to get her Brexit deal ratified by parliament.

Johnson, 55, has increased his share of the vote of Conservative lawmakers at each of the four ballots so far: 114 out of 313 votes in the first ballot on June 13, 126 on June 18, 143 on Wednesday and 157 on Thursday. Environment minister Michael Gove was second with 61 votes and foreign minister Jeremy Hunt third with 59. Javid got 34.

After the final lawmakers’ ballot leaves just two candidates remaining, around 160,000 Conservative Party grassroots members will vote on who will be their leader - and Britain’s next prime minister - by the end of July. Bookmakers give Johnson an 89% probability of winning.

Johnson has pledged to leave the European Union on Oct.31 with or without a deal. The EU has said it will not renegotiate the divorce deal that May agreed last year and the British parliament has indicated it will block a no-deal exit.

He has not addressed how he will solve that riddle.

The rise of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, cast by many as simply “Boris,” to pole position for leading the world’s fifth largest economy is the grandest twist so far in a career that has morphed from journalism via TV-show fame, comedy and scandal into the brinkmanship of Britain’s Brexit crisis.

Born in New York, Johnson was educated at Eton, Britain’s most exclusive school, and at Balliol College, Oxford. He began his career at a management consultancy in the City of London but dropped out after a week.

He then turned to journalism but was sacked from The Times newspaper for making up quotes.

Hired by The Daily Telegraph, Johnson infuriated European officials and delighted then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by lampooning the European Economic Community establishment with a host of sometimes misleading reports from Brussels.

After entering politics, he was sacked from the Conservative Party’s policy team while in opposition for lying about an extra-marital affair.

But his sometimes shambolic personal appearance and disarmingly self-deprecating confidence allowed him to survive both gaffes and scandal. He won two terms as London mayor from 2008 to 2016.

In 2016, he became one of the most recognisable faces of the Brexit campaign which won the referendum with 52% of the votes cast versus 48% for staying in.

His bid to replace David Cameron, who resigned after the referendum, was foiled by Gove who pulled out of his campaign saying Johnson was unsuitable for the job.

After May won the premiership, she prompted consternation in European capitals by appointing Johnson foreign minister. He resigned in 2018 over May’s handling of Brexit.

“We must leave the EU on Oct.31, with or without a deal, so we can begin to unite our country, restore trust in our politics, and move beyond Brexit to focus on delivering for everyone,” Johnson said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned that there is “enormous hostility” in the European Union to allowing Britain to delay Brexit once again to seek new concessions from Brussels.

“While I have endless patience, some of my (EU leader) colleagues have lost their patience... with the UK and there is enormous hostility to any further extension,” Varadkar said.

“I think an extension could really only happen if it were to facilitate something like a general election in the UK or something like a second referendum if they decided to have one,” he said.

Reuters / Agence France-Presse