Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, has achieved an unsurprising victory in the battle for Conservative Party leadership. This means the occasionally controversial politician will soon also be the United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister.
Johnson officially won the Conservative Party’s leadership race on Tuesday after receiving 92,153 votes. In comparison, his opponent, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, acquired 46,656 votes.
Johnson’s takeover signifies a much more aggressive political stance by the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, especially on the issue of Brexit. After Parliament rejected current Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement from the European Union, the embattled May decided that Brexit was something she could not firmly achieve.
In an emotional speech outside 10 Downing Street, May said she had “done everything” she could to convince members of Parliament to back the Brexit withdrawal agreement she had negotiated with the European Union. But, she said it was with “deep regret” that she had ultimately failed to reach a consensus among lawmakers.
In response to May’s failings, Johnson said that Britain would indeed exit the EU on the scheduled date, October 31st. The catch? Though Johnson, according to Fox News, “will push to the EU to negotiate despite the bloc saying it won’t reopen negotiations,” the soon-to-be Prime Minister attests that if a deal isn't indeed possible, he will exit the EU regardless in what some are calling a no-deal Brexit.
Even Johnson’s own party is divided on this extremity, with three Conservative cabinet members resigning before Johnson was officially announced, attesting they’d rather resign than aid in achieving a no-deal Brexit.
As Johnson faces other issues, such as Iran’s continued aggressivity abroad which has resulted in the seizure of several British ships, one must wonder if Johnson’s ambitious ideas will come to fruition, or if the cold reality of politics will hit him in the face as it has with many in politics past.