It is anticipated that Boris Johnson will be voted leader of the ruling Conservative Party of Britain and next prime minister of the country on Tuesday, charged with following through on his “do or die” commitment to achieve Brexit in just over three months.
Johnson and his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, spent the last month crossing the nation trying to win over the less than 200,000 members of the Conservative Party who will choose the new leader of Britain.
Voting closed on Monday at 1600 GMT and the outcome will be announced on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday evening, the winner will officially take over as prime minister, succeeding Theresa May, who stepped down on her inability to get parliament to ratify her Brexit agreement.
Johnson, a former mayor of London who resigned as foreign minister over May’s Brexit plans a year ago, is the obvious favourite to replace her, with several surveys placing him at around 70%.
He will inherit a political crisis over the exit of Britain from the European Union, presently scheduled for October 31. Johnson must persuade the EU to revive talks on a withdrawal agreement that it has been adamant cannot be reopened, or else lead Britain into an unmanaged financial uncertainty.
Parliament has dismissed the only agreement on the table three times, and many lawmakers – including the Conservative Party’s pro-EU rebels – also vow to block Johnson’s attempt to get Britain out of the EU without an agreement.
He said he would ramp up preparations for a no-deal in an attempt to force EU negotiators to create adjustments to the agreement.
“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 unlikely to begin to announce important ministerial appointments until Wednesday, but his leadership contest victory is anticipated to prompt several resignations in the deeply divided Conservative Party.
Two junior ministers have already left Johnson’s desire to leave the EU without transitional arrangements, and Finance Minister Philip Hammond and Justice Minister David Gauke both said they were planning to resign before being sacked.
As anti-EU hardliners would like, Brexit without a divorce agreement would shatter suddenly the world’s fifth biggest economy away from the bloc. Critics argue this would undermine worldwide development, buffet financial markets, and weaken the pre-eminent international financial center position of London.