Our new prime minister, Boris Johnson (Picture: AP)

Boris Johnson has been elected as our new prime minister.

The former foreign secretary was voted in by an overwhelming majority of Conservative Party members, beating Jeremy Hunt on a promise to leave the European Union, with or without a deal, by October 31.

Johnson won 92,153 votes to Hunt’s 46,656, taking a 66.4 per cent share of the vote, which is actually lower than David Cameron’s winning margin in the 2005 leadership contest (67.6 per cent).

He said it’s an ‘extraordinary honour and privilege’ to be elected as Tory leader in his victory speech today.


In typically Johnson fashion, he then asked the audience: ‘I look at you all this morning and I ask you, do you feel daunted? Do you feel daunted?’

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Boris Johnson received twice as many votes as Jeremy Hunt (Picture: Ben Cawthra/LNP)

Jeremy Hunt congratulates Boris Johnson on winning the leadership of the Conservative Party (Picture: AP)

The new Conservative party leader Boris Johnson arrives back at his office in Westminster (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Boris Johnson makes a speech to his campaign team (Picture: Andrew Parsons / i-Images)

He added: ‘I think you know that we can do it [Brexit] and that the people in this country have trust in us to do it and we know that will do it.’



Johnson then vowed, as he has throughout the election campaign, to ‘deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.’

He added: ‘That’s what we’re going to do. We will defeat Jeremy Corbyn.’

He will take over as prime minister tomorrow after Theresa May’s final PMQs in the House of Commons.

Mrs May will then head to Buckingham Palace to formally resign and recommend Johnson as her successor.

The outgoing prime minister sparked a Tory leadership election in May when she announced her resignation after repeatedly failing to deliver a Brexit deal through Parliament.

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Boris Johnson wins by a landslide in the Tory leadership contest (Picture: Sky)

Boris Johnson has promised to leave the European Union by October 31 (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd and Boris’s sister Rachel Johnson celebrate his win (Picture: Getty)

Boris Johnson’s family members take their seat inside the QE2 convention centre for the Tory leadership announcement (Picture: PA)

No less than 13 Tory MPs entered the leadership contest, which was eventually put to a postal vote and decided by the 160,000 or so Conservative Party members.

Contenders such as Sajid Javid, Michael Gove and Rory Stewart were all knocked out during several rounds of votes by other Tory MPs.

Jeremy Corbyn called for a general election following Mrs May’s resignation and will likely make a fresh demand for a public vote now Johnson is in power.

But so long as Johnson has the support from most MPs, he does not have to hold an election.

It’s not the first time a prime minister has been decided without a general election.

Labour did it in 2007 when Gordon Brown took over as prime minister from Tony Blair.

Michael Gove’s bottom lip is out as he arrives by car at the Houses of Parliament (Picture: Reuters)

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt lost to Boris Johnson (Picture: PA)

He waited three years until 2010 before holding an election.

A growing number of cabinet ministers have said they cannot serve under a Johnson led government over his ‘do or die’ stance on Britain leaving the EU by October 31.

Education minister Anne Milton resigned just hours before Johnson became the Tory leader.

The Chancellor Philip Hammond said he will step down from his role over Johnson’s willingness to take the UK out of the EU without a deal.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Hammond said he would quit before Mr Johnson could fire him.

He said: ‘No, I’m sure I’m not going to be sacked because I’m going to resign before we get to that point.

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‘Assuming that Boris Johnson becomes the next prime minister, I understand that his conditions for serving in his government would include accepting a no-deal exit on 31 October and that’s not something that I could ever sign up to.



‘It’s very important that the prime minister is able to have a chancellor who is closely aligned with him in terms of policy and I therefore intend to resign to Theresa May before she goes to the palace to tender her own resignation on Wednesday.’

Justice Secretary David Gauke also ruled himself out in an announcement published in the Times.

Mr Gauke said the newly elected Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson could take votes from the Tories in the event of a no-deal exit.

Mr Hammond says he will leave before Mr Johnson can sack him (Picture: Reuters)

David Gauke says crashing out the EU with no deal would mean national ‘humiliation’ (Picture: Reuters)

He said: ‘If we were to narrow our support to purely being those in favour of a no-deal Brexit I think we would be significantly out of touch with a lot of people who have traditionally voted Conservative – those who live in London, the home counties, and various other relatively affluent parts of the country.’

International development secretary Rory Stewart said he has just hours left as a cabinet minister.

Mr Stewart says he told Mr Johnson in person he would resign and try to block a no-deal Brexit if he won the leadership contest.

The response he got seems rather awkward, according to i News.

He said: ‘I wasn’t quite sure he remembered exactly who I was. ‘I was in the leadership race, I was the guy not in favour of a no-deal Brexit’. He seemed disappointed and surprised by all this and we parted amicably.’

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