Boris Johnson wave good bye to leadership battle
Johnson said having consulted colleagues and “in view of the circumstances in Parliament,” he could not be the next Conservative leader after Cameron announced he would resign last week.
Last week’s EU referendum vote, when 52 per cent of Britons voted to leave the bloc, triggered a political crisis in Britain with Cameron stepping down.
His replacement will face tough talks with Europe to mend a broken relationship.
On Thursday, May, the interior minister who campaigned to remain in the EU, also announced her candidacy to lead the party.
But it was the surprise announcement by Gove that rocked the contest, by putting a second high-profile Leave candidate in the race against Johnson.
Gove, a close friend of Cameron’s, had previously said he would back Johnson, but in a commentary in the Spectator magazine he said he had come “reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead”. His U-turn will hurt the chances of Johnson, who succeeded in widening his popularity among Conservative members and beyond as London mayor, but is viewed warily by many other MPs in the ruling party.
“If we are to make the most of the opportunities ahead we need a bold break with the past,” Gove wrote.
Gove joins May in a race to replace Cameron, who resigned after Britons rejected his argument to stay in the EU in a vote which exposed deep rifts in the country.
May formally announced her tilt for Number 10 today and in a dig at Johsnon said, “politics isn’t a game”.
May said: “My pitch is simple – I’m Theresa May and I think I’m the best person to lead this country.”
She became the clear front-runner, and in a speech pledged there will be no tax rises in a post-Brexit Budget as it would disrupt jobs and investment.
Speaking to Sky News Australia, Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the most vocal architect of Britain’s decision to leave the EU said:
“We voted to be a normal country because that’s what normal people do.
It doesn’t mean the British government will get everything right — it won’t. But we will be in charge and in general elections the people that make decisions will be held accountable.”
The main opposition Labour Party is also facing a potential leadership battle after its MPs voted no confidence in left wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Former shadow minister Angela Eagles expected to launch a Labour leadership bid this afternoon.
Another ex-shadow minister Owen Smith is also said to be considering a bid.
Corbyn rejected an attempt by Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson to persuade him to stand down, insisting he would not “betray” the party members who elected him last year.
The power vacuum is doing little to reassure jumpy markets and an increasingly angry electorate that the country can thrive on its own, outside the EU.
The Conservative Party has said it would select a new leader who can become prime minister by September 9, and that it is moving as quickly as it can.
Conservative members of parliament will narrow the field to two candidates, and the leader will then be chosen in a vote by party members.
Johnson had been the bookmakers’ favourite, and several rivals launched their campaigns by underlining his privileged background — he attended Eton, the same elite boarding school as Cameron — and attacking his perceived lack of seriousness.
Some media have dubbed May the “Anyone But Boris” candidate. In an article in the Times newspaper, she took aim at Johnson’s jokey persona by saying government was not “a game”.
Stephen Crabb, the cabinet minister in charge of pensions and welfare, declared his candidacy on Wednesday, also seeking to distinguish himself from the “Eton elite”.
He pitched himself as a “blue collar” candidate, one who had worked up from a job in a local shop.
Liam Fox, a former defence secretary who backed Brexit, said he would also put himself forward.
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