Boris Johnson

U.S. Department of State / Wikipedia

Seven of the ten candidates for the post of leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister of great Britain reached the second round of voting, which takes place among the members of the tories in the House of Commons of the British Parliament, reports TASS. This was after the counting of votes said the representative of the 1922 Committee of the parliamentary faction of the conservative Cheryl Gillan. Among the contenders for the post of Prime Minister remained only men, and the favourite was Boris Johnson.

In order to overcome the barrier of the first ballot, candidates needed the support of 17 MPs-conservatives, or 5% of the Tory faction in the House of Commons. This task proved too much for the former Minister of labor and pensions Esther McVey, who received the support of only nine members, ex-Deputy Finance Minister Mark Harper (10 votes) and former leader of the house of Commons (the de facto representative of the British government in the lower house of Parliament), Andrea Leeds (11).

The greatest support, 114 of 312 deputies, was a former foreign Minister, Boris Johnson. It is followed by the current head of the foreign office Jeremy hunt (43) and the Minister of the environment, food and rural development in the UK Michael Gove (37).

The results of the other candidates that passed the second round were: former Minister for Brexit Dominic Raab (27), the interior Minister of the Kingdom Sajid Javid (23), the Minister of health and social protection Matt Hancock (20), the Minister for international development, Rory Stewart (19).

“Thus, seven candidates have the right to participate in the next vote, which will take place on Tuesday 18 June,” said Gillan, who heads the 1922 Committee, which brings together rank and file Tory MPs and is responsible for the selection or change of the leader of the conservatives.

Boris Johnson has managed to thank party members for their support but acknowledged that victory is far from guaranteed. “Thank you, my friends and colleagues in the Conservative party, for your support. I am very pleased with the victory in the first round of voting, but we have a long way to go,” wrote Johnson on Twitter page.