Jeremy Hunt, left, and Boris Johnson, right, pictured outside 10 Downing Street. (File)The ruling Conservative Party said on Tuesday the successor to former prime minister Theresa May would be announced on July 23.
Brexit campaigner and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are in the race to take charge at 10 Downing Street. Hunt, once an opponent of leaving the European Union who has now promised to exit with a deal, replaced Johnson as foreign minister in July after serving six years as health minister.
“The announcement of the next leader of the Conservative Party will be made on Tuesday 23 July. This process has been agreed with both candidates,” the Conservative Party said in a statement.
The two candidates were chosen from a field of 10 by the Conservative party’s 313 MPs. Postal ballots are set to be issued to an estimated 166,000 Tory party members between July 6 and 8, with polls set to close by 5 pm on July 22. The results will be declared the next day.
A candidate achieving more than 50 per cent of the vote among party members will be declared Leader of the Party.
Despite a series of scandals in the past and negative publicity around a domestic row with his girlfriend, Johnson has dominated the race since May announced a month ago that she would step down after failing to get her Brexit deal ratified by parliament.
Johnson has pledged to leave the European Union on October 31 with or without a deal. The EU has said it will not renegotiate the divorce deal that May agreed last year and the British parliament has indicated it will block a no-deal exit.
(With PTI inputs)
