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Brexit: Boris Johnson rules himself out of Conservative leader race

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Boris Johnson rules himself out of Conservative leader race

Ex-London mayor Boris Johnson has ruled himself out of the race to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister.

In a speech in London - billed as his campaign launch - Mr Johnson said he did not believe he could provide the leadership or unity needed. It comes after Justice Secretary and fellow Brexit campaigner Michael Gove's surprise announcement on Thursday morning that he would run for leader. Home Secretary Theresa May is among the candidates. Nominations shut at noon.

Also in the running are Energy minister Andrea Leadsom and former Defence Secretary Liam Fox - who campaigned to leave the EU - and Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, who backed Remain. The contest was sparked after David Cameron announced he would resign following the EU referendum result, which saw the UK vote by 52% to 48% to leave the EU. Mr Johnson's unexpected - and dramatic - announcement that he would not stand for Tory leader or prime minister, positions he is long thought to have harboured ambitions for, has dramatically altered the race.

Who's in the running?

  • Home Secretary Theresa May: The 59-year-old is the bookies' favourite to win the contest. She's held the Home Office brief - often something of a poisoned chalice - since 2010, and is a former Tory party chairman. She says she can offer the "strong leadership" and unity the UK needs, and promised a "positive vision" for the country's future. She backed staying in the EU.
  • Justice Secretary Michael Gove: The 48-year-old former newspaper columnist was a key figure in the party's modernisation that led to its return to power in 2010. He was a reforming, if controversial, education secretary between 2010 and 2014, and now holds the Ministry of Justice brief. He was a leading player in the Brexit campaign - which put a strain on his close friendship with David Cameron. He has pitched himself as the candidate that can provide "unity and change."
  • Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb: The 43-year-old was promoted to the cabinet in 2014 as Welsh secretary, and boosted his profile earlier this year when he took over as work and pensions secretary. A rising star of the Tory party he has promised to unite the party and country following the referendum result and provide stability. Raised on a council estate by a single mother, he has a back story to which many Tory MPs are attracted. Backed Remain.
  • Energy minister Andrea Leadsom: The 53-year-old former banker and fund manager was one of the stars of the Leave campaign. A former district councillor, she became MP for South Northamptonshire in 2010 and - after serving as a junior Treasury minister and as a member of the Treasury select committee - she was made a junior minister in the energy and climate change department in May last year.
  • Former cabinet minister Liam Fox: It's second time around for the 54-year-old ex-defence secretary and GP, who came a close third in the 2005 leadership contest. His cabinet career was cut short in 2011 when he resigned following a lobbying row. A Brexit campaigner, and on the right of the party, he has said whoever becomes PM must accept "the instruction" of the British people and not "try to backslide" over EU membership.
    Addressing reporters in a new conference just moments before the deadline for nominations passed, Mr Johnson said the next Conservative leader would have to unify his party and ensure that Britain stood tall in the world.
"Having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in Parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me," he said.

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said it was an "astonishing turn of events".

Mr Gove - who has pitched himself as a candidate that can offer "unity and change" and deliver the Brexit result- had been expected to back Mr Johnson for the leadership.
But he said he had concluded that "Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead".

Justice minister and Leave campaigner Dominic Raab, who switched sides from supporting Mr Johnson to Mr Gove, said the former London mayor's "cavalier" attitude had scuppered the plan.

_90166517_election_conservative_leader_inf624.png
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36672591
 

Zaptruder

Banned
"I have to spend years negotiating the exit of Britain from the EU, just to secure worse results all across the board in the best case scenario?

Well, fuck that. Bailing outtttt!"
 
Well that's certainly a list...

Taking back our country's sovereignty and democracy by giving power to someone nobody voted for

Amazing
 

Jackpot

Banned
Fucked up the country and won't even pick up the mess.

Stephen Crabb and Liam Fox are both borderline fundamentalist Christians.
 

UglyPony

Member
Sorry, I cant help but laugh out loud at this cluster fuck the UK got themselves into. So no one wants to pull the article 50 trigger now? Or what?
 

Tosyn_88

Member
Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn

This hasn't been more appropriate if ever. Some just want to watch the world burn. The climate change denials, the wild life extinction denials, the income disparity denials, gun violence denials, there's just too many trump type peanuts coming out of the woodwork
 

Tosyn_88

Member
"I have to spend years negotiating the exit of Britain from the EU, just to secure worse results all across the board in the best case scenario?

Well, fuck that. Bailing outtttt!"

Then you have strong leavers denying the issue at hand, even though strong evidence keeps on confirming everyone's fears, they keep denying it, someone needs to slap em to wake up to reality
 

Busty

Banned
Boris is obsessed with Churchill (and has written books on him IIRC) and always talked about wanting to leave a legacy just as he did. His father was a prominent European figure and he himself speaks excellent French though he apparently makes a point of never doing so in public.

You have left a legacy Boris, you've left a legacy of ego and abject failure. You joined the LEAVE campaign to further your own career thinking that it would never actually happen. And what happened? Lo and behold, LEAVE did too.

And what did Boris do? Run off. There is no retreating to lick your wounds and reappear at a later date on this one, Boris.

You bet everything, won and yet still lost.

*golf clap*

Good job, man.
 
This hasn't been more appropriate if ever. Some just want to watch the world burn. The climate change denials, the wild life extinction denials, the income disparity denials, gun violence denials, there's just too many trump type peanuts coming out of the woodwork

While true, Boris Johnson is no Trump supporter, he often speaks up against his statements.
 

Tosyn_88

Member
I see some of those candidates are remainers. What are the odds one or them will not honor brexit if made leader?

Theresa May can be a Thatcher reborn and dismiss the vote by countering it with actual well educated facts that everyone should know. She can offer a second referendum once she's confident the people know the facts, not scare monger nonsense, people need to know exactly the pros and cons of a remain or exit
 
"shit, I didn't expect to actually WIN... well, I don't want to put in the effort, I'm out"

What a twat, all he did was purely to gain Camerons seat sooner or later, but now that Brexit is a reality and at least for the short term it's a catastrophe, why would he want to put his name on that?
He wished for Brexit to fail by a short margin I'm sure, but now he'll run away with his tail between his legs. All that stupid gambling for his personal gain on the back of a whole nation/continent, well done Boris and co.!
 
I'm guessing he doesn't have enough time to both be Britain's PM and Trump's VP, so he decided to forgo the position that gave him less power...
 

Jackpot

Banned
Home Secretary Theresa May: The second Home Secretary in all of history to be found in contempt of court.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove: Pro death penalty, self-declared Zionist, called for the NHS to be dismantled, staunchly pro-Iraq war

Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb: Anti gay marriage and still recruits interns from pray-the-gay-away conversion sects

Energy minister Andrea Leadsom: Little presence at all with minor scandals in tax evasion and abstained from voting on gay-marriage

Former cabinet minister Liam Fox: Called for the abolition of abortion, anti-gay rights, staunchly pro-Iraq war
 
Well that's certainly a list...

Taking back our country's sovereignty and democracy by giving power to someone nobody voted for

Amazing

Er, both May and Gove are elected MPs, just as Cameron was.

They're all a shower of cunts, but this notion of a party switching its leader whilst in government being 'undemocratic' was ludicrous when Gordon Brown was on the receiving end of it, and it's just as ludicrous now.
 

Cwarrior

Member
Welp I would rather they revive Hitler and let him run the country then Theresa May.

Not very good choices across the board.

Boris playing the long game, his allowing the next PM to take the heat and fuck up so the country is going to begging him to become next PM by election time.
 
I see some of those candidates are remainers. What are the odds one or them will not honor brexit if made leader?

The only way they could do that is immediately calling a General Election and standing on a platform of ignoring the referendum. Then they can claim they have a mandate to do so.

The possibility of an election this year is real, it's the true reason the PLP are trying to oust Corbyn now since they know he'd tank their vote.
 

weekev

Banned
Home Secretary Theresa May: The second Home Secretary in all of history to be found in contempt of court.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove: Pro death penalty, self-declared Zionist, called for the NHS to be dismantled, staunchly pro-Iraq war

Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb: Anti gay marriage and still recruits interns from pray-the-gay-away conversion sects

Energy minister Andrea Leadsom: Little presence at all with minor scandals in tax evasion and abstained from voting on gay-marriage

Former cabinet minister Liam Fox: Called for the abolition of abortion, anti-gay rights, staunchly pro-Iraq war

Yeah Boris would have been the best of a bad bunch. I really hope Gove doesn't get in. He is the definition of a human wankstain.
 

Steiner84

All 26 hours. Multiple times.
how the brits havent allready tarred and feather this guy and chased him out the country is beyond me. what a tool
 
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