Boris Johnson has made it onto the final ballot from which Conservative Party members will choose their Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson has made it through the final round of voting in the Conservative Party leadership contest and now has at least a 50 percent chance of being chosen as the next leader, and Prime Minister.
In 2008 he was elected as a member of the London Assembly and was later made Deputy Mayor in charge of policing, with a £3.5 billion budget.
Esther McVey (Education Secretary)
Esther McVey is one of the few Tory MPs who come from a working class background in northern England and, as such, she plays a key role in giving Johnson an insight into the aspirations of voters in the north.
James Cleverly (Chief Whip)
Cleverly is another one of the early contenders for the leadership, but he bowed out early and gave his support to Johnson, who will need someone disciplined and ultra-loyal to whip Tory MPs into doing his bidding, especially on Brexit.
Gavin Williamson (International Trade)
Williamson – booted out by Theresa May amid great acrimony – used to work for a fireplace manufacturer, which is enough of a qualification nowadays to merit the job of International Trade Secretary.
Zac Goldsmith (Environment)
Goldsmith – like Johnson an avowed opponent of the third runway at Heathrow – has a long track record on climate change and air pollution, so he is a natural choice as Environment Secretary to replace Michael Gove, who infamously stabbed Johnson in the back during the 2016 leadership election and is set to be cast out into the wilderness again as the new PM enacts some cold-blooded revenge.
Jacob Rees-Mogg (Work and Pensions)
Wealthy Old Etonian Boris Johnson has often been accused of being out of touch with the travails of the unemployed and the disabled, so don’t be surprised if he appoints Jacob Rees-Mogg to the Department of Work and Pensions.
Rees-Mogg has backed Johnson, mainly out of their shared antipathy for the European Union, and can guarantee to push through continuing austerity measures on welfare. It may also keep Rees-Mogg quiet enough to stop sniping about Johnson’s performance, should it be less than stellar.
Kwasi Kwarteng (Transport)
Kwasi Kwarteng – whose parents hail from Ghana – has been a close supporter of Boris Johnson and can be expected to be rewarded with his first Cabinet job. As the co-author of Gridlock Nation, about the causes and solutions to traffic congestion in Britain, he is the ideal man to be Transport Secretary.
Michael Fallon (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland, and the Irish border, will be a key point of delivering Brexit and Boris Johnson will need a safe pair of hands in the Northern Ireland Office, especially with no sign of Sinn Fein and the DUP re-establishing a government at Stormont.
So he may turn to Michael Fallon, a close supporter and a former Defence Secretary.
Suella Braverman (Attorney General)
So expect him to replace Geoffrey Cox with Suella Braverman, a former chair of the European Research Group, as Attorney General, a role which has been and could well be key again during the Brexit process.
Andrea Leadsom (Leader of the House of Commons)
Andrea Leadsom only quit on 22 May as leader of the House as her exasperation with Theresa May boiled over but her tenacity and diplomacy impressed during a very trying period and Johnson may entrust her with the same job, knowing she is committed to Brexit, having been on the Leave side back in 2016.
Johnny Mercer (Housing Secretary)
A former British Army officer, Johnny Mercer is a Defence Secretary in waiting. But Johnson may feel that to change the person at the top of the Ministry of Defence for a third time in three months would send out the wrong signals and confuse the top brass.
So he will reward Mercer, one of his closest supporters, with a promotion to the Cabinet and look to move him over to Defence next year or in 2021.