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British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks ahead of Prime Minister Theresa May during her last campaign visit at the National Conference Centre on June 7, 2017 in Solihull, United Kingdom.
May pledged on Friday to continue in her role as prime minister, but speculation has intensified as to who could potentially replace the Tory leader.
“It is impossible to imagine May’s MPs allowing her to lead the party into another election. Her hopes of implementing her domestic reform agenda have turned to dust,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.
“The front-runners to succeed her, possibly by acclamation, would be (Brexit minister) David Davis, (U.K. Foreign Secretary) Boris Johnson and (Home Secretary) Amber Rudd,” Rahman said.
U.K. bookmakers slashed the betting odds for Johnson to replace May as prime minister from 66-1 to 5-1 on Friday morning as the election results filtered in. Johnson also appeared to fuel the rumors when reporters asked whether he was supportive of the prime minister on Friday — he said it was still “early days.”
Johnson would appear to be a good fit with Trump. Should Johnson become prime minister, the U.S. president could probably expect an amiable relationship similar to the one he has enjoyed with May. After Trump was elected, Johnson reversed his position on the Republican and said he was “excited” about the Republican’s presidency. (Previously, he said Trump suffered from a “stupefying ignorance” that made him “unfit for office.”)
The Foreign secretary recently argued he could not see any reason for Trump’s upcoming visit to the U.K. to be canceled, despite a new furor over the president’s tweets attacking Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, after the deadly terror attack in the city, the third in the U.K. in less than three months.
