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Boris Johnson has secured the highest number of votes in the first ballot to select the Conservative party leader and next prime minister. Three contenders - Mark Harper, Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey - have been knocked out, in the secret ballot held in the House of Commons. Mr Johnson received 114 votes, Jeremy Hunt was second with 43, and Michael Gove third with 37 votes. Seven candidates progress to the next round of voting next week. The two most popular MPs will be put to Tory party members in a final vote later this month. The winner of the...

Theresa May is to make a statement to MP's at 15:30 GMT amid reports Tuesday's vote on her Brexit deal is being delayed. That will be followed by a statement from the Commons leader Andrea Leadsom-and then a statement from the Brexit secretary on Article 50. Two cabinet sources have told the BBC's Laura Keunssberg Tuesday's planned Brexit vote will be delayed. There is not yet any official confirmation of the move. Downing Street had been insisting the vote would go ahead, despite Mrs. May being widely expected to lose it.....

British Prime Minister Theresa May's government has been found in contempt of Parliament for the first time in history in a 311-293 vote in the House of Commons after a refusal to publish its full legal analysis on Brexit. Andrea Leadsom, leader of the Commons, announced immediately after the vote that the government would publish the complete document.

Andrea Leadsom has pulled out of the contest to become the next Conservative Party leader and UK PM - with Theresa May now set to succeed David Cameron. Mrs Leadsom said she did not believe she had sufficient support to lead a "strong and stable government". She also said a nine-week leadership campaign at such a "critical time" for the UK would be "highly undesirable". The energy minister said Mrs May was "ideally placed" to implement Brexit, and wished her the "greatest success". A source close to the energy minister told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg "the abuse has been...

The Times quoted the mother of three as saying having children meant she had "a very real stake" in Britain's future... It is the Conservative Party membership that votes on who should be leader and there may well be some who would like their next leader and prime minister to be a mother...

But while Mrs. May is the establishment’s – and the Remainers’ – candidate of choice, Mrs. Leadsom appears to have the backing of the grassroots, going 11 points ahead of her rival in the latest poll. *snip* A new poll by the Brexit organisation Leave.EU, which is now backing Mrs. Leadsom thanks to her prominent role in the Leave campaign, gave Mrs. Leadsom a strong lead among Conservative party members last night of 56 per cent to Mrs. May’s 44 per cent. The organisation is confident in its prediction as it closely forecast the outcome of the EU referendum. A...

Theresa May is the candidate to beat in the Conservative leadership election, after winning the support of 60% of the parliamentary party. However, Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader last year showed that members do not necessarily vote for the candidate favoured by MPs. Andrea Leadsom now has about six weeks to woo the Conservative membership, who are likely to be more rightwing, middle class and affluent than the average voter. She will have to appeal to these 150,000 people to get the job of prime minister, and convince them that she can win over the whole country when it...

Britain's next prime minister, tasked with negotiating the country's exit from the European Union, will be chosen by Sept. 9 following a vote of the ruling Conservative Party's 150,000 grassroots members. After two votes by Conservative lawmakers, the two candidates for the job are interior minister Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom, a junior energy minister. For more information on the candidates see: Below are the key details of how the next leader is chosen and who gets to decide: *snip* WHAT DO THEY WANT NEXT? - A YouGov poll conducted after the referendum showed 63 percent of the party's members...

<p>Andrea Leadsom may be the outsider in the race to become the next leader of the Conservative party — and thus prime minister — but her supporters believe that she can overtake the more experienced Theresa May.</p> <p>They argue that several recent Conservative leaders — David Cameron, Iain Duncan Smith, William Hague, John Major and Margaret Thatcher — were not the frontrunners until the closing stages of the leadership race.</p>

LONDON (AP) -- The Latest on Britain's vote to leave the European Union (all times local): 4:25 p.m. Conservative lawmakers have chosen Home Secretary Theresa May and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom to fight a runoff contest for leadership of Britain's governing party. The winner will become the country's second female prime minister.

Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom will battle it out for the Conservative leadership after Michael Gove was eliminated from the contest in the second round of voting.

Theresa May has won the first round of the contest to become the next Tory leader and PM and she says she is the only candidate left who can unite the party. The home secretary got 165 of 329 votes cast by Tory MP's. Andrea Leadsom came second with 66 and Michael Gove got 48....... Following the result, Mr. Gove, the justice secretary and a leading Leave campaigner, insisted he would stay in the race, saying the winner should be someone who backed Brexit. Mrs. Leadsom, an energy minister, was also a key figure in the campaign to leave the...

Breaking: Boris Johnson: I'm not standing as Tory leader

Boris Johnson’s surprising announcement on Thursday that he would not seek the leadership of the British Conservative Party — and by extension, succeed David Cameron as prime minister — leaves five candidates for the job. In a series of votes, Conservative members of Parliament will whittle down the list to two finalists, and the party’s roughly 150,000 members will choose between them. The process is expected to be completed by Sept. 9. The Conservative Party, which won a majority in Parliament last year, has a five-year mandate that lasts until 2020. But given the turmoil after voters decided that Britain...

Voters will have to wait before migration can begin to be cut despite Britain deciding to leave the European Union, Theresa May has warned. The Home Secretary, who is the front-runner in the Conservative leadership election, promises to reform the EU’s rules on “free movement” of people, which currently allow an unlimited number of migrants to move to the UK to live and work. However, she stops short of promising to abolish free movement altogether, warning that it will “take time” before the numbers of immigrants come down. The issue of cutting migration is one of the critical battlegrounds in...

Video Link

Video Link This film was shot of Sunday, but it contains several interesting behind the scenes bits of intel as to what is going on in the UK regarding Brexit.It appears the reason Boris Johnson dropped out was that he was unwilling to tow the line of immigration. It is also discussed that Cameron may be gone much more quickly that earlier believed.

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... 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...

The Chancellor says income tax could rise by 8% and billions would be cut from public services if the UK votes to leave the EU... says Treasury analysis has found that UK tax receipts would be £36bn-a-year lower after 15 years... the amount the officials calculate the exchequer would lose if Britain was forced to enter a trade deal similar to that which Canada has recently negotiated. The figure is the same as eight pence in the pound added to income tax. The 'Canadian model' is the scenario that many who want to leave say would be in Britain's best...