Pro-Brexit leader Johnson says nothing will change in short term
On the heels of Thursday’s vote, the question will be whether Johnson now gets to No. 10 Downing Street.
But International Development Secretary Justine Greening said a leadership battle now would not be in the interests of the country and urged the pair to strike a deal to avoid a contest.
His decision to back the Leave campaign was viewed by many as an opportunistic pitch for the leadership and now, as one of the most well-known political figures in the country and popular figures in his party, he looks like the candidate to beat.
Over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar have all had their say.
And it came as UKIP leader Nigel Farage seemed to have conceded that the Remain side had edged the victory.
Flanked by wife Samantha, Mr Cameron said he had informed the Queen of his decision to remain in place for the short term and to then hand over to a new prime minister by the time of the Conservative conference in October.
A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new prime minister and I think it’s right that this new prime minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.
The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.
Scotland had voted in a 2014 referendum to remain in the UK.
He said the United Kingdom would be a “powerful, liberal, humane and extraordinary force for good in the world” and he hoped that Brexit would “take the wind out of the sails of the extremists and those who would play politics with immigration”.
Mr Jones, who was backing Mr Cameron’s Remain campaign, said the decision to promise a referendum had nothing to do with UKIP and was exclusively about resolving British political issues, just as Mr Cameron had successfully the year before in the 2014 Scottish referendum. He drew criticism from his Conservative colleagues when he said that a “leave” vote would require the government to push through an emergency budget to raise 30 billion pounds (about $41,048,700,000) for a hole that would result from a hit to the economy.
Its leader, veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, had campaigned reluctantly to keep Britain in the European Union and he is now facing criticism from some in his party after many traditional Labour areas backed Brexit.
“Yes, this will have huge consequences for the Westminster drama: not only for David Cameron, who bet the farm and lost; but also for Jeremy Corbyn who conspicuously failed to deliver the Labour heartlands”, he said.
Many leave campaigners, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove has signed a letter calling on him to stay.
“Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and will remain so”, the spokesman said.
She said the referendum was about “defusing that time bomb” – but Mr Cameron has “moved from having one ticking time bomb to having another ticking time bomb”.
This next choice for British prime minster could be Johnson’s foil.
“I fought this campaign in the only way I know how, which is to say directly and passionately, what I think and feel – head, heart and soul”.
Britain, the second largest economy in Europe after Germany, is the second country after Greenland to quit the bloc.
In calling a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, Mr Cameron made a gamble that sank his career – and set his country on a course to leave an global alliance it joined more than 40 years ago.
Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would “take all possible steps” to remain part of European Union and would prepare legislation for a possible second referendum on independence.