LONDON: Boris Johnson is the overwhelming favourite to be Britain’s next Prime Minister as the Conservative Party prepare to let their members vote on the leadership contest.
Mr Johnson has been out in front of the hopeful candidates ever since Theresa May confirmed she would step down as Prime Minister.
After weeks of debates and surprise policy initiatives, the list of candidates to become the next Tory leader has whittled down from 11 to two.
Boris Johnson will come up against Jeremy Hunt, who beat rival Michael Gove to earn a spot in the run-off after a fifth round of Tory MP voting in Westminster on Thursday.
Yet Mr Hunt has a lot of catching up to do. Bookmakers BetVictor saw Hunt’s odds on becoming the next Prime Minister drop from 14/1 before the final vote to 7/1 by Friday morning.
But that’s nothing compared to Johnson, who has been the odds-on favourite to win the contest for some time now. Indeed, RedZone have gone as far as to price Johnson as the 1/100 favourite to claim the leadership.
Johnson and Hunt now face a month of hustings and speeches to convince the 160,000 Conservative members that they are fit to be PM. Brexit is the centre stage for the debate, with Johnson siding with hard-line leavers who want out of the EU no matter what by October 31.
Mr Hunt has conceded extra time might be needed to secure Brexit, which may earn him support from more left-leaning members of the Conservative Party.
Hunt will also try to flesh out his wider range of policy ideas to bring the discussion away from Brexit over the coming month. Having served as Health Secretary, it is expected he will deliver a new range of policies for the NHS.
Mr Hunt may also throw in his own policies over tax and spending after Johnson claimed he would cut tax for three million higher earners.
But Brexit will dominate and, with the Conservative membership largely made up of leavers, it seems this issue alone could push Johnson over the line.
