Britain is to have its second female Prime Minister after Conservative party members were given the choice between Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom.
The winner, to be announced on September 9th, will face one of the most difficult tasks in post-war history, renegotiating Britain's place in world.
In the second ballot of Conservative MPs in the leadership contest, Mrs May won the support of 199 MPs, against 84 MPs for Mrs Leadsom.
Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, was eliminated after he received the backing of just 46 MPs, two fewer than had voted for him in the first round.
Because of the scale of support among the parliamentary party - largely because of her experience of running the Home Office for the last six years - Mrs May is now the front runner to become the country's first woman Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher.
However, unlike Mrs Leadsom she backed remaining in the European Union in the recent referendum campaign, which may prove unpopular among Tory rank and file.
In a statement outside the House of Commons, Mrs May said that the size of her lead in the contest showed that the Conservative party can “come together” under her leadership.
Mrs May also pledged “to make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us”.
Mrs May said that she would provide “strong leadership to negotiate the best deal for Britain as we leave the European Union, to unite our Party and our country”.
Meanwhile, Mrs Leadsom said that she was “absolutely delighted”.
She added: “The great news is we have an all-female shortlist with no positive discrimination or anything, isn't that fantastic?”
![]() The result caps a disastrous campaign for Mr Gove, who chose to stand as leader at the last minute effectively forcing Boris Johnson to pull out of the race, but will now not be in the race to become Prime Minister.
Mr Gove, who declined to say whom he will be backing, said the next leader would be “a female prime minister who has formidable skills and I know whichever one of the two wins they will lead this country well”.
Mrs May and Mrs Leadsom will spend the next nine weeks travelling around the country trying to win the support of the party's 150,000 members.
Vocabulary rank and file: 民众,老百姓 |
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