Boris Johnson to Become U.K. Prime Minister Following Conservative Party Election Win

Conservative Party members voted on Tuesday to elect former London mayor Boris Johnson, 55, as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom over Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Johnson

What does it mean for the “Special Relationship”?

• Relations between the U.K. and U.S. have been strained recently, following Trump’s criticisms of former Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of Brexit negotiations and leaked memos by the British ambassador to the U.S. which strongly criticized the Trump administration (the ambassador has since resigned).
• Johnson has been a longtime advocate for Brexit and has committed to securing the U.K.’s exit from the European Union (EU) by October 31, 2019, whether or not a deal is reached with the EU to avoid a “hard Brexit.” May’s government had reached an impasse in negotiations with the EU.
• The U.K. and U.S. agreed to a trade recognition agreement in February 2019 to boost bilateral trade between the nations once Brexit is completed while a broader free trade agreement is negotiated.
• Johnson, who was born in the U.S. and lived here until the age of 5, will also look to work with the U.S. to counter aggression by Iran, which recently seized British-flagged oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in response to the British Royal Navy’s seizure of an Iranian oil tanker that was en route to make a delivery to Syria’s Assad regime in defiance of international sanctions.

Wait, the prime minister isn’t directly elected by all voters?

That’s correct, like most of the world’s major democracies the head of government in the U.K. isn’t directly elected by the voting public. Here’s a quick look at how the Group of Seven (G7) nations ― the world’s seven most economically advanced democracies ― elect their head of government:

• The U.K. and Canada use what’s known as the Westminster system, in which Members of Parliament (MPs) of a majority party and rank-and-file members of the party select the prime minister. If no party controls a majority and there is a “hung parliament” the prime minister is selected by a group of parties creating a formal coalition government or entering into an informal “confidence and supply” deal that gains the backing of small parties on confidence votes that could upend the government & budget issues in exchange for other concessions.
• Japan has a similar system in its parliament, known as the Diet, which has a House of Representatives that elects the prime minister. The Diet also has a House of Councillors, but if they disagree with the Representatives over a nominee for prime minister and no deal is reached the Representatives’ choice moves forward.
• Italy’s prime minister is appointed by the president following a general election to the Italian Parliament and, like the other prime ministers in this list, must retain the confidence of Parliament to remain in office.
• Germany’s chancellor is generally the leader of the party holding a majority of seats in the German Federal Parliament, known as the Bundestag.
• France is unique because it has a president who serves as the head of state and a prime minister who serves as the head of government. The president is directly elected by popular vote and appoints a prime minister who enjoys the support of the French National Assembly ― which sometimes means the French president and prime minister are from different political parties. In those cases the president is primarily relegated to foreign affairs, while the prime minister controls domestic policy.
• And as you are hopefully well aware, the U.S. elects its president and vice president through the Electoral College, in which each state is allocated a pool of electors based on its size and a candidate must win a majority to win the presidency. If no candidate receives a majority vote in the Electoral College, the incoming House of Representatives votes on the election of the president.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: EU2017EE via Flickr / Creative Commons)