LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) — Conservative lawmakers chose Home Secretary Theresa May and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom today Thursday to fight a runoff contest for leadership of Britain’s governing party. The winner will become the country’s second female prime minister.
May received 199 votes in a ballot of Conservative members of Parliament, while Leadsom received 84. Justice Secretary Michael Gove got 46 votes and was eliminated from the race.
Some 150,000 Conservative Party members will now vote by postal ballot, with the result announced Sept. 9.
The winner will replace Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced his resignation after Britain voted last month to leave the European Union.
Britain’s first female prime minister was Margaret Thatcher, a Conservative who governed from 1979 to 1990.
The new leader will be responsible for leading Britain’s exit negotiations with the 28-nation EU as well as helping to steady the country’s government and economy, which has been deeply shaken by markets’ reaction to the EU vote.
The result of the ballot is a slap in the face for Gove, whose ambition to lead the country lasted only a week. He campaigned for an EU exit alongside popular former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who had been expected to seek the party leadership, with Gove as his campaign manager.
But Gove shocked the party by announcing last week that he had decided Johnson was not up to the job and declaring himself a candidate instead. The betrayal probably hurt his leadership chances, fueling a view among Tories that he is disloyal.
Leadsom, 53, who also backed the “leave” campaign in the referendum, says the prime minister should be someone who truly believes in a British exit, or Brexit.
May, 59, supported the losing “remain” side in the EU vote but says she is the best person to unite a party that — like the country — is divided over the referendum result.
She said she was delighted to have won support from “leavers and remainers, MPs from the length and breadth of the country.”
“This vote shows that the Conservative Party can come together — and under my leadership it will,” she said.
