By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - Boris Johnson, one of the leading supporters of Brexit during the 2016 vote, was chosen as the U.K.’s next prime minister, replacing Theresa May, after winning the leadership of the Conservative Party earlier this week.
Johnson, who has promised to lead the U.K. out of the European Union with or without a deal by the end of October, won the votes of 92,000 members of the Conservative Party, almost twice as many as his rival, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
“We are going to get Brexit done on Oct. 31, and we are going to take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring in a new spirit of ‘can do’,” Johnson said after the result was announced.
U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Johnson on Twitter, saying he would be great.
The U.S. president said the British were calling Johnson “Britain Trump.”
“They call him ‘Britain Trump,’ and people are saying that’s a good thing. They like me over there. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they need,” Trump said in a speech in Washington on Tuesday.
Famed for their signature blond hair styles, Trump and Johnson have both been known to not to shy away from the limelight and have often made unfiltered and off-the-cuff comments with little regard for the political consequences.
“I like Boris Johnson. I always have,” Trump told reporters late last week. “He’s a different kind of a guy, but they say I’m a different kind of guy too. I think we’ll have a very good relationship.”
The British pound was last at $1.2471 (GBP/USD), staging a modest recovery from a 27-month low of $1.2382 reached last week.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report