UK to have new Prime Minister by September

Nominations to replace David Cameron set to close on Thursday. 

The UK will have a new Prime Minister by September | Photo credit: Press Association

By Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson is Managing Editor of The Parliament Magazine

27 Jun 2016


A clearer picture of the UK's Brexit timetable emerged today (27 June) following the announcement that the British Conservative party would immediately begin the process of selecting a new leader to replace David Cameron.

Meanwhile, in his first public address since the referendum result on Friday, UK Chancellor George Osborne said he had spent the weekend reassuring banks and global financial institutions that the UK was still open for business, despite market jitters over the exit vote.

Osborne also called for calm over the triggering of article 50 - which will start the Brexit process - saying formal exit talks should begin once a new Prime Minister has been appointed.

Frontrunner for the premiership, Leave campaign figurehead Boris Johnson, also said there was no rush to start formal exit talks.

In what many considered a reversal of his recent anti-EU rhetoric, the former London Mayor took a more conciliatory tone in a column for the Daily Telegraph arguing that despite "a seismic campaign whose lessons must be learnt by politicians at home and abroad," Britain was "part of Europe - and always will be".

"The only change - and it will not come in any great rush - is that the UK will extricate itself from the EU's extraordinary and opaque system of legislation", said Johnson.

He also said that despite Friday's dramatic victory for the Leave campaign, the UK would still have access to the EU's single market and that British citizens would still be able to live and work in the EU; while inward EU immigration would be based on a points-based system.

However, Johnson's remarks came under fire from both from Brexiteers accusing him of backtracking on campaign promises, and Remainers who accused him of exploiting populist concerns purely for the purpose of becoming the next Prime Minister.

Nominations for the Prime Minister post will open on Wednesday 29 June and close the following day. The process is expected to take several weeks with the new leader in place by September 2.