Boris Johnson wins Michael Gove’s backing for PM’s post

Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the successful “Leave” campaign in Britain’s European Union membership referendum, has won the backing of a key colleague to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister, a newspaper reported.

Justice minister Michael Gove called Mr Johnson by telephone on Saturday to say he would back him for the leadership of the ruling Conservative Party, the Sunday Times said.

Mr Cameron announc-ed on Friday that he would step down as Prime Minister by October after voters in the referendum took the historic decision to back the “Leave” campaign which was led by Mr Johnson and Mr Gove.

The Sunday Times said interior minister Theresa May was expected to enter the leadership contest in the coming days and was likely to get support from allies of Mr Cameron who see her as the best candidate to take on Mr Johnson, a former London mayor.

Ms May supported the “Remain” campaign but took a lower profile than Mr Cameron and finance minister George Osborne, whose hopes of becoming the party’s next leader took a big blow with the outc-ome of the referendum.

Mr Cameron had called the referendum and campaigned hard for a “Remain” vote in Thursday's vote, so his departure was inevitable, but is a humiliating end to his career. The 49-year-old became Britain's youngest prime minister in nearly 200 years in 2010, and in 2015 was re-elected with a Conservative majority.