David Cameron to Jeremy Corbyn: For heaven’s sake, go

British Prime Minister David Cameron takes his seat (left) as Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) stands at the dispatch box to address MPs in the House of Commons in London. (Photo: AFP)

The race to choose a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron got under way Wednesday after last week’s stunning Brexit vote, with former London mayor and top “Leave” campaigner Boris Johnson tipped as the narrow frontrunner.

With turmoil surging through both of Britain’s main parties, a defiant Opposition Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn meanwhile faced a looming leadership challenge after last Thursday’s referendum.

Mr Johnson, who led the “Leave” campaign to victory, tops the opinion polls along with interior minister Theresa May for the Conservative leadership.

But the first to throw his hat into the ring was work and pensions minister Stephen Crabb, a virtual unknown to the British public.

The 43-year-old called on the party to “get past this Boris/stop Boris dichotomy”, in reference to the divisive Mr Johnson.

The party will official open nominations at 5.00pm (1600 GMT). Mr Johnson and Ms May are expected to announce their bids Thursday, before nominations close at noon.

The new leader, who will be chosen by a postal ballot of party members currently numbering around 150,000, is expected to be announced on September 9.

Bookmakers make Mr Johnson slight favourite over Ms May, and the Sun newspaper reported Wednesday that he had already secured the backing of 100 of the Tory MPs who will vote next week to whittle down the field to two nominees.

The Conservative Home blog surveyed more than 1,300 members and found the slimmest of leads for Ms May, mirroring the results of a YouGov poll published on Tuesday.

Pro-EU finance minister George Osborne, long seen as a possible Cameron successor, has ruled himself out.

The political chaos was not confined to the ruling party, with Opposition Labour leader Mr Corbyn arming himself for battle against a huge majority of his own MPs.

Mr Corbyn was defeated by 172 to 40 in a non-binding no-confidence vote held by Labour MPs late Tuesday, and speculation was mounting that a candidate would come forward and challenge him.

“It looks as though we will have a leadership election now,” Mr Corbyn loyalist and shadow finance minister John McDonnell told reporters Wednesday.

Media reports suggested that his former business spokeswoman Angela Eagle could be preparing to launch a bid.

Even Mr Cameron weighed in, telling Corbyn during Parliament’s weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session, “It might be in my party’s interest for him to sit there, it’s not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven’s sake man, go.”

That followed former leader Ed Miliband’s declaration that he had “reluctantly reached the conclusion that his position is untenable”.