Former Henley MP is named Prime Minister

FORMER Henley MP Boris Johnson has become Prime Minister.

He succeeded Theresa May on Wednesday following a Conservative leadership contest.

Johnson, who represented the town between 2001 and 2008, beat foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in a landslide victory.

He received 92,153 votes from party members, almost double Mr Hunt’s return of 46,656 votes.

Current Henley MP John Howell says he will support his predecessor despite backing Mr Hunt in the leadership race.

He said: “Boris has been elected by a large majority of the party members and I’m a democrat and we must follow that.

“Boris was not my choice for this competition but given the way the party membership has voted I think it’s beholden on all of us to get behind whoever they have voted in to make a good job of the period in the next few months for us, for him and, most critically, for Britain.

“Whether he’s the right person or not he’s the person the party has elected and for that reason, and that reason alone, I will acknowledge what the party has said and will follow him. These are early days in a premiership and it’s important to give him a chance.”

Mr Johnson has committed himself to leaving the European Union either with or without a deal on October 31.

Mr Howell added: “I think it will be interesting how he gets on with that [Brexit] because Europe has closed down for the summer and the numbers and attitude of members of the House of Commons are no different so it’ll be an interesting challenge for him.”

May, the MP for Maidenhead, triggered the leadership contest after saying she would step down after failing to deliver Brexit. She had served as Prime Minister since July 2016.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has been backed to succeed by those who previously worked with him.

Henley town councillor Lorraine Hillier, who voted in favour of Mr Johnson becoming MP for Henley in 2001, said: “I am really pleased it was Boris who won. I think he was a great MP for Henley. He didn’t always advertise that he was doing things, he just got on and did the job.

“He was always very supportive and conscientious. He would never do things as you expected, which was part of his appeal. He always remembered names and faces. You always felt it was somebody that you were close to because there was that familiarity.”

David Nimmo Smith was Henley’s representative on Oxfordshire County Council when Mr Johnson served as the town’s MP and was on his selection committee.

He said: “What you see with Boris is what you get. He requires people behind him to make it all happen and to actually get the policy to work. I wish him well. He’s got a bit of a poisoned chalice but we said that about Theresa May.

“He was fun to go out with when you were knocking on doors. Everybody knew him, he was instantly recognisable.”

Mr Nimmo Smith recalled another occasion when the pair were canvassing in Duke Street, Henley, and a car full of teenagers shouted his name after recognising him from Have I Got News For You.

Some were not old enough to vote and Mr Nimmo Smith recalled: “Boris said ‘next election then’. He added: “I’m not going to say who I voted for in the contest but I will support the Prime Minister because he’s the leader of my party.”