Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom.
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Mrs May claimed a decisive win in the ballot of Conservative MPs which saw Michael Gove eliminated from the contest after finishing in third place.
May, speaking immediately after the votes were announced, said the results show the Conservative Party can unite under her leadership, and that now her job is to take her case to the party membership.
May backed the Remain camp in the referendum while Leadsom campaigned strongly for Leave and has the backing of former Leave leader Boris Johnson.
“Not many countries have had one woman leader, never mind its second – it’s ironic that Labour have made a lot of noise about its all-woman shortlists but we’ve got one entirely on merit. Theresa’s (May) obviously done fantastically well and you know my commiserations to Michael (Gove), but I’m absolutely delighted with the result, thank you”.
“The fact that she hasn’t had experience at the Cabinet table, hasn’t had much experience even as a junior minister – let’s face it she’s had just two years – I do think is a problem at this stage”.
That will lead to hard negotiations on how Britain can maintain favorable trade status and business relationships, and what price the European Union will demand in return.
Yesterday Tory MPs decided that Leadsom and Theresa May would fight it out to be the next prime minister.
Five Conservative contenders had initially been campaigning for Cameron’s post, but that number is now down to two, with results expected to be announced on September 9.
The vote was not binding, however, and the populist Corbyn enjoys strong grassroots support among Labour voters, making him a formidable opponent, even though the parliamentary party overwhelmingly would prefer another leader.
May, 59, came out of the vote with 199 votes from the party’s 330 members of Parliament.
She has less political experience than May and has faced allegations from rivals that she exaggerated her experience in the financial sector.
She said Mrs May, who was state educated, wanted to ensure that “government is for everyone in this country” and not just “those privileged few”.
Leadsom also received the backing of many MPs who, unlike May, had supported the campaign for Britain to leave the EU. “This is incredibly important to me as a leave campaigner, so it’s great that we are all Brexiters now”.
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May says she would not push the button to take Britain out of the European Union before the end of 2016, to give time to finalise a negotiating stance.
