Jeremy Hunt, 42,656.
Boris Johnson, 92,153.
And therefore, I give notice, that Boris Johnson
is elected as the leader of the Conservative and Unionist party.
[applause]
Thank you so much,
Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Charles.
Thank you very much, Brandon, for a fantastic,
well-organised campaign.
I think it did a lot of credit, as Brandon has just said,
to our party, to our values and to our ideals.
But I want to begin by thanking my opponent, Jeremy.
By common consent, an absolutely
formidable campaigner and a great leader and a great politician.
Jeremy, in the course of 20 hustings … or hustings-style events,
it was more than 3000 miles by the way, it’s about 7000 miles
that we did criss-crossing the country.
You’ve been friendly. You’ve been good natured.
You’ve been a font of excellent ideas, all of which I propose
to steal forthwith.
And above all, I want to thank our outgoing leader,
Theresa May, for her extraordinary service to this party and to this country.
[applause]
It was a privilege to serve in her Cabinet and to see
the passion and determination that she brought to the many
causes that are her legacy, from equal pay for men and women
to tackling the problems of mental health and racial discrimination
in the criminal justice system.
Thank you, Theresa. Thank you.
And I want to thank all of you, all of you here today,
and obviously everybody in the Conservative party,
for your hard work, for your campaigning,
for your public spirit, and obviously for the extraordinary honour
and privilege that you have just conferred on me.
And I know that there will be people around the place,
who will question the wisdom of your decision.
And there may even be some people here who still wonder
what quite what they have done.
And I would just point out to you that of course nobody,
no one party, no one person has a monopoly of wisdom.
But if you look at the history of the last 200 years
of this party’s existence, you will see that it is
we Conservatives who have had the best insights, I think,
into human nature and in the best insights in how
to manage the jostling sets of instincts in the human heart.
And time and again, it is to us that the people of this country
have turned to get that balance right between the instincts
to own your own house, your own home, to earn
and spend your own money, to look after your own family.
Good instincts, proper instincts, noble instincts.
And the equally noble instinct to share and to give everyone
a fair chance in life.
And to look after the poorest and the neediest.
And to build a great society.
And on the whole, in the last 200 years, it is we Conservatives
who have understood best how to encourage those instincts
to work together in harmony, to promote the good
of the whole country.
And today, at this pivotal moment in our history,
we again have to reconcile two sets of instincts,
two noble sets of instincts.
Between the deep desire for friendship and free trade
and mutual support in security and defence between Britain
and our European partners.
And the simultaneous desire, equally deep and heartfelt
for democratic self-government in this country.
And of course, there are some people who say
that they’re irreconcilable.
And it just can’t be done.
And indeed, I read in my Financial Times this morning,
devoted reader that I am.
Seriously, it’s a great, great, great, great British, great British brand.
I read in my Financial Times this morning that there is no
incoming leader, no incoming leader has ever faced
such a daunting set of circumstances, it said.
Well, I look at you this morning and I ask myself,
do you look daunted? Do you feel daunted?
I don’t think you look remotely daunted to me.
And I think that we know that we can do it and that the
people of this country are trusting in us to do it.
And we know that we will do it.
And we know the mantra of the campaign that has just gone by
in case you’ve forgotten it. You probably have.
It is: Deliver Brexit.
Unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn.
And that is what we’re going to do.
[applause] We’re going to defeat Jeremy Corbyn.
I know, I know, some wag has already pointed out that deliver,
unite and defeat was not the perfect acronym
for an election campaign, since unfortunately it spells ‘dud’.
But they forgot the final ‘E’ my friends. ‘E’ for energise.
And I say to all the doubters: dude, we are going to energise the country.
We’re going to get Brexit done.
On October 31st, we are going to take advantage
of all the opportunities that it will bring in a new spirit of can do.
And we are once again going to believe in ourselves
and what we can achieve.
And like some slumbering giant, we are going to rise
and ping off the guy ropes of self-doubt and negativity
with better education, better infrastructure,
more police, fantastic full-fibre broadband sprouting in every household.
We are going to unite this amazing country
and we are going to take it forward.
I thank you all very much for the incredible honour
that you’ve just done me.
I will work flat out from now on with my team that I will build.
I hope in the next few days to repay your confidence.
But in the meantime, the campaign is over and the work begins.
Thank you all very much.
[applause]