Boris Johnson tops first round of poll for British PM

Boris Johnson Thursday secured his position as the frontrunner in the race to succeed Theresa May as British Prime Minister as he won the highest number of votes in the first round of the leadership poll.

The former Cabinet minister received 114 votes in the first round of a secret ballot of Tory MPs held in the House of Commons, followed by UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in second place with 43 and environment secretary Michael Gove third with 37 votes.

Three contenders Mark Harper, Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey were knocked out of the race after failing to secure the minimum requirement of 17 votes.

It leaves seven candidates in the fray for the second round of voting next week, including former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab in fourth place with 27 votes, home secretary Sajid Javid fifth with 23, health secretary Matt Hancock sixth with 20 and international development secretary Rory Stewart in last place with 19.

The two most popular MPs from among the seven will be put to ...