Boris Johnson resignation news: Who could replace him as Foreign Secretary?

The odds for an election this year have also been released
PA
Olivia Tobin9 July 2018
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Speculation is growing about who could replace Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary with odds on Michael Gove as the favourite.

Mr Johnson resigned as from his post on Monday afternoon just days after Theresa May secured senior ministers' agreement at Chequers for a Brexit plan about which he had expressed reservations.

David Davis also quit his post as Brexit Secretary late on Sunday night over the Prime Minister’s plan to leave the European Union.

Odds released by Betfair have shown Mr Gove is the favourite to take over the Foreign Secretary role.

Michael Gove urged MPs to back Theresa May's Brexit plan
REUTERS

Environment Secretary Mr Gove, a who led the Vote Leave campaign with Mr Johnson, was removed as the Justice Secretary by Mrs May when she became Prime Minister.

He was reappointed to the Cabinet as Environment minister in June 2017. He has campaigned against the use of microbeads and has expressed support for farmers and fisherman.

Recently, he has appeared on radio and television programmes defending the Prime Minister.

Mr Gove is ahead of Transport Secretary Chris Grayling , who has odds of 3/1.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said there had been a "wholly unsatisfactory levels of disruption" since the new timetable was launched
PA

Mr Grayling was appointed as Transport Secretary in 2016 by Mrs May, having previously been appointed as the Secretary of State from Justice from 2012 to 2015.

He was also the Leader of the House of Commons and the Lord President of the Council.

More recently, Mr Grayling has come under fire for the rail chaos up and down the country caused by a series of strikes and table changes. Former Labour transport minister, Lord Adonis, claimed Mr Grayling should have taken responsibility for the disruption.

Former Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, is also considered as an option with odds of 12/1.

Liam Fox, International Trade Secretary, signalled that Britain was prepared for 'tit-for-tat' action
AFP/Getty Images

The MP for North Somerset and Trade Secretary supported Brexit in the referendum and previously said he was a "staunch Eurosceptic" at a rally.

The odds of an election this year have been cut down from 5/1 to 6/1 and the odds of Mrs May announcing her resignation by the end of the week are 2/1.

Betfair have also announced that Mr Johnson is the new favourite to sweep in and take over as the new Prime Minister, with odds of 3/1.

Katie Baylis, Betfair Spokesperson, said: “In one of the most tumultuous 24 hours for the Tories this year, Theresa May faces a party in turmoil and the odds of an election being called this year have been slashed from 5/1 to 6/4.

The Prime Minister addressed the House of Commons today
PA

“The Prime Minister is lurching from one crisis to another as she now has to appoint a new Foreign Secretary, just hours after naming Dominic Raab as Brexit Secretary following the resignation of David Davis last night.

“We have Michael Gove at Evens as the favourite to replace Boris Johnson ahead of Chris Grayling at 3/1 and Liam Fox at 12/1, while Theresa May’s own odds of announcing her resignation by the end of the week have been slashed to 2/1.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in