Boris Johnson is our new Conservative Party leader and will be our next Prime Minister

I congratulate Boris Johnson on being elected leader of the Conservative Party and on becoming our new Prime Minister - he has my full support and I look forward to working with him. Throughout the leadership campaign both candidates have demonstrated their qualities and strengths and I hope that Jeremy will continue to play a significant role in Government. I also congratulate Jo Swinson on her election.

Good luck to both candidates today!!
Thanks to @BrandonLewis and + @Conservatives team 4:
🏡🏙 16 towns & cities
📆 5 weeks of hustings
❓Hundreds of questions
🌳 Thousands of members https://t.co/7xgfP5vPY2

— Guy Opperman (@GuyOpperman) July 23, 2019

We will see this week that the media focus will quickly shift to the new PM in No.10, but I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Theresa May and acknowledge her outstanding public service as Prime Minister. Her tenure in Downing Street has coincided with one of the most tumultuous and complex periods in recent British political history and she has carried out her duties with great diligence and dignity, always seeking to do what is in the best interests of the country.

It remains my strong conviction that we must deliver on the Brexit referendum result - to bypass the largest single democratic event in my life time would be to trample on the foundations of our democracy.  Now is the time for the Conservative Party, and indeed Parliament, to unite in order to deliver a Brexit that is timely and workable and to support a settlement that offers our country a strong and positive platform on which to build our future relationship with the EU and the rest of world.