Johnson thanks Theresa May after being named next UK PM

Boris Johnson thanked Theresa May on Tuesday after being named the winner of a leadership contest that will see him become the next prime minister of Britain.  

Dismissed by detractors as a buffoon, Johnson will take the reins as premier on Wednesday (July 24), replacing May and fulfilling a nearly lifelong ambition to move into 10 Downing St.  

He beat out Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to become leader of the Conservative Party - and, by extension, prime minister, because the Conservatives hold sway in parliament - in an internal party election.  

In effect, about 159,000 Conservative Party members, most of them white and middle-aged or older, decided who would lead the United Kingdom's 66 million people.

The result of that party poll was announced Tuesday. Johnson received 92,153 votes, and Hunt garnered 46,656.

Johnson's biggest immediate task will be to figure out how to withdraw Britain from the E.U. in an orderly fashion by the deadline of October 31. The Brexit deal struck between May and the E.U. was voted down by Parliament three times, which forced her to step down.