BOTH optimism and concern greeted the election of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party. Last Tuesday Mr Johnson was unveiled as the replacement for Theresa May after securing 92,153 votes (66.4 per cent) in a poll of the party’s 160,000 members on a turnout of 87.4 per cent. It was to represent a margin of victory in the order of two to one over challenger Jeremy Hunt, who gained 46,656 votes. Mr Johnson formally took over from Mrs May as Prime Minister last Wednesday. Earlier in the leadership election process Moray Conservative MP Douglas Ross had announced his support for Mr Johnson and reiterated his confidence that the former foreign secretary was the best person for the job. He said: “Boris has been the favourite throughout this campaign and the significant margin of victory shows that he has support from a large proportion of the Conservative Party. “I am confident that Boris will stand up for the union, unite the party, deliver Brexit and allow us as a country to move on. “All the candidates in this race would have made a very good prime minister and I am sure Boris will deliver for the country. My priority will be getting the best deal for Moray, Scotland and the whole of the UK.”
However, for Banffshire and Buchan Coast and Moray SNP MSPs Stewart Stevenson and Richard Lochhead, Mr Johnson’s election spells bad news for Moray and the north-east. Mr Stevenson commented: “The election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the UK only serves to illustrate how far Boris Johnson (left) and Douglas Ross share a few words at the Tory leadership hustings event in Perth. apart Westminster is from the concerns of the vast majority of people in Scotland. Mr Johnson’s views and track record will most likely cause a no-deal Brexit, which would be disastrous for the north-east, impacting a number of sectors and the local economy. “It is very naive of the Tory MPs who represent a number of constituencies, including Banff and Buchan, to think that Mr Johnson’s position as Prime Minister will unite the UK, or deliver Brexit.” Mr Lochhead added: “It is deeply concerning that Boris Johnson has been given the keys to No.10 – his victory shows just have far to the right the Conservative Party has swung. “Our new Prime Minister is an extreme, old Etonian populist, who couldn’t be more out of touch with ordinary folk in Moray and it is astonishing that our local MP campaigned for him to lead the UK. “Boris Johnson holds some dangerous views, as well as being utterly lacking in any principle. It seems the UK now has our very own Trump elected to the highest office of the UK by 160,000 Conservative Party members. “Neither Moray nor Scotland voted for Brexit and we certainly didn’t vote for Boris Johnson to be Prime Minister. “I think it is fair to say that this is an anxious time for Moray and Scotland just now, particularly given he is prepared to see us crash out of the EU without a deal.” Mr Johnson had previously been touted as a leadership candidate in 2016 following the resignation then Prime Minister David Cameron in the wake of the Leave victory in the EU referendum. During this campaign Mr Johnson acted as a prominent cheerleader for Brexit. However, in the subsequent leadership race he declined to stand.