Johnson holds on to lead, Sajid Javid out, as British PM race enters final phase
London, Jun 20: Boris Johnson held on to his massive lead as the race to elect a new Conservative Party leader, who will replace Theresa May as Britain's Prime Minister, entered its final phase on Thursday with Pakistani-origin home secretary Sajid Javid knocked out of the contest.
The battle for the second spot in the race took a turn as UK environment secretary Michael Gove overtook UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in the latest round of secret ballots being held among Conservative Party MPs in the House of Commons.
The former foreign secretary Johnson held on to his lead as the contest entered its last phase to finalise the two remaining contenders who will proceed to a 160,000-strong Tory membership postal ballot.
In the latest tally, Johnson has a runaway lead with 157 votes, followed by Gove at 61 votes and Hunt at 59. Javid, 49, Britain's senior-most minister, secured just 34 votes in the third ballot.
"Truly humbled by the support I have received from colleagues and Conservatives around the country. We ran to win, but I am incredibly proud of the race we have run together," Javid said in a statement after the latest round of voting.
"Don't let anyone try and cut you down to size or say you aren't a big enough figure to aim high. You have as much right as anyone to a seat at the top table," he said addressing at "kids who look and feel a bit different to their classmates' in reference to his South Asian roots.
Javid said he will resume his focus on his current role as home secretary and will reflect on whether to publicly offer his support to another candidate in the race.
The influential Leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson a key supporter of Javid said she now wanted Gove in the final two, describing him as "smart, articulate and always on top of detail".
Johnson, who resigned from the Theressa May-led Cabinet last year over her Brexit strategy, said he was "incredibly grateful" for the support of more than half of all Conservative MP, adding that there was "much more work to do".
Gove said he was "absolutely delighted" after he leapfrogged to second place.
"If I make the final two I look forward to having a civilised debate of ideas about the future of our country," he said.
Hunt struck a note of caution, telling his party colleagues that the leadership battle was now at a "critical" stage.
"Choose me for unity over division, and I will put Boris through his paces and then bring our party and country back together," he said.
The final two contenders will go forward into a UK-wide hustings phase as they work on convincing the wider Tory party membership, with the winner set to be announced on July 22.
Meanwhile, the candidates in the race, which originally started with six contenders in the fray after the first round of voting last week, went head to head for their first live television debate for the BBC.
The debate ended up in controversy over the choice of the members of public chosen for the question and answer session.
Two Indian-origin questioners, an imam and an employment lawyer, were later suspended from their respective jobs in the wake of the row and after their views expressed on social media in the past were exposed.
While Imam Abdullah Khan was suspended from his post of Deputy Head of the Al-Ashraf Primary School girls' school at Gloucester in the west of England over anti-Jewish remarks, solicitor Aman Thakar was suspended as the law firm Leigh Day said it would need to investigate one of his previous tweets.
Thakar, a Labour Party candidate for a local election in London last year, was forced to apologise over an old message seemingly praising Hitler.
"This is not my point of view, I was being sarcastic about the speech that was given and hope this provides you with the full context of the comment," he said, in a formal apology.
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Hospital wall collapse: CM orders suspension of executive engineer; kin of victims get solatium
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday ordered the immediate suspension of an executive engineer for the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital wall collapse that claimed the lives of seven people, during a high-level review meeting at Vidhana Soudha.
A compensation of Rs 5 lakh, as announced by the CM Siddaramaiah, was distributed to the families of seven victims who lost their lives in the tragedy on Wednesday evening, which occurred due to heavy downpour with gusty winds and hailstorm.
The meeting of municipal commissioners of the five corporations, chaired by the chief minister and attended by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, focused on fixing accountability and examining lapses that led to the tragedy.
"Why was soil dumped in a way that damaged the wall? Why did you not monitor this?" Siddaramaiah asked, pulling up hospital authorities during the meeting.
A statement from the chief minister's office said that the CM ordered the immediate suspension of the executive engineer of the Karnataka Health Systems Development Project (KHSDP).
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He also questioned the hospital authorities, asking why they failed to monitor the dumping of soil that weakened the structure.
The chief minister directed that a notice be issued to the head of the Hospital.
During the meeting, Siddaramaiah said the rains had caused extensive damage in the city, with over 250 trees uprooted.
The Chief Minister instructed officials to take necessary measures before the onset of the monsoon to avoid untoward incidents.
Commissioners of all five municipal zones in Bengaluru have been asked to take precautionary steps, including trimming dry and dangerous tree branches, the CMO said.
Siddaramaiah also directed them to get the silt cleared from stormwater drains to prevent flooding, and that immediate action be taken to remove debris and fallen branches from roads.
Further, he instructed that barricades be placed at underpasses where water stagnates and restricts public movement.
The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said in a statement that Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad distributed compensation cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased on Thursday.
Seven people, including a six-year-old girl, were killed and seven others injured when the compound wall collapsed amid heavy rain, strong winds and a hailstorm on Wednesday evening.
Police said the victims, comprising three from Bengaluru, two from Kerala on a study tour and one each from Uttar Pradesh and Assam, had taken shelter near the wall when it suddenly gave way, trapping them under the debris.
The chief minister questioned officials over the dumping of soil near the wall despite knowing it could weaken the structure, and directed that a notice be issued to the head of Bowring Hospital.
Siddaramaiah, who had visited the spot soon after the incident along with senior officials, reviewed the situation and ordered a detailed probe into the collapse.
