Boris Johnson to become Britain’s next PM News Boris Johnson Tuesday will be Britain’s next Prime Minister, succeeding Theresa May. More in News ● Johnson’s victory places a hardcore Brexit supporter in charge of the government for the first time since the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in the shock 2016 referendum. ● The timing of Johnson’s victory is also significant as it comes during one of the most complex and tumultuous junctures in post-World War Two British history. ● The victory is a triumph for the 55-year-old Johnson, an ambitious but erratic politician whose political career has veered between periods in high office and spells on the sidelines. ● Johnson’s victory has two implications: It pushes the United Kingdom towards a Brexit showdown with the European Union (EU) and Towards a constitutional crisis at home, as British lawmakers have vowed to bring down any government that tries to leave the bloc without a divorce deal. India connection ● Johnson’s recently estranged spouse Marina Wheeler, whom he married in 1993, has Indian ancestry, and Johnson has visited India on numerous occasions over the years. Wheeler is the niece of author Khushwant Singh, and the granddaughter of Sir Sobha Singh, one of the major contractors who built Lutyens’s Delhi. On trade ties with India ● On the backdrop of the strenuous Brexit negotiations, the UK is now looking out for new trade deals with its global partners. ● Currently, India-UK trade is worth over $19.7 billion, a number that Johnson appears to be keen at raising. In the G-20, the UK is the biggest investor in India. ● Johnson recently decried the restrictions on FDI in multi-brand retail in India, saying that popular British brands such as Sainsbury would be able to excel in the Indian market if allowed to enter. Johnson has also spoken of signing of a free trade agreement with India. ©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org .