Britain's next PM: An Oxford educated man in his 50s

Many in the party doubt that anyone can beat 55-year-old Boris Johnson. Pictured are Jeremy Hunt, left, and Boris Johnson.

Britain's next prime minister will be a man in his 50s who went to Oxford University — either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, the two finalists selected yesterday in a race to lead the governing Conservative Party.

Johnson, a flamboyant former Foreign Secretary and ex-mayor of London, topped a ballot of 313 Conservative lawmakers with 160 votes and is runaway favourite to become the party's next leader.

He has led in all five voting rounds of a contest that began last week with 10 contenders.

Hunt, Britain's current Foreign Secretary, came a distant second with 77 votes and will join Johnson in a runoff decided by 160,000 party members across Britain.

Johnson tweeted that he was honoured to have gotten more than half the votes cast by party lawmakers. He said, "I look forward to getting out across the UK and to set out my plan to deliver Brexit, unite our country, and create a brighter future for all of us." Hunt said on Twitter that he knew he was the underdog "but in politics surprises happen".

The winner of the runoff, due to be announced the week of July 22, will become the new Conservative leader and the country's next prime minister, replacing Theresa May.

Hunt edged out Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who got 75 votes, after Home Secretary Sajid Javid was eliminated earlier in the day.

The result spares Johnson a showdown with Gove, his former ally-turned-archrival. The two men jointly led the "Leave" campaign in Britain's 2016 EU membership referendum, but Gove scuttled Johnson's subsequent bid to become prime minister by deciding to run for the job himself, in a race ultimately won by May.

This time around, many in the party doubt that anyone can beat 55-year-old Johnson, a quick-witted, Latin-spouting extrovert admired for his ability to connect with voters, but mistrusted for his erratic performance in high office and his long record of inaccurate, misleading and sometimes offensive comments.

"Boris will say absolutely anything in order to please an audience," historian Max Hastings told the BBC yesterday. "Boris would have told the passengers on the Titanic that rescue was imminent."

Hunt, 52, who has been Culture Secretary and Health Secretary, is considered an experienced, competent minister, but unexciting.

- AP