Boris Johnson Leads in Firstbr Round of Voting for Tory Leadership The first round of voting by Conservative Membersbr of Parliament has occurred in the United Kingdombr and left Boris Johnson with a comfortable lead. Johnson, who launched his campaign on June 12,br received 114 votes during the secret ballot ofbr 313 Conservative Members of Parliament. His nearest rivals were Jeremy Hunt, who receivedbr 43 votes, and Michael Gove, who received 37. Candidates Andrea Leadsom, Esther McVey andbr Mark Harper have been automatically eliminatedbr from the race for receiving less than 17 votes. Following the results of the vote, Johnsonbr took to Twitter to thank his supporters. Boris Johnson, via Twitter The second round of voting is scheduled to bebr held on June 18, at which point candidates withbr less than 33 votes will be automatically eliminated. From there, voting will continue until onlybr two candidates remain and face a ballot ofbr 160,000 Conservative party members. The successor of outgoing leader Theresa Maybr is expected to be announced as early as July 22.