Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Boris Johnson: Britain's 'Do or Die' Prime Minister Jamie Dettmer Boris Johnson was announced Tuesday as the winner of a weeks-long Conservative leadership race to replace Theresa May as party leader, paving the way for Britain's monarch to invite him Wednesday to become the country's new prime minister. The ambitious former journalist and onetime London mayor has hungered his entire political life for the top job, but he won't enjoy a honeymoon and his premiership is already balanced on a knife edge. If he gets things wrong he could beat Lord Rockingham, who lasted just 96 days at Downing Street in 1782, to emerge as Britain's shortest-lived prime minister.