Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt: Who will be the next prime minister?

Boris Johnson takes on Jeremy Hunt in the race to be the UK's next prime minister

The next UK prime minister will be either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt.

They are the only two candidates left in the race to become the new leader of the Conservative Party - and we'll find out who's won that race TODAY.

Around 160,000 members of the Conservative Party across the UK voted.

It comes after Theresa May announced she would stand down from the job on 7 June, although she remains prime minister until the process to choose a new party leader is completed.

On Tuesday 9 July, Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt had a head-to-head debate for the first time in front of a live TV audience.

They argued over their different Brexit plans, and why they were the best person to be the next prime minister.

The two men criticised each other during the debate with Boris Johnson saying Mr Hunt changes his mind on certain issues, including Brexit. Mr Johnson said it was clear his rival was "not absolutely committed" to the Brexit deadline of 31 October 2019.

Mr Hunt accused his rival of not being honest with the public: "Being prime minister is about telling people what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear."

Who is Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson is one of Britain's most recognisable politicians, and the favourite in the race to become the next Conservative leader.

He was an MP for Henley between 2001 and 2008, and is currently the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

The Conservative politician is best known for being the Mayor of London for eight years between 2008 and 2016.

During this time, he oversaw the 2012 London Olympics and introduced the 'Boris Bikes' cycling hire scheme.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been in prison in Iran since 2016

Mr Johnson was the foreign secretary in the Conservative government between 2016 and 2018, representing the UK government's relations abroad, but his time in the job was hit with controversy.

He had to apologise in Parliament over the case of British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is being held in prison in Iran for allegedly spying.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe says she was on holiday when she was arrested in 2016, but Boris had said she had been teaching journalists there when she had been detained. Her family claim this made her situation worse.

In 2018, he was also criticised for writing that Muslim women wearing the burka "looked like letterboxes".

Who is Jeremy Hunt?

Jeremy Hunt is the current foreign secretary. Before entering politics, he was an English teacher in Japan.

He became an MP for the Conservative party in 2005 and quickly moved up the ranks.

Within two years, he'd been promoted to the position of shadow culture secretary, which included overseeing the British media industry.

Mr Hunt is perhaps best known for being the government's health secretary between 2012 and 2018, which included being in charge of the country's National Health Service (NHS).

Junior Doctors across the UK, angry at Jeremy Hunt's running of the NHS, went on strike in 2016

In the role, he faced criticism during the slowest period of spending on the NHS since it was formed, at a time when demands on the service were at an all-time high. Between 2005 and 2015, visits to hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments went up by almost 30%.

He was also criticised for how he handled work contracts for junior doctors.

Out of the two candidates, Mr Hunt has more experience in government and has held more cabinet posts than Mr Johnson.

What do they think about Brexit?

One of the biggest issues that the new prime minister will need to sort out is Brexit.

The UK was due to leave the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019, but this has not happened yet, as politicians haven't been able to agree on the best way to carry it out.

Jeremy Hunt was a remain campaigner in the EU referendum of 2016, meaning he thought the UK should stay in the group. Boris Johnson was a leave campaigner, promoting Britain's exit from the EU.

Mr Johnson has said he wants to sort out a deal, but that he'd be willing to leave the EU without a deal if necessary. He has said in interviews that Brexit will happen on 31 October "come what may".

Mr Hunt, on the other hand, says he want to negotiate a "credible" Brexit plan by sorting out changes to the controversial Irish backstop. He says Britain will definitely leave the EU, but that the current departure date of 31 October is not an absolute deadline.