BRITAIN ushered in a new era Wednesday when Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as prime minister with a vow to lead the country out of the European Union (EU) by Oct. 31 — “no ifs or buts,” and that “the buck stops here.”

The brash 55-year-old former mayor of London and foreign secretary — who was elected leader of the governing Conservative Party a day earlier — was confirmed prime minister in a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II.

Johnson then strode to his new digs at 10 Downing Street, where he slammed “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters” who don’t believe he can break the Brexit impasse that sent May packing.

“Dude! We are going to energize the country. ... The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts,” he said as he promised to usher the United Kingdom out of the EU “after three years of unfounded self-doubt.”

Hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as Britain’s version of himself, Johnson sent the strongest message yet to the EU that he would take a markedly tougher approach to negotiating the Brexit deal — warning that if the 28-nation bloc balked, there would be a no-deal divorce.

Chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said “we are ready to listen and to work with” Johnson, but did not budge on the bloc’s refusal to alter the deal. “A no-deal Brexit will never be, never, the choice of the EU. But we are prepared,” he said in Brussels.

Famed for his bravado and ruffled blond hair, Johnson easily defeated Conservative rival Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, who was offered the job of defense minister but turned it down, according to Sky News TV.

Johnson’s office said his government would be a “Cabinet for modern Britain” with more women and a record number of ministers from ethnic minorities — a sign that he hopes to move beyond the largely white, male and Conservative members who chose him as their leader.

He wasted no time in getting rid of three top Cabinet members — Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Business Secretary Greg Clark, all of whom had backed Hunt.

Clark is a vocal opponent of a no-deal Brexit. Mordaunt and Fox are leading Brexiteers. Others who have apparently been shown the door included Education Secretary Damian Hinds, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, according to the BBC.

Conservative MP Nigel Evans described the purge as a “summer’s day massacre.”

In his 13-minute speech outside Downing Street, Johnson listed a litany of domestic goals, including a promise to sort out care for the elderly “once and for all.”

“We will fix it once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve,” he said.

He also pledged to improve infrastructure, recruit 20,000 new police officers, “level up” school spending and boost the country’s biotech and space science sectors.

Johnson’s sister Rachel, a journalist and writer who later went on to stand as a candidate for anti-Brexit party Change U.K., previously told her brother’s biographer that as a child he wanted to be “king of the world” when he grew up.

Johnson assumed power in a day of meticulously choreographed political drama that began with May attending the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions period in the House of Commons for the final time.

May offered Johnson slightly muted praise, saying she was pleased to hand control over to a Conservative committed to “delivering on the vote of the British people in 2016 and to delivering a bright future for this country.”

Johnson will take the reins of power in the United Kingdom just ahead of a crucial split in the road for Britain’s political future.

Johnson, who once worked as a journalist, has been a hardline “Brexiteer” since before the referendum in 2016, pushing for the United Kingdom to exit the trade and customs bloc it helped found more than half a century ago.

Economists and politicians have warned that a “no-deal” divorce could wallop Britain’s economy, as the free-trade among neighbors and dozens of trade deals negotiated with the wider world by the bloc would suddenly be replaced for the United Kingdom by World Trade Organization rules.

That would require Britain, the EU’s second-largest economy, to negotiate new, unilateral trade deals with all of its trading partners across the globe, including the United States. It would have to do so from a much weaker position, without the collective bargaining power of the rest of Europe behind it.

Dire warnings of bottlenecks at ports and airports as new customs and travel rules are put in place, and even possible shortages of food and medicine, have been issued over the “no-deal” Brexit scenario.

But the U.K. parliament could try to stop Johnson letting it get to that point. Many members of his own Conservative Party, and crucially a majority of all members of parliament, do not believe the United Kingdom should crash out of the EU without a deal in place.

If the parliament were to block a no-deal Brexit, it’s unclear when, how or even if Britain’s exit from the European Union might actually happen.

As has been the case with Brexit since the day after the referendum, regardless of who inhabits the prime minister’s official residence at 10 Downing Street, nothing is certain.

Despite once accusing Trump of “stupefying ignorance” and “being unfit for office” for suggesting there were parts of London so violent they were “no-go” areas even for police, Johnson has recently softened his tone considerably.

Notably, he kept quiet about Trump’s description of now-former British Ambassador Kim Darroch as “wacky” and “very stupid guy” after leaked diplomatic cables revealed Sir Darroch’s low opinion of the current American administration.

Hunt, Johnson’s challenger to lead the Conservative Party, was more forthright in condemning Trump’s stinging personal attack on Darroch, which forced the ambassador to resign.

Johnson, who was born in New York in 1964 and renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016, last lived in the United States as a 5-year-old.

His brand of bombast, brashness and bad hair has earned him a reputation of something of a political renegade in the United States. But he has repeatedly stressed the importance of having a close relationship with the United States.

Trump welcomed Johnson’s victory, predicting in a tweet Tuesday that the new prime minister would “be great!”

The change of leadership comes at a critical time for U.S.-U.K. relations, with a British tanker currently in the hands of the Iranian military and both America and Britain boosting their military presence in the Persian Gulf.

Johnson said his government would be very “pro-China,” in an interview with Phoenix TV, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language broadcaster, Tuesday.

Speaking to Phoenix TV, Johnson backed the Belt and Road Initiative and said his government would maintain an open market for Chinese investors in Britain.

“We are very enthusiastic about the Belt and Road Initiative,” he said.

The Brexit campaigner also vowed to keep Britain as “the most open economy in Europe” for Chinese investments. “Don’t forget [we are] the most open international investment [destination], particularly [for] Chinese investment. We have Chinese companies coming in to do Hinkley, for instance, the big nuclear power plant,” he said.

Johnson also stressed that Britain was the first Western country to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a move that angered its major ally, the United States.

Britain became a founder-member of the AIIB – the first Asia-based international bank to be independent from the Western-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund — with a US$50 million contribution to its special project fund in 2015.

The interview did not touch on whether a Johnson government would restrict access to Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

In the interview, Johnson said Britain welcomed Chinese students. “We are very lucky because we have coming to the United Kingdom not only lots of goods manufactured in China; we have 155,000 Chinese students in the country which is wonderful for us.

“They make a massive contribution to Britain and to our society. [There are] more Chinese students in London than any city in the world outside China,” he said.

“My daughter was in China not very long ago, learning Chinese,” he said, which is “very important, [and] very difficult.”

(SD-Agencies)