Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister after the government collapses. BoJo will leave behind a country that is beset by political and economic uncertainty, shaken by scandal after scandal.
It is official: Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister. Despite calls to leave office right once, Johnson insisted he would hold the position until a new Conservative party leader was selected. After days of unrest and widespread resignations from his government, the prime minister declared in a speech in front of No. 10 Downing Street that “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader for the Conservative party and therefore a new prime minister.”
Johnson, one of the most divisive British leaders in recent memory, said that the date of the leadership election would be revealed the following week. Johnson, according to many Conservatives, including a number of former ministers, ought to vacate Downing Street right away. One of them responded, “There’s no way I could serve under him in any circumstances.”
In addition, BoJo made fun of his own political party for deserting him so quickly, claiming that “the herd instinct is powerful, and when it moves, it moves.”
Johnson summed up his departure by saying, “Them’s the breaks” His resignation would bring to a conclusion a turbulent three years in office defined by Britain’s separation from the EU, the effects of Covid-19, the conflict in Ukraine, a cost of living crisis, as well as his 2019 election success – the Tories’ greatest victory in more than 40 years.
Johnson had already begun to fill several ministerial posts prior to his address, with Greg Clark scheduled to step in – temporarily — as a leveling-up secretary. James Cleverly is appointed as the third secretary of education in as many days.
Johnson wants to give the impression that he wishes to preserve national stability, so he plans to call a meeting of his hastily put together interim cabinet on Thursday afternoon.
Johnson’s announcement has sparked the succession process, and a plethora of competitors are anticipated to declare their candidacies in the following days. There is not a definite front-runner.
Watch live as BoJo makes his resignation announcement:
… and the news from Boris Johnson’s newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who also urged BoJo to go just one day after his appointment, was the final straw. In a letter to BoJo, Zahawi said, “Prime minister, you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, and go now.” “The country deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity.”
Michelle Donelan, who took over as education secretary from Zahawi on Tuesday night, also announced her resignation. “I see no way that you can continue in post, but without a formal mechanism to remove you it seems that the only way this is only possible is for those of us who remain in Cabinet to force your hand,” she wrote.
That was the turning point, and minutes later it was announced that scandal-plagued and widely disliked prime minister Boris Johnson plans to step down, bringing to an end his turbulent three years in office, which were tarnished by a series of controversies that ultimately resulted in the uprising of his own cabinet and parliamentary group, including a record amount of cabinet resignations in a single day.
Following the widespread departure of his cabinet members, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, Johnson, 58, succumbed to the inevitable as a growing number of Conservative MPs publicly attacked his judgment, leadership, and commitment to the truth.
According to the Financial Times, Johnson told Sir Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 committee of Conservative backbencher MPs, during a meeting at 8:30 a.m. that he had decided to step down for the good of the party and the nation.
BoJo will leave behind a country that is beset by political and economic uncertainty, shaken by scandal after scandal, and still feeling the effects of his one great victory, the UK’s exit from the European Union. This nation is also threatened by widespread industrial action, surging inflation, and the possibility of a recession. On Johnson’s watch, the Conservatives’ previous reputation for sleaze was restored, and they currently behind the main opposition Labour Party in the polls.
Johnson wants to continue serving as caretaker premier until October while the Tories choose a new leader, according to Bloomberg. Potential successors are already lining up, regardless of whether his party permits him to hold onto power for that long. They include Sunak and former Health Minister Sajid Javid, who both left the cabinet on Tuesday, as well as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and the recently appointed chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi. The field is probably going to grow.
According to FT reports, Johnson is scheduled to make an address just after noon when he will outline his intentions to serve as caretaker prime minister up until the Conservative party conference in October. He has already begun to fill certain ministerial openings, with Greg Clark set to serve as a “leveling-up secretary” for a limited time. However, a sizable portion of Conservative MPs believe Johnson’s position cannot last and want him to leave Downing Street sooner.
Baroness Ruth Davidson, previous leader of the Scottish Tories, stated: “There’s no way he can stay on until October. It’s arrant nonsense to think he can. Someone needs to grip this.”
Johnson first claimed that he had “a mandate” from the British people and refused to resign. He fired Michael Gove, one of the senior ministers who had counseled him to resign, and a Number 10 assistant referred to Gove as “a snake.”
As a result of the announcement, the pound rose 0.5 percent versus the dollar, from $1.193 to a high of $1.199 in a minor relief bounce, as investors reacted positively to Johnson’s likely retirement.
Finally, for those wondering who will be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Ladbrokes has Ben Wallace as the favorite to succeed Johnson. Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are the second and third favorites, respectively.
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