In this May 25, 2022 archive photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at a press conference following the publication of Sue Gray’s report on the Downing Street festivities in Whitehall.Leon Neal / The Associated Press
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will resign on Thursday as party leader less than three years after winning one of the biggest collapses in British history.
Media reports said that Mr. Johnson had finally succumbed to growing pressure to resign from cabinet ministers, members of parliament and Conservative Party officials. Mr. Johnson wants to remain prime minister until the autumn when a new leader will be elected, the BBC reported. However, there is growing pressure for him to leave immediately and be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.
Mr Johnson had been hit by a number of scandals in recent months, including reports that he and his officials held more than a dozen social gatherings when the country was closed due to the pandemic. But allegations of sexual assault against former Conservative MP Chris Pincher sparked the boiling rebellion this week, as reports emerged that Mr. Johnson overlooked the behavior of Mr. Pincher and appointed him deputy director.
His resignation is a humiliating end to a career that seemed to defy political norms.
He was born to British parents in New York as Alexander Boris of Pfeffel Johnson and spent much of his youth in Brussels, where his father, Stanley, worked for the European Commission. After a privileged education at Eton and Oxford, he joined The Times as an internship journalist in 1987, only to be fired for inventing a date.
His political career began in 2001 when he won a seat in Parliament. He spent two terms as mayor of London and returned to Westminster in 2015. Throughout this, he has relied on humor, self-criticism and more than a little exaggeration.
He led the campaign to remove Britain from the European Union in 2016, after doubting which side he would support. After winning a referendum on Brexit that year, Johnson became a staunch critic of then-Prime Minister Theresa May, who tried to negotiate an exit deal with the EU.
Mr. Johnson led the move to force Ms May to resign, and was elected party leader in 2019. She went on to lead the Conservatives to a massive majority in December 2019, promising to “achieve Brexit”. However, the agreement he negotiated with the EU has wreaked havoc in Northern Ireland because it has effectively left the province subject to EU rules and cut off the rest of Britain in trade terms. Mr. Johnson has now moved to terminate key parts of the deal, even though he signed it in 2020.
He was also criticized for his management of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic although he nearly died from the disease. And while he managed to launch a successful vaccination campaign, he was embroiled in scandals over renovations to his Downing Street apartment and allegations of repeated violations of COVID-19 regulations.
The scandals led Conservative MPs to conduct a leadership review last month. Johnson received the support of a majority of deputies, but 148, or 40 percent of the caucus, voted in favor of his resignation. A couple of weeks later, the Conservatives lost two by-elections by large margins, which raised further questions about Mr. Johnson to continue as leader.
Nevertheless, Mr. Johnson remained defiant and refused to resign, even when dozens of cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries resigned this week and asked him to resign.
There are no clear favorites to succeed him as party leader. Some of the main contenders are expected to be Mr. Raab, as well as former Finance Chancellor Rishi Sunak, former Health Minister Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
The leader of the Labor Party, Sir Keir Starmer, welcomed the departure of Mr. Johnson, however, said he arrived too late. “It’s good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as prime minister,” Starmer said. “But it should have happened a long time ago.”
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