After a wave of conservative resignations, Boris Johnson has announced that he will step down as British Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson has resigned as British Prime Minister after a mass exodus of more than 59 government ministers made his position untenable.
Johnson announced that he will resign as leader of the Conservative Party, but intends to remain as interim prime minister until a new leader is elected.
“It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party to have a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister,” Johnson said at 10 Downing Street.
“And I agree with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our later MPs, that the process of electing this new leader should begin now.
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“The calendar will be announced next week, and today I have appointed a cabinet that will serve as I will until there is a new leader.
“So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting Conservative for the first time, thank you for this amazing term, the largest Conservative majority since 1987, most votes since 1979. . ”
Johnson said there would be “a lot of people relieved” to see him leave, but some will be disappointed.
“My friends in politics, no one is remotely indispensable … I want you to know how sad I feel about giving up the best job in the world: they are the breaks.”
Johnson aims to remain as interim prime minister until October, when the Conservative Party elects its next leader.
In an effort to hold office for the next three months, Johnson is making last-minute cabinet appointments to fill the vacant ministerial posts that left the resignations.
However, a number of Conservative MPs are calling for Johnson to resign immediately.
Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon argued that it would not be sustainable for Johnson to continue as caretaker.
“There will be a widespread sense of relief that the chaos of the last few days (in fact months) will end, although the idea of Boris Johnson remaining prime minister until the fall seems far from ideal, and surely not sustainable? ” Tweeted.
“Boris Johnson was always manifestly incapable of being prime minister and the Conservatives should never have elected him leader or kept him in office for as long as they have done so.”
Other Conservatives have called for Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab to act as Johnson’s replacement.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer said the Labor Party could use a censure vote to try to force Johnson to step down if he stays in office until October.
“[Johnson’s] The party itself has finally concluded that it is not fit to be prime minister. Now they can’t inflict it on the country for the next few months, ”he said.
“It is obvious that he is not fit to be prime minister. This has been blinding for a very, very long time.
“If they don’t get rid of it, Labor will take a step, in the national interest, and cast a vote of censure because we can’t continue with this clinging prime minister for months and months.”
It follows the massive exodus of support from Conservative MPs, which is the highest number in 90 years, including newly appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who urged Mr Johnson to “do the right thing and leave now”.
“Prime Minister, this is not sustainable and will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and, most importantly, for the whole country,” Zahawi wrote after being appointed by Johnson less than 48 hours ago.
“You have to do the right thing and leave now.”
A number of scandals have affected Mr Johnson’s tenure since he took office in 2019 following a promise to comply with Brexit, including concerns about his handling of a complaint of inappropriate sexual conduct against a senior official : Chris Pincher.
It is a long way from Johnson’s landslide victory in 2019 when he brought to the Conservative Party the largest majority since Margaret Thatcher’s victory more than three decades ago.
Under current Conservative Party rules, no other leadership challenge could be posed for at least 12 months, but a number of MPs are trying to change that.
In the coming weeks, Conservative MPs will elect a new set of members for the 1922 Committee executive, which would allow for changes to the rules of leadership.
This change could come as soon as next Tuesday.
But with the imminent resignation of Mr Johnson, attention has now shifted to who will put his hands up for the UK’s most important job.
Under conservative rules, MPs will vote to determine the last two candidates before party members decide by post the country’s next prime minister.