According to a government source, British prime minister Boris Johnson agrees to resign on Thursday after being spurned by ministers and parliamentarians from his Conservative Party who claimed he was no longer qualified to lead.
Eight ministers, including two secretaries of state, have resigned in the previous two hours, leaving Johnson alone and helpless to accept the inevitable and announce his resignation later.
His Downing Street office acknowledged that Johnson would later address the nation.
After struggling for his job for days, Johnson had lost all but a few of his allies when the most recent of a string of scandals soured their support for him.
The Conservative Party’s deputy chairman, Justin Tomlinson, wrote on Twitter that “his resignation was inevitable.” “As a party, we must quickly unite and focus on what matters. These are serious times on many fronts.”
It will now be up to the Conservatives to choose a new leader, a procedure that may take up to two months.
Johnson’s finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, who was just appointed to his position on Tuesday, had called for his boss to resign as an indication of his waning support during one of the most chaotic 24 hours in recent British political history.
“This is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country,” he said on Twitter. “You must do the right thing and go now.”
Defense Minister Ben Wallace and other people who stayed in their positions claimed that they’d been doing so because it was their duty to protect the nation.
The administration was in a state of paralysis due to a large number of resignations of ministers.
When the vivacious Johnson assumed office over three years ago, he campaigned on a platform of expediting Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union and delivering it from the acrimonious squabbling that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Since then, some Conservatives have warmly supported the former journalist and mayor of London, while others have supported him despite their qualms because he was able to win over voters who typically rejected their party.
To read our blog on “Partygate has posed a fresh danger to Boris Johnson’s leadership,” click here.
