Boris Johnson Resigns as British Prime Minister

Sopuruchi Onwuka with agency rpeorts

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr Boris Johnson, has resigned the position after losing the support of some 50 lawmakers who are disappointed at the torrents of ethical issues pulling on the government of the outgoing Prime Minister.

Resignation of scandal-ridden Boris Johnson was expected on Thursday after he declared at his Downing Street office that he would resign following his isolation by ministers and most of his Conservative lawmakers.

Many said Johnson should leave immediately and hand over to his deputy, Dominic Raab, after losing the trust of his party.

It wasn’t immediately clear when Johnson would leave office as the Conservatives will now have to elect a new leader, a process which could take weeks or months.

His resignation will trigger an internal election to pick a new leader of the Conservative Party, who will also be the next prime minister. That process is likely to take place over the summer.

Johnson signaled that he intends to stay in office until that concludes. Such a move would be controversial, and critics say he should not be allowed to remain even as caretaker prime minister.

The crisis comes as Britons are facing the tightest squeeze on their finances in decades, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with soaring inflation, and the economy forecast to be the weakest among major nations in 2023 apart from Russia.

It also follows years of internal division sparked by the narrow 2016 vote to leave the European Union, and threats to the make-up of the United Kingdom itself with demands for another Scottish independence referendum, the second in a decade.

Support for Johnson had evaporated during one of the most turbulent 24 hours in recent British political history, epitomised by finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed to his post on Tuesday, calling on his boss to resign.

Zahawi and other cabinet ministers had gone to Downing Street on Wednesday evening, along with a senior representative of those lawmakers not in government, to tell Johnson the game was up.

Initially, Johnson refused to go and seemed set to dig in, sacking Michael Gove – a member of his top ministerial team who was one of the first to tell him he needed to resign – in a bid to reassert his authority.

But by Thursday morning as a slew of resignations poured in, it became clear his position was untenable. Some of those that remained in post, including defence minister Ben Wallace, said they were only doing so because they had an obligation to keep the country safe.

Johnson had clung to power for two days, defiantly telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he had a “colossal mandate” from voters and intended to get on with the business of government.

“This is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country,” Zahawi urged Johnson on Twitter. “You must do the right thing and go now.”

Zahawi, who was promoted earlier this week as Johnson tried to shore up his Cabinet, said he and a group of colleagues had privately expressed their concerns to the prime minister on Wednesday and he decided to go public after Johnson ignored the advice to resign.

George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday, said in a tweet that the “PM has finally done the decent thing he needs to hand in the seals of office, apologize to Her Majesty (Queen Elizabeth II), allow her to appoint a Caretaker under whom Ministers can serve, so the Conservative Party can choose a new leader properly.”

Thursday morning’s resignations meant that 50 Cabinet secretaries, ministers and lower-level officials had quit the government over two days, often castigating the prime minister for his lack of integrity. With more than 20 positions unfilled, the crisis had stalled the business of some parliamentary committees because there were no ministers available to speak on the government’s behalf.

It is a humiliating defeat for Johnson, who succeeded in leading Britain out of the European Union and was credited with rolling out one of the world’s most successful mass vaccination campaigns to combat COVID-19.

But the perpetually rumpled leader known for greeting critics with bombast and bluster was also dogged by criticism that he was willing to bend, and sometimes break, the rules to achieve his goals.

Johnson, 58, managed to remain in power for almost three years, despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules.

Recent disclosures that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a Conservative lawmaker before he promoted him to a senior position in government proved to be one scandal too many.

The crisis began when Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip amid allegations that he had groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations leveled against Pincher.

Johnson tried to deflect criticism with shifting explanations about what he knew and when he knew it, but that just highlighted concerns that the prime minister couldn’t be trusted.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak resigned within minutes of each other Tuesday night, triggering a wave of departures among their Cabinet colleagues and lower level officials. The resignations pushed Johnson’s closest political allies to press him to quit after some three years in office during which he led Britain out of the European Union.

The recent crisis erupted after the Prime Minister rose in defence of lawmaker Chris Pincher was forced to quit over accusations he groped men in a private member’s club. Johnson had to apologize after it emerged that he was briefed that Pincher had been the subject of previous sexual misconduct complaints before he appointed him. The prime minister said he had forgotten.

This followed months of scandals and missteps, including a damning report into boozy parties at his Downing Street residence and office that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules and saw him fined by police over a gathering for his 56th birthday.

There have also been policy U-turns, an ill-fated defence of a lawmaker who broke lobbying rules, and criticism that he has not done enough to tackle inflation, with many Britons struggling to cope with rising fuel and food prices.

“It should have happened long ago,” Labour’s Starmer said. “He was always unfit for office. He has been responsible for lies, scandal and fraud on an industrial scale.”