Boris Johnson has agreed to step down as the British prime minister, the BBC reported on Thursday, following an avalanche of resignations within his own government that eroded his authority and paralyzed the British government.
“Boris Johnson will resign as Conservative leader today,” tweeted Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor. A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street stated that “The Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today.”
In fast-breaking news, Johnson has reportedly agreed to resign but hopes to stay in office until the autumn. During that time, the Conservative Party would pick a new prime minister to replace Johnson. There would be no general election.
There was immediate and fierce pushback to that idea from some lawmakers and party grandees who warned that Johnson was soiling the Conservative Party brand and that he was too damaged to stay in office through the summer.
As the world watched the British government unravel, the Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stepped forward to tweet, “A number of us have an obligation to keep this country safe, no matter who is PM. The Party has a mechanism to change leaders and that is the mechanism which I advise colleagues to use.”
Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said that this was “good news for the country” but “we don’t need to change the Tory at the top — we need a proper change of government.”
Johnson woke up Thursday morning in 10 Downing Street to another wave of resignations by government officials and party members declaring that the embattled prime minister must step down immediately — for the sake not only of his Conservative Party but for the country.
Before the breakfast shows on television were over, there were 53 resignations, including four Cabinet ministers in just two days. Many of the letters including brutal assessments of Johnson’s tenure and critiques of his honesty. Some pleaded with him to go.
Nadhim Zahawi, who was appointed chancellor, the second most important job in government on Tuesday, turned on Johnson on Thursday and told him to step down. He tweeted: “Prime Minister: this is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country. You must do the right thing and go now.”
Johnson had until now refused to bow to pressure to resign, saying that he has a 14-million vote mandate from the British voters who cast their ballots for him and his party in the last general election in 2019.
But his authority has evaporated quickly over the last 48 hours, with longtime colleagues and allies telling him to go — resignations seemed to be landing every few minutes.
There were so many resignations it became unclear that Johnson and his aides could fill the spots quickly enough to keep the government going. Ministers in charge of security, the courts, technology, education, finance, Northern Ireland, science have all left their jobs.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis was among those who resigned from his position in the Cabinet on Thursday morning. He said that the British government requires “honesty, integrity and mutual respect” and it is “now past the point of no return.”
On Thursday morning, Suella Braverman, who hasn’t quit her job and serves in Johnson’s cabinet as the attorney general, said that “the facts are undeniable: he can’t command the confidence of sufficient numbers of people who serve in his government.”
She also said that she would run in a leadership contest to replace Johnson.
The former Brexit Minister, David Frost, told Johnson on the BBC that “the game is up.”
Frost said, “the government can’t continue, that’s very clear, and I hope the prime minister might have reflected overnight and come to that same conclusion himself.”
Some began to make comparisons to former U.S. president Donald Trump’s attempt to cling to power. Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative lawmaker and chair of the powerful Liaison Committee, told the national broadcaster that Johnson “can go with some dignity” or he can be “forced out like Donald Trump, clinging to power and pretending he’s won the election when he’s lost.”
Up until Thursday, Johnson had shrugged off calls for him to go. At a fiery session of the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions, he said: “Frankly, the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you have been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
