British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday his resignation as prime minister. In a brief speech outside Dawning Street, he indicated that he will stay in office until a new leader is elected. Surrounded by scandals and a barrage of resignations from his ranks, Johnson thus resigned from the leadership of the Conservative Party in his public statement, acknowledging that it is the will of the Tory Party to have a new leader and a new prime minister.
In his statement, in front of 10 Dawning Street, the premier took stock of his achievements in office and thanked those who trusted him to lead it. Among his achievements was the handling of the pandemic which has been the country that began vaccination against the virus the fastest. Johnson had rejected calls from his cabinet to resign in the wake of several scandals calling his ethics into question. After the resignation of more than 40 ministers and officials from his government, who asked him to leave, the British prime minister finally decided to step aside, although according to the BBC, he will remain prime minister until the autumn, when the Tories elect a new leader.
A wave of resignations in the British government
Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi, who had been in office for just 36 hours, publicly called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign, even though it was Johnson himself who appointed him. Zahawi said Johnson knew the “right thing to do” was to “leave now.” Zahawi was appointed Tuesday night to replace Rishi Sunak, who resigned saying he could no longer support Boris Johnson after a series of ethics scandals. Education Secretary Michelle Donelan, who was also appointed Tuesday following the resignation of her predecessor, announced her resignation Thursday morning. Johnson had rebuffed calls for him to step down, holding firm even as dozens of officials resigned and previously loyal allies urged him to leave after another scandal engulfed his leadership.
Boris Johnson resisted until the last moment
A group of Boris Johnson’s most trusted cabinet ministers visited him at his Downing Street office on Wednesday and told him to stand down having lost the confidence of his party. But Johnson instead chose to fight for his political career and fired one of the cabinet officials, Michael Gove, British media reported.
It is unusual for a prime minister to cling to office in the face of so much pressure from his cabinet colleagues. “He has violated the trust that was placed in him. He needs to recognize that he no longer has the moral authority to lead. And for him, it’s over,” Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford told The Associated Press.
Shockingly, the sexual scandal of an elected official was what finally tore the camel’s back
Johnson, 58, was known for his ability to get out of trouble. He remained in power despite accusations that he was too close to party donors, that he shielded supporters from accusations of intimidation and corruption, and that he misled Parliament and was dishonest with the public about office parties . of the government that broke the restrictions of the pandemic. But recent revelations that Boris Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker, before he promoted him to a senior job, turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Last week, Pincher resigned as his party’s second-in-command of parliamentary discipline following complaints of inappropriate touching of two men at a private club. That set off a series of reports of previous accusations against Pincher and shifting explanations from the government about what Boris Johnson knew or didn’t know when he appointed him to the top post on party discipline enforcement.
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