Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor, wrote: “Boris Johnson will resign as Conservative leader today – he will continue as Prime Minister until the autumn. A Conservative leadership race will take place this summer and a new Prime Minister will be in place in time for the Tory party conference in October.”
A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street said: “The Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today.”
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.
Security minister Damian Hinds, the departing Security Minister told Johnson, “it shouldn’t take the resignation of dozens of colleagues, but for our country, and trust in our democracy, we must have a change of leadership.”
Johnson, who likes to quote Latin and refer to Roman history, faced a growing queue of Brutus impersonators.
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.”
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism