British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his resignation amid a mass revolt by top members of his government, marking an end to three tumultuous years in power in which he brazenly bent and sometimes broke the rules of British politics.
Months of defiance ended almost with a shrug as Johnson stood outside No. 10 Downing St and conceded that his party wanted him gone.
"Them's the breaks," he said.
Months of defiance ended almost with a shrug as the UK’s PM stood outside 10 Downing St and conceded that his party wanted him gone. (Source: 1News)
The brash, 58-year-old politician who took Britain out of the European Union and steered it through Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine was brought down by one scandal too many - this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct.
The messiest of prime ministers did not leave cleanly. Johnson stepped down immediately as Conservative Party leader but said he would remain as prime minister until the party chooses his successor. The timetable for that process will be announced next week. The last leadership contest took six weeks.
How did the British PM find himself facing the end of his time in Downing Street? (Source: 1News)
But many want him to go now, with some Conservative politicians expressing fear he could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister.
"It's very difficult to see how Boris Johnson, given the character that he is, is going to be able to govern for three months in quiet humility and contrition," said George Freeman, who resigned as science minister on Thursday (Friday NZT).
Among the possible candidates to succeed Johnson: former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
About 50 Cabinet secretaries, ministers and lower-level officials quit the government over the past few days because of the latest scandal, often castigating the prime minister as lacking integrity.
The mass resignations stalled the business of some parliamentary committees because there were no ministers available to speak on the government’s behalf.
Johnson clung to power for days, defiantly telling lawmakers on Wednesday (Thursday NZT) that he had a "colossal mandate" from the voters and intended to get on with the business of governing.
Under-fire Johnson has quit after nearly three years of power – and months of scandal. (Source: Breakfast)
But he was forced to concede defeat on Thursday morning after one of his closest allies, newly appointed Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi, publicly told him to resign for the good of the country.
"In the last few days, I tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we're delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate," Johnson said. "I regret not to have been successful in those arguments, and of course it's painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.’"
He said it is "clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister".
Critics said the speech showed Johnson, to the end, refusing to take responsibility for or admit his mistakes.
As Johnson gathered his cobbled-together Cabinet for a meeting after his resignation announcement, he promised not to rock the boat in his remaining weeks. He told members the government would not "seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction".
It was a humiliating defeat for Johnson, who not only pulled off Brexit but was also credited with rolling out one of the world's most successful mass vaccination campaigns to combat Covid-19.
But the perpetually rumpled, shaggy-haired leader known for answering his critics with bombast and bluster was also dogged by allegations he behaved as if the rules did not apply to him.
The crisis began when Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip amid accusations that he had groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations against Pincher.
Johnson offered shifting explanations about what he knew and when he knew it. That just heightened the sense that the prime minister couldn't be trusted.
Key Cabinet members Javid and Sunak, who were responsible, respectively, for fighting Covid-19 and inflation, helped trigger the crisis when they resigned within minutes of each other Tuesday (Wednesday NZT). That set off the wave of departures by their colleagues.
Now with a leadership election upon them, the Conservatives will have to decide whether they can stomach Johnson as a caretaker leader, a job that normally entails saying little and doing nothing.
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