Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally resigned today, after more than 50 government ministers quit. As late as last night, Johnson — nicknamed the ‘greased pig’ — was trying to hold on to power.

 

After numerous scandals —  remember ‘Partygate’? — Johnson’s Conservative party and indeed the country, was done. In his speech, he acknowledged this.

‘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, and I’ve agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week. And I’ve today appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until the new leader is in place.

‘So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting Conservative for the first time: ‘Thank you for that incredible mandate, the biggest Conservative majority since 1987, the biggest share of the vote since 1979.’

 

While Johnson has said he will stay on until a new leader is found, his party has made it clear they want him out of 10 Downing Street immediately.

 

 

George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday, tweeted that ‘Boris Johnson needs to hand in the seals of office, apologize to Her Majesty (Queen Elizabeth II) and advise her to call for a caretaker prime minister. To take over today so that ministers can get back to work and we can choose a new Conservative leader to try and repair the damage and rebuild trust.’