Embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agrees to resign

[muriel_volestrangler]

Last edited Thu Jul 7, 2022, 07:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: AP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to resign Thursday after days of defections crippled the controversial leader and left him unable to govern.

Johnson finally agreed to step down after one of his closest allies, Treasury Chief Nadhim Zahawi, told the prime minister to resign for the good of the country. It was not immediately clear whether Johnson will stay in office while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will automatically become prime minister as well. A formal announcement is expected later Thursday.

“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,” Zahawi said in a letter to Johnson. “You must do the right thing and go now.”

Zahawi’s intervention came after two more members of Johnson’s Cabinet resigned, along with three junior officials, pushing the number of those who have left the government this week past 50.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-london-michael-gove-60da3c4b29a4e9c93c7db9f53034ad0e

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Updated for a regular news story format - had been https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62072419?ns_mchannelsocial&ns_sourcetwitter&ns_campaignbbc_live&ns_linkname62c6953cb893776ef3343544%26Boris%20Johnson%20will%20resign%20as%20Conservative%20leader%20today%262022-07-07T08%3A11%3A41.140Z&ns_fee0&pinned_post_locatorurn:asset:e9652eb4-9e02-4498-96ed-73bef991486b&pinned_post_asset_id62c6953cb893776ef3343544&pinned_post_typeshare from BBC live blog

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Just saw an AP breaking

UK media: Prime Minister Boris Johnson agrees to step down

By SYLVIA HUI and DANICA KIRKA 4 minutes ago


LONDON (AP) — British media say Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to resign, ending an unprecedented political crisis over his future.

Johnson had rebuffed calls by his Cabinet to step down in the wake of ethics scandals. He gave in after more than 40 ministers quit his government and told him to go.

It was not immediately clear Thursday whether Johnson would stay in office while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will replace him as prime minister.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-london-michael-gove-60da3c4b29a4e9c93c7db9f53034ad0e

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Thanks - I've updated the OP to use that

since it's a regular news story format, that's better than something which will end up in the middle of a live blog.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Yeah I hate those "live" update things

All the U.S. media are popping out now sending out the breaking banners - CNN and Washington Post just sent theirs...

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Not that it doesn't stop AP rewriting their story every few minutes

I'm going to babysit the thread to keep it matching with the AP story for a bit.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Reuters

July 7, 2022
4:14 AM EDT
Last Updated 8 min ago

UK PM Johnson to resign on Thursday - BBC
Reuters



LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will resign on Thursday, several media outlets including the BBC reported.

Johnson had been hanging onto power despite the resignation of a string of his top ministers. On Thursday the man he appointed as finance minister less than 48 hours earlier publicly urged Johnson to go.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also called on Johnson to quit but said he would stay in his role to protect national security.

Reporting by William James and Muvija M; Editing by Kate Holton

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-pm-johnson-resign-bbc-2022-07-07/

[TreasonousBastard]

4. The BBC was running woth this yesterday. After all, when you lose...

50 ministers when you only started with 45, you're in deep shit.

[rubbersole]

6. He was all in with Brexit...

That was a Putin chaos effort. Right up there with installing a POTUS.

[riversedge]

8. Boris Johnson to resign as Tory leader but remain as PM until autumn - BBC News https://bbc.co.uk/n

Looks like he will be sticking around



Boris Johnson to resign as Tory leader but remain as PM until autumn - BBC News
https://bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-p

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=eIrmF-cEt-B8UtUdG1YbOw

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Though there are several, in and outside the party, arguing he's so damaged they need a caretaker PM

rather than Boris trying to rebuild a short term government after so many resignations.

See eg https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/jul/07/boris-johnson-latest-resignations-today-conservatives-uk-politics-live?page=with:block-62c69d058f089a79171d442f#block-62c69d058f089a79171d442f

Link to tweet

[Miguelito Loveless]

27. So, he's staying in power

[BigmanPigman]

10. I just listened to Amanpour and Co

and her guests discussed all the details of how horrible he is and has been his whole life and all I could think about was tRump. Since the show was recorded earlier this news wasn't on her show.

[SergeStorms]

11. BoJo - another Putin puppet.

Not at all sorry to see you go, shit-stain.

Another asshole employing the "do as I say, not as I do" style of "leadership" so popular with conservatives worldwide.

The damage he did is incalculable.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Nah, he was Putin's STOOGE (useful idiot). He has been very anti-Putin re Ukraine

He remains an idiot with an idiot mop of hair, probably dyed like the orange former guy.

[Polybius]

30. I'd call him a smart idiot

No common sense, but the guy was a genius in school.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

32. Many politicians, esp Cons and cons, are smart but not wise. . . . nt

[Polybius]

33. Yeah, like Ted Cruz

But Trump is dumb in every way. That might be worse.

[JI7]

21. How was he a Putin Puppet ?

[BumRushDaShow]

12. A few others

Boris Johnson expected to resign amid party revolt

By Karla Adam and William Booth

July 7, 2022 at 4:53 a.m. EDT

LONDON — Boris Johnson has agreed to step down as the British prime minister, the BBC and other British media outlets said Thursday, following an avalanche of resignations within his own government that eroded his authority and paralyzed the British government. The BBC, the state broadcaster, said that Johnson had agreed to resign but hoped to stay in office until the autumn.

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.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/07/uk-boris-johnson-resignation/

The BBC says Boris Johnson will resign as Conservative Party leader.

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain will resign as Conservative Party leader on Thursday, the BBC reported, after a wholesale rebellion of his cabinet, a wave of government resignations and a devastating loss of party support, prompted by his handling of the party’s latest sex-and-bullying scandal. Mr. Johnson plans to stay on in the role of prime minister until the autumn, the BBC reported, though there was no indication of whether his party’s lawmakers, many of whom have turned against him, would go along with that.

Downing Street said that he planned to make a statement to the country later on Thursday. Mr. Johnson’s decision capped a dizzying 48 hours in British politics that began on Tuesday evening with the unexpected resignation of two of his highest-ranking ministers, the chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and the health secretary, Sajid Javid. That was followed by a flurry of resignation announcements from other lawmakers and officials all day Wednesday and on Thursday morning.

The resignation brings an abrupt end to a stormy tenure that was distinguished by a landslide election victory three years ago and a successful drive to pull Britain out of the European Union, but that collapsed under the weight of a relentless series of scandals.

Keir Starmer, the head of the opposition Labour Party, responding to reports, said it was “good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned,” but added: “It should have happened long ago.”“He was always unfit for office. He has been responsible for lies, scandal and fraud on an industrial scale,” Mr. Starmer wrote. “And all those who have been complicit should be utterly ashamed.”

(snip)

— Mark Landler, Megan Specia and Stephen Castle

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/07/world/boris-johnson-resign-news/boris-johnson-prime-minister-resignation

[slightlv]

13. Do you mean

After all the Putinish things Johnson has done, he's actually got more sense than Trump? He's actually going to quit? Damn... I did NOT see that coming!

[onetexan]

14. The difference is there are Tories saw that Borish Boris had gone one step too far

making their loyalty unsustainable for their careers. They resigned because of self-serving reasons, BUT also that they've put country above party. Repugs (with exception of very few) here do not.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Nearly all of his ministers resigned

so he was left piloting a huge ship with no crew.

[róisín_dubh]

17. Ending the workday early so I can celebrate!

Though who takes over is scary...

[CottonBear]

18. So, he's stepping down as party leader, but remaining as PM until...? Will he continue as a MP?

The news headlines are very unclear.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. He wants to stay on until the new party leader is chosen

which will take at least a month, more likely 2. Many say this isn't feasible, with so many problems with him personally (as opposed to, say, when Theresa May stood down, it was about her Brexit negotiation - while she paused that, the party was OK with the rest of her performance, so they still supported her on that). He's just given the resignation speech outside 10 Downing St, and didn't say anything about a replacement PM, so he still thinks he can carry on until the new one is known. We shall see.

He's certainly staying on as MP for the moment - chucking an MP out is quite hard. Once he's not PM, one way or another, he may decide he'll make more money without having to worry about doing any work as an MP.

[CottonBear]

29. Thanks for the clear explanation!

I understand the situation much better now.

Do you have any ideas about who might eventually become the new PM?

[Demovictory9]

19. Please let him stop with the fake messy hairdo

[duforsure]

20. Conservatives here in the USA should have removed TFG when they had the chances ,

But were so corrupt and compromised, and lied so much with him, couldn't. Boris Johnson's failure, with TFG's re-election failure, is signs these radicalized putin backed conservatives are losing power. Those conservatives in the British government at least had the courage to stand up against him, where ours were cowards.

[FakeNoose]

23. So that's all it took to get rid of him - just everybody resigns?

Sheesh, why didn't we think of that!

Oh I get it, if Chump's entire Cabinet had resigned in protest, he'd have no problem with that. He would have gone right along and appointed all-new evil ChumpHumpers to take their place. Or he would have run the entire executive branch single-handedly.

Right!

[malthaussen]

26. Yeah, they do things a little differently there. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. The constitutional difference is that president is a position voted for

(even if via the wacky Electoral College), where PM is the leader of the majority in parliament - the equivalent in the USA is House Speaker. If the majority party no longer has confidence in them, or if some will join the minority party in a vote to get rid of them, they can.

The cabinet doesn't have a direct way to depose a PM, but if they resign and call on the PM to resign, that's a sign to the party (and something they wouldn't do in numbers if they didn't think the party felt the same way too). The Conservatives were about to change their internal rules to allow another vote of MPs against him (it's up to a party to decide how to do that, not national law). Constitutionally, the monarch appoints as PM whoever has the confidence of the majority of the House of Commons, so if the party voted him out, the queen would appoint the new Tory leader.

[yellowcanine]

24. Conservatives are nuts if they allow him to stay on.

Better appoint a caretaker so he doesn't get used to the idea of still being PM.

[malthaussen]

25. Next step, throw his ass in jail, as Australia did with theirs.

Politicians should do frequent jail time, pour le encourager les autres.

-- Mal

[Polybius]

31. For partying during Covid restrictions?

We had a very high profile politician do that. It's dumb, but they shouldn't go to jail.

[malthaussen]

34. Come on, Polybius, it's more than that.

The partying just triggered everyone's gag reflex.

-- Mal