Boris Johnson will stand down as British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson will stand down as British Prime Minister after only three years following the dramatic resignations of in excess of 50 individuals from his government in three days which had made his position untenable.

Johnson is supposed to stay as a caretaker prime minister for essentially the following two months while a leadership election decision happens, Downing Street officials said on Thursday evening (AEST).

A source near Johnson told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age: “He’s resigning so a new leader can be chosen in time for party conference.”

Johnson has been engulfed in scandals of sleaze and allegations of lying for the beyond nine months, including the so-called party gate affair which led to a Metropolitan police probe of more than 12 social gatherings which occurred in 10 Downing Street between May 2020 and April 2021 while the country was under severe Covid lockdown measures. Johnson himself was fined for going to his own unexpected birthday day.

His pending resignation, first reported by the BBC, marks the finish of a political profession where he spearheaded the successful Vote Leave campaign in 2016 which led to Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2016 yet, in addition, delivered a historic 80-seat majority in an overall election race victory in 2019.

The last blow for Johnson’s leadership came almost immediately Thursday morning in London, when Nadhim Zahawi, who became chancellor only 36 hours before, said that he had told the prime minister to “go now” and cautioned him he was sabotaging his record by declining to resign.

“Prime minister, you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, and go now,” he wrote. “The country deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity.”

Moments earlier Brandon Lewis, Northern Ireland secretary and when a loyal Johnson ally, had said he was stopping and that the government was done being run in light of “honesty, integrity and mutual respect”.

His resignation makes him the third prime minister to stop since the Conservatives originally won power under David Cameron in 2010. Cameron left office in 2016 subsequent to ending up on the wrong side of the Brexit vote and was replaced by Theresa May, who endured only three years before she was forced out by Tory MPs.

Johnson endure a no-confidence vote by 63 votes last month, however, party whips accept that a greater part would be cleared away on the off chance that one more was to be held at this point.

The former mayor of London had defied calls from a delegation of cabinet ministers to make a “dignified” exit and said that he was “100 per cent ready” to battle a subsequent certainty vote.

He had told the House of Commons under 24 hours sooner that he had “a colossal mandate” from individuals at the 2019 general election, suggesting this made a difference more than developing ranks of Tory MPs who had stopped the frontbench and were presently sitting behind him. He said would “keep going”.

Allies of Johnson claimed his resignation would prompt a general election that would include Labor forming an alliance with the Scottish National Party, which could keep the Tories out of the force for quite a long time. Johnson had told colleagues he was representing the benefit of the country instead of personal responsibility.

The tipping point this week, which triggered the resignations of chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday, was the most recent scandal encompassing Tory MP Chris Pincher, who quit last week as deputy chief whip following accusations that he attacked two men while drunk.

Bringing down Street at first said Johnson didn’t know about any past allegations of wrongdoing when he gave Pincher the key government post in February, however his office later backtracked to recognize that Johnson had some awareness of an examination that maintained comparable objections in 2019.

The Conservatives were trounced at two byelections last month – the two of which were brought about by the resignation of MPs who had to resign in separate sleaze scandals. The party lost the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton to the Lib Dems, and Wakefield to Labour.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was “good news for the country” but 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. And all those who have been complicit should be utterly ashamed,” he said in a statement.