JUST IN: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Resigns
U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has resigned.
According to a report by CNBC, Johnson, who spoke outside Downing Street, said the process for choosing the new leader of the Conservative Party should begin, with a timetable to be announced next week, adding that he intends to remain in place until a new Tory leader is elected.
Referring to members of his own ruling party who turned against him, Johnson was quoted to have said: “At Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.”
Johnson thanked his wife Carrie Johnson, his children, the National Health Service, armed forces and Downing Street staff.
Following his resignation, British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, called for “calmness and unity”.
“The PM has made the right decision. The Government under Boris’s leadership had many achievements — delivering Brexit, vaccines and backing Ukraine. We need calmness and unity now and to keep governing while a new leader is found,” she tweeted from Bali where she is scheduled to attend a G20 ministerial meeting on Friday.
Johnson came under severe public scrutiny over the party gates scandal and recently over Christopher Pincher who he appointed as Chief Whip despite being aware of his misconduct.
Other issues that sparked Mr Johnson’s woes include the current economic hardship faced by Britons.