\u2018Them\u2019s the breaks\u2019
\nBowing to inevitable as more than 50 ministers quit, Johnson says it is clear his party wanted someone else in charge
\n LONDON, UK
\nBoris Johnson will announce his resignation as British prime minister on Thursday after he was abandoned by ministers and his Conservative Party\u2019s lawmakers who said he was no longer fit to govern.
\nWith eight ministers, including two secretaries of state, resigning in the last two hours, an isolated and powerless Johnson was set to bow to the inevitable and declare he was stepping down later on Thursday, a source said.
\nHis Downing Street office confirmed that Johnson would make a statement to the country later.
\nAfter days of battling for his job, Johnson had been deserted by all but a handful of allies after the latest in a series of scandals broke their willingness to support him.
\n\u201cHis resignation was inevitable,\u201d Justin Tomlinson, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, said on Twitter. \u201cAs a party we must quickly unite and focus on what matters. These are serious times on many fronts.\u201d
\nThe Conservatives will now have to elect a new leader, a process which could take about two months. It was not clear whether Johnson would or could stay on in a caretaker role while the person who would be the new prime minister was chosen.
\n\u201cAs well as resigning as party leader the PM must resign his office,\u201d Conservative lawmaker Nick Gibb said. \u201cAfter losing so many ministers, he has lost the trust and authority required to continue.\u201d
\nSupport for Johnson had evaporatedduring one of the most turbulent 24 hours in recent British political history, epitomised by finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed to his post on Tuesday, calling on his boss to resign. Zahawi and other cabinet ministers had gone to Downing Street on Wednesday evening, along with a senior representative of those lawmakers not in government, to tell Johnson the game was up.
\nInitially, Johnson refused to go and seemed set to dig in, sacking Michael Gove – a member of his top ministerial team who was one of the first to tell him he needed to resign – in a bid to reassert his authority.
\nOne ally had told the Sun newspaper that party rebels would \u201chave to dip their hands in blood\u201d to get rid of Johnson. But by Thursday morning as a slew of resignations poured in, it became clear his position was untenable.
\n\u201cThis is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country,\u201d Zahawi said on Twitter. \u201cYou must do the right thing and go now.\u201d
\nSome of those that remained in post, including defence minister Ben Wallace, said they were only doing so because they had an obligation to keep the country safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Them\u2019s the breaks\u2019 Bowing to inevitable as more than 50 ministers quit, Johnson says it is clear his party wanted someone else in charge LONDON, UK Boris Johnson will announce his resignation as British prime minister on Thursday after he was abandoned by ministers and his Conservative Party\u2019s lawmakers who said he was no longer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[901,3827,9463],"class_list":["post-270413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-boris-johnson","tag-quit","tag-uk-prime-minister"],"yoast_head":"\n