Boris Johnson will announce his resignation as British prime minister on Thursday after he was abandoned by ministers and his Conservative Party's lawmakers who said he was no longer fit to govern.
With 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.After 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.
"As well as resigning as party leader the PM must resign his office," Conservative lawmaker Nick Gibb said."After losing so many ministers, he has lost the trust and authority required to continue." Initially, 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.
"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 on Twitter."You must do the right thing and go now." Since then, some Conservatives had enthusiastically backed the former journalist and London mayor while others, despite reservations, supported him because he was able to appeal to parts of the electorate that usually rejected their party.
Johnson had to apologise after it emerged that he was briefed that Pincher had been the subject of previous sexual misconduct complaints before he appointed him. The prime minister said he had forgotten.
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