Boris Johnson

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday was fighting for his political life as more ministers and aides continued to quit his government, ...

One of the lawmakers to resign his post on Wednesday was Will Quince, children and families minister. The majority of the British public think that he should throw in the towel now. Analysts say that Johnson is lucky insomuch as their reasons for losing faith in Johnson seem to be varied — his critics aren’t coalescing around a single issue, the way that those who helped to get rid of Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor, did when they ditched her. While some leaders may have read the room and decided to call it quits, Ford said, Corbyn did not and remained leader until the spring of 2020. And under the current Conservative Party rules, there’s no formal way for Johnson’s critics to quickly get rid of him. The resignations, which have followed a string of scandals, have prompted numerous questions: How long can Johnson survive?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hold on power was shaken by two major resignations Tuesday. On Wednesday, he vowed to remain in power.

“Mr. Johnson has for three days now been sending ministers — in one case a Cabinet minister — out to defend the indefensible, effectively to lie on his behalf. In hindsight it was the wrong thing to do.” An investigation upheld the complaint, and Pincher apologized for his actions, McDonald said. “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak said. But until Tuesday his Cabinet had largely stayed put and loyal. That account didn’t sit well with Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant at the U.K. Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020. The latest scandal began Thursday, when Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip amid complaints that he groped two men at a private club. “I regret to say, however, that it is clear this situation will not change under your leadership — and you have therefore lost my confidence too.” Johnson’s authority had already been shaken by last month’s confidence vote. That cannot be allowed to continue,” Gale told the BBC. “This prime minister has trashed the reputation of a proud and honorable party for honesty and decency, and that is not acceptable.″ Asked if it was an error to appoint Pincher to the government, Johnson said, “I think it was a mistake, and I apologize for it. Johnson told lawmakers Wednesday that “the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you’ve been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going.”

Two top ministers and a slew of more junior officials resigned this week, saying they could no longer serve under Johnson's scandal-tarred leadership.

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

BORIS ICE AGE: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his political life today, again. He faces a grilling by chairs of the British Parliament's ...

DIPLOMACY — HOW STATES AND CITIES CAN STEP UP: The Truman Center has rolled out a plan for cities, states and communities across the United States to contribute to foreign policy. BOTSWANA — CONVENES DEMOCRATS: The Botswana government and National Democratic Institute are co-hosting an International Summit on Constitutionalism and Democratic Consolidation in Africa from today to Friday: Register to watch the livestream. Whatever happens in that vote, Saied plans to rule by decree through the end of the year. While the ship is sailing under a Russian flag, a complicated web of companies is involved. The key point: Methane comes from a mix of human activity (including oil and gas exploration and cattle farming) and natural sources such as tropical wetlands and Arctic tundra, and is partially mopped up by hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere. BORIS THE REMAINER: There is no easy mechanism to force Johnson out of power, and Johnson insists he will stay on. The number of taxpayers fell by a third and the deficit ballooned, making debt payments impossible once Covid costs further drained the budget. The country has already defaulted and now it has all but run out of fuel. He also locked in Britain’s net zero emissions pathway — the end point of a 15-year process started under David Cameron, which saw the British Conservatives split from their American and Australian counterparts on climate. His personal life has been characterized by it; he injected it into the 2016 Brexit referendum by choosing the “Leave” side at the last minute (despite growing up in Brussels as the son of an EU official); and he arrived in Downing Street after spending months destabilizing Prime Minister Theresa May, his party leader. The likely next step: a rule change to enable another vote of confidence in Johnson’s leadership. Blinken’s meeting will come on the heels of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaking Tuesday, which signals a possible tariff roll-back this month.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in serious trouble — again — with more than 25 members of his government resigning in the past day.

It was made worse by a series of scandals — dubbed “Partygate” — over several parties being held at Downing Street when lockdowns and social distancing were in place during the worst of the pandemic. And he has been criticized over the mounting cost-of-living crisis in the U.K. “Mr. Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation,” McDonald said. Johnson was criticized for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The committee is set to meet Wednesday and could decide to elect new members next week. But since then, he has lost the public’s confidence: In a new YouGov poll, 69 percent of Britons said Johnson should resign, and many of his party members agree. Johnson says he has no plans to quit. But Pincher last week resigned from that post amid a scandal, as the British press widely reported that he had allegedly tried to grope several men while intoxicated at a bar. At first, as the scandal broke and Pincher resigned, Johnson’s official spokesman said the prime minister did not know of earlier incidents of Pincher’s alleged misconduct. He resigned from his post as government whip in 2017 after a Conservative Party activist accused him of making unwanted advances toward him. Sunak said: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. Having a senior cabinet member resign is a big deal in British politics, and Sunak and Javid were in particularly important positions.

Boris Johnson's scandal-ravaged premiership appeared on the brink of collapse Wednesday, after numerous ministers and former allies pulled their support for ...

Johnson has developed a good relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and been a leading player in Europe's response to Russia's invasion. Johnson's efforts to cling to power were branded "pathetic" by the opposition leader Keir Starmer, who also turned his attack towards the few allies in his Cabinet still propping him up. Numerous Prime Ministers have been dumped from office by sudden and deadly rebellions within their own parties, with leaders typically choosing to resign once the writing is on the wall. "The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously," Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in his resignation letter on Tuesday night. Less than three years ago, Johnson secured a landslide election win and then enacted Brexit, a political revolution for which many within his party had clamored for decades. His longtime ally and senior Cabinet minister, Michael Gove, also urged him on Wednesday afternoon to accept that his time is up, two senior advisers with knowledge of the situation confirmed to CNN. That news was first reported by Mail+, Daily Mail's digital platform.

The British prime minister is under increasing pressure to step down. More than two dozen officials in his government resigned on Wednesday, and he received ...

One reason the cabinet’s support is important for Mr. Johnson is that it has prevented a major figure from emerging as a rival to him. Several analysts said the impact of those resignations was likely to shatter whatever support Mr. Johnson still had in the party. Differences in policy approaches and a succession of economic shocks have impeded the government’s efforts to pursue a consistent economic strategy. Mr. Sunak announced billions of pounds in additional spending in May to help people with the rising cost of living, partly funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. He has spoken often about how Britain has given him and his family “everything” and he feels a duty to serve the nation. But she also expressed strong support for Mr. Johnson after the departure of two of his Cabinet ministers on Tuesday, so it remains to be seen if that loyalty might wound her politically. He added that the events of recent months had made it “increasingly difficult” to be on Mr. Johnson’s team. According to Tory rules, Mr. Johnson would usually be expected to stay in the post until a new leader was elected, as Mrs. May did in 2019 and David Cameron in 2016. Addressing Mr. Johnson in the letter, Mr. Walker wrote: “You won the confidence of your colleagues just a few weeks ago, but the events and revelations since have undermined this. And he did his best to project a defiant image: According to the Times of London, when an ally asked him on Tuesday evening whether he planned to resign, he replied with the epithet “F- that.” The situation appeared to worsen for Mr. Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, as the BBC reported that Michael Gove, an influential cabinet member, had told the prime minister that it was time to go. Several other officials have since followed, including Will Quince, the minister for children and families, who at the start of the week had stoutly defended Mr. Johnson’s role in the scandal.

On Tuesday two top cabinet ministers resigned in protest at his handling of allegations of misconduct against a prominent Conservative Party lawmaker.

The number of resignations from ministers in his government now stands at 20 and there is no sign of let-up. The resignations of Javid and Sunak are particularly significant because both ministers have remained loyal to Johnson throughout the different scandals, including the damaging Partygate affair, when Downing Street held multiple parties during the Covid lockdown. UPDATE 07:55 AM PST: In the two hours since we first posted this story the number of resignations has jumped to 30, with Sky News now running an on-screen ticker to keep track of the total.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has weathered scandal after scandal during his three years at 10 Downing Street, but this time he faces a near-complete ...

But he seems determined to press on and defy the odds one more time. After days of dissembling from 10 Downing Street — which has become a very familiar pattern — Johnson admitted his previous knowledge and apologized for hiring Pincher. Shortly after, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the Health secretary, resigned. The rebellion within his own party, marked by mass resignations, is growing fiercer by the moment.

UK's Boris Johnson fights for his political survival after top resignations and scandals · U.K. · British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid ...

Only a real change of government can give Britain the fresh start it needs." It has since emerged that Johnson appointed him to the role despite knowing of previous misconduct allegations against him. As a number of senior Tories called for Johnson to quit, the government's former Brexit negotiator David Frost also joined the fray, calling on the prime minister to step down without delay. As he faced such a vote only last month, a new challenge would require a rule change to allow another vote within the next 12 months. - But despite calls to resign, the prime minister shows no signs of being ready to stand down. Health Secretary Sajid Javid, likewise, resigned in protest against Johnson's leadership, which has been beset by controversy and scandal in recent months.

The Conservative rebellion has come for Boris Johnson. The United Kingdom prime minister's position looks increasingly in peril, as Johnson faces dozens of ...

And in May, the Conservatives lost hundreds of seats in local elections, a sign that the electorate was moving against Johnson and his party. Johnson and his backers had used Russia’s war in Ukraine to try to tamp down some of the Partygate criticism, and to make the case against a change in leadership during the war. The first is less relevant now, and the second doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. It may be less a matter of if, than when and how, Johnson goes. Johnson has always had a reputation for having a loose relationship with the truth, and it’s not surprising he’s been caught up in a cycle of cover-ups, and then having to apologize for those cover-ups. In some ways, Johnson’s premiership almost seemed as if it was waiting for the thing to bring it down. Even after Johnson survived the no-confidence vote, the party lost two seats in June by-elections (held because two MPs had to resign, also because of sex scandals). One, in Tiverton and Honiton, reversed a Conservative majority of 24,000. As of Wednesday, the 1922 Committee, which oversees the Conservatives in Parliament, has declined to change those rules, but it’s having its own committee elections right now, and after that, could revisit those rules. Not only that, but much of the country was on extreme lockdown and couldn’t visit family or friends in the hospital, let alone host parties. Both Javid and Sunak are major figures in the Conservative Party who may have their own designs on leadership, so their departures were already going to be hard to overcome. Some ultimately interpreted it as the start of a downfall for the once-dominant politician. Johnson held on to his job, but the margin was slim enough to leave him politically weakened.

In twenty-four hours, more than three dozen ministers and aides deserted Johnson and left the U.K. with gaping holes in its government.

“The original No 10 line is not true,” McDonald wrote, referring to 10 Downing Street, “and the modification is still not accurate.” Johnson acknowledged that a complaint had been raised with him and said that he should have acted on it, but he also said, “I’m fed up with people saying things on my behalf or trying to say things about what I did or didn’t know.” “Last night I drank far too much,” Pincher wrote in his resignation letter to Johnson. “I’ve embarrassed myself and other people which is the last thing I want to do and for that I apologise to you and to those concerned.” He is coöperating with an investigation into his behavior. When the questions were over, Johnson had to sit through Javid’s resignation speech, which effectively urged the rest of Johnson’s team to abandon him. Ian Blackford, the parliamentary leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster, compared Johnson to a dead parrot. Andrew Murrison, the trade envoy to Morocco, described the “rolling chaos” of his premiership. It is a wonderful and necessary fact of political biology that we never know when our time is up,” Johnson wrote, in 2006, about Tony Blair. “We kid ourselves that we must stay because we would be ‘letting people down’ or that there is a ‘job to be finished.’ In reality, we are just terrified of the comedown.” At one point, when Johnson tried one of his usual attack lines on the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and his team, the Labour front bench began to wave farewell, in unison. The double resignation was the start of a twenty-four-hour putsch in which more than three dozen ministers and aides deserted Johnson—his moral authority had evaporated some time ago—and left the nation with gaping holes in its government. “I tell you that the prime minister will not go early—because it is simply not in his nature. “We may not have always been popular, but we have been competent in acting in the national interest,” Javid wrote, in his resignation letter. By the time Johnson stood up to face Prime Minister’s Questions, in the House of Commons, at noon, it was becoming hard to keep count of the resignations, or to know on which social-media platform to find them. “Sadly, in the current circumstances, the public are concluding that we are now neither.” Sunak said he was leaving because voters expected the government to be run seriously.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains defiant, insisting he won't resign after another crisis rocked his leadership.

MARX: Well, in a word, yes, at least in terms of the mechanics and at least for a few more days. And having won his party a very substantial majority in a general election just back in 2019, Johnson's argument today seems to be that he retains a powerful mandate from the British public, even though a series of polls in recent weeks have suggested the majority of people in the U.K. would like to see him gone. And so when another scandal arose last week focused on alleged sexual assaults by a conservative legislator that Johnson had promoted to a senior government role, questions were once again raised about his judgment as leader. So after that, last month, the Prime Minister faced a vote of no confidence from his fellow Conservative members of Parliament. He won it, but far from convincingly. CHANG: But even for many within his Conservative Party, the question is not will Johnson leave; it is when. And that is the reality, Mr. Speaker.

Mr Lewis was among previously-loyal cabinet ministers who told the prime minister on Wednesday that he needed to step down from office due to a loss in support.

In his letter to the prime minister, Mr Lewis said a decision to leave government is "never taken lightly particularly at such a critical time for Northern Ireland". A decent and responsible Government relies on honesty, integrity and mutual respect - it is a matter of profound personal regret that I must leave Government as I no longer believe those values are being upheld.— Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) As the crisis for Boris Johnson was beginning on Tuesday, I was told by a source: "If he decides to soldier on, Brandon Lewis will be his trusted lieutenant." Mr Lewis tweeted on Thursday that a "decent and responsible" government relies on "honesty, integrity and mutual respect". Mr Lewis was among previously-loyal cabinet ministers who told the prime minister on Wednesday that he needed to step down from office due to a loss in support. Brandon Lewis has resigned as Northern Ireland secretary as the crisis over Boris Johnson's leadership grows.

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 ...

Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative lawmaker and chair of the powerful Liaison Committee, told the national broadcaster that Johnson “can go with some dignity” or he can be “forced out like Donald Trump, clinging to power and pretending he’s won the election when he’s lost." Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis was among those who resigned from his position in the Cabinet on Thursday morning. Many of the letters including brutal assessments of Johnson’s tenure and critiques of his honesty. You must do the right thing and go now.” Ministers in charge of security, the courts, technology, education, finance, Northern Ireland, science have all left their jobs. 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.

After days of refusing to resign, the embattled prime minister looks set to step down as government resignations flood in.

Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative lawmaker and chair of the powerful Liaison Committee, told the national broadcaster that Johnson “can go with some dignity” or he can be “forced out like Donald Trump, clinging to power and pretending he’s won the election when he’s lost.” Ministers in charge of security, the courts, technology, education, finance, Northern Ireland and science have all left their jobs. He tweeted: “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. Nadhim Zahawi, who was appointed chancellor, the second-most important job in government, on Tuesday, turned on Johnson on Thursday and told him to step down. Many of the letters included brutal assessments of Johnson’s tenure and critiques of his honesty. Johnson’s former top aide and now chief critic, who helped his boss win the Brexit referendum and get elected, warned that the prime minister needed to go now.

The besieged UK leader has faced a string of resignations amid political and economic turmoil.

This morning, two senior cabinet ministers that he only appointed yesterday, new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Education secretary Michelle Donelan, also urged him to go, with Donelan resigning in the past half hour. According to the BBC, Johnson has said he will carry on until the fall when a new Conservative Party leader will be chosen. On Tuesday, two top cabinet ministers, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, resigned in protest at his handling of allegations of misconduct against a prominent Conservative Party lawmaker.

A series of scandals rocked his premiership and led many from within his own party to question his ability to lead the country.

State of play: The race to replace him as both leader of the Conservative Party and as prime minister looks wide open. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to resign as Conservative Party leader Thursday, the BBC reports. How we got here: Last month, Johnson faced a no-confidence vote sparked by members of his Conservative Party after he was found to have broken the law by attending several social gatherings during the country's strict COVID-19 lockdown. As of late June, his approval rating stood at 26%. The top candidates to replace Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister - Then came "partygate," beginning late last year. Go deeper: The top candidates to replace Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister Pincher resigned last week after new allegations were leveled against him. The drawn-out scandal outraged the public and led to Johnson becoming the first sitting prime minister to bepenalized for breaking the law. - Nadhim Zahawi, who the prime minister appointed to replace Sunak as chancellor, urged the prime minister to step down. - Johnson hopes to stay on as prime minister until a new party leader is chosen, likely this summer, per the BBC. Why it matters: It's a stunning fall for a prime minister who in 2019 won a historic 80-seat majority on the back of his pledge to take the U.K. out of the EU.

An official in Johnson's Downing Street office confirmed the prime minister would announce his resignation later. The official spoke on condition of ...

He needs to recognise that he no longer has the moral authority to lead. Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak resigned within minutes of each other Wednesday over the scandal. But Johnson instead opted to fight for his political career and fired one of the Cabinet officials, Michael Gove, British media reported. Johnson, 58, was known for his knack for wiggling out of tight spots. An official in Johnson's Downing Street office confirmed the prime minister would announce his resignation later. The Guardian’s frontpage on Thursday called him “Desperate, deluded.”

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain will resign as Conservative Party leader on Thursday after a wholesale rebellion of his cabinet, a wave of ...

“Out of respect, and in the hopes that he would listen to an old friend of 30 years, I kept this counsel private,” he wrote. And on Thursday morning, he revealed that he and a number of colleagues had attempted to convince Mr. Johnson to step down, and, when Mr. Johnson decided not to do that, he urged the prime minister to “go now.” David Levi, a data scientist in London, also said he was surprised to see Mr. Johnson go at this point. His father was a bus driver, and, unlike many of his fellow Conservative lawmakers, he came from a modest background to rise to the highest ranks of government. He has spoken often about how Britain has given him and his family “everything” and how he feels a duty to serve the nation. Sajid Javid, the former health secretary whose departure on Tuesday alongside Mr. Sunak helped set off the avalanche of government resignations, is also seen as a contender for the top job. He had stood by Mr. Johnson but made it clear on Wednesday that his main focus was public service to the country. The timing of Mr. Johnson’s departure was unclear and is likely to depend on the timetable for selecting a new leader. But she also expressed strong support for Mr. Johnson after the departure of two of his cabinet ministers on Tuesday, so it remains to be seen whether that loyalty might wound her politically. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary who was appointed by Mr. Johnson last year, is seen as a rising political star. They are likely to use the summer vacation to complete the process of selecting the new Conservative Party leader who will become prime minister. Downing Street said that he planned to make a statement to the country later on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning to resign according to multiple media reports. A new report on the Uvalde school shooting found that the ...

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

The 50th resignation came from George Freeman, a junior minister for science, research and innovation, and pensions minister Guy Opperman quit shortly after.

Prime minister, you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, and go now." Johnson met with remaining members of his cabinet on Wednesday night, many of whom were reported to have urged him to step down. Matt Beech, director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull, told CNBC on Thursday that the challenge Johnson is facing this time around is different on account of the "huge proportion of the government payroll vote" that have resigned, characterizing the situation as "pretty seismic." She told Johnson in a letter: "I see no way that you can continue in post, but without a formal mechanism to remove you it seems the only way that this is possible is for those of us who remain in cabinet to force your hand." "I am heartbroken that he hasn't listened and that he is now undermining the incredible achievements of this Government at this late hour," Zahawi said in a public letter Thursday morning. In a scathing resignation letter to the prime minister, Freeman said the "culmination of your lack of transparency and candour with Parliament (and willingness to ask your Ministers to mislead Parliament), your removal of key pillars of the Ministerial code, your handling of your appointment of a Deputy Chief Whip who it turns out you knew had a history of sexual abuse allegations, is too much."

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce his resignation Thursday amid a party revolt and is due to give a statement to the ...

A contest for the leadership of his Conservative party will take place over summer. But his popularity took serious dents after a string of scandals, from police fines over coronavirus lockdown parties to a brouhaha over the cost of decorating his official residence. The next day, he penned a letter — shared on Twitter — in which he urged Johnson to “leave with dignity.”

His resignation will trigger an internal election to pick a new leader of the Conservative Party, who will also be the next prime minister.

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

Nearly 60 members of the government -- including five cabinet ministers -- have resigned since Tuesday, furious about the botched handling of the resignation by ...

We don't need to change the Tory at the top -- we need a proper change of government. Someone who can rebuild trust, heal the country, and set out a new, sensible and consistent economic approach to help families," he added. Numerous other scandals have also hit his standing in the polls. Sturgeon said in a series of tweets. "I am absolutely determined that we should not prolong this crisis. "In the last few days, I've tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we're delivering so much... Twelve years of empty promises," Starmer said. "He was always unfit for office. Twelve years of declining public services. Twelve years of economic stagnation. Johnson is not planning to leave office immediately, however. "It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore, a new prime minister," said Johnson.

Britain's prime minister steps down as leader of the Conservative Party after several top officials quit his government, saying they couldn't serve under ...

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

He thanked the voters who gave him a landslide general election victory in December 2019, and said he'd resisted the calls to resign because "I felt it was my ...

Boris Johnson on Thursday announced his resignation as head of the U.K. Conservative Party, but promised to stay on as prime minister until a new party leader is chosen. State of play: The race to replace him as both leader of the Conservative Party and as prime minister looks wide open. What to watch: Johnson said the timetable for the Conservative Party leadership contest would be announced next week. In remarks outside 10 Downing Street, Johnson said this was a "painful" moment, and noted that he'd fought hard to avoid it. Pincher resigned last week after new allegations were leveled against him. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Thursday that he will resign as leader of the Conservative Party and step down as prime minister once a replacement is selected.

Yesterday afternoon, the Conservative politician Sajid Javid stood up in the British Parliament to criticize his party leader, Boris Johnson, for being careless ...

This is not a new phenomenon: In his 20s, he was sacked from a newspaper job for making up a quotation from a source, and at age 40, he was sacked from the shadow cabinet for lying to the party’s leader, and to journalists, about having an affair. However, he did exactly what you would do as a 55-year-old man if you believed that Johnson could hang on for a while, that the Conservatives would lose the next election, and that you would be seen as past your prime by the time they regained power. The second group consists of those who knew who Johnson was and what he was but gambled that he could give them what they wanted. The most obvious exponent of that view is Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings. He wanted to “get Brexit done” after three years of tortuous negotiations by Theresa May, and in Johnson he saw a candidate willing to break with legal norms to do so. Many of Johnson’s former supporters fall into this group: They needed him to deliver Brexit, but any old chump can bluster about “leveling up” the regions outside London and fail to tackle the energy crisis, which is what he was reduced to. He refused to leave office even after a delegation of his remaining ministers told him to his face last night that he had to go. (He proceeded to lose that place for kissing an adviser in his office during lockdown, and has now reinvented himself as a turtleneck-wearing crypto bro.) The death blow came when it was revealed that Johnson had not only known about the allegations, but had responded to them in the most Johnsonian way possible: “Pincher by name, pincher by nature,” he had reportedly said. He cannot be allowed to use the confidentiality of the process three years ago to pursue his predatory behavior in other contexts.” But the main subtext of most of the letters was simple: We defended you, and in return you’ve made us look like idiots. He cannot govern without the confidence of his party. Johnson took a little longer to acknowledge that reality, but this morning he quit as Conservative leader.