The British leader admitted defeat 30 minutes after a shattering intervention from finance minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed on Tuesday night in the wake of the departure of Rishi Sunak.
Zahawi told Mr Johnson that his situation is ‘not sustainable’.
Until now, Johnson had rebuffed calls by his Cabinet to step down in the wake of several ethics scandals.
A group of Johnson’s most trusted Cabinet ministers visited him at his office in Downing Street Wednesday, telling him to stand down after losing the trust of his party. But Johnson instead opted to fight for his political career and fired one of the Cabinet officials, Michael Gove.
It is rare for a prime minister to cling on to office in the face of this much pressure from his Cabinet colleagues.
But by Thursday morning the man who has built a reputation for wriggling out of political controversies was forced to admit the reality of his situation.
A Downing Street source said Johnson has spoken to Sir Graham Brady – the chairman of the parliamentary group the 1922 Committee, which is made up of MPs and plays a key role in deciding the Conservative party’s leadership – and agreed to stand down, with a new party leader set to be in place by the party conference in October.
A spokeswoman said: ‘The Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today.’
It was not immediately clear Thursday whether Johnson would stay in office while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will automatically replace him as prime minister when selected.
The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour party said Johnson’s expected departure as prime minister was ‘good news’. But Sir Keir Starmer added that just changing the leader of the Conservative party was not enough. ‘We need a proper change of government,’ he said.
Johnson, 58, remained in power despite months of scandal that saw Johnson fined by police and criticized by an investigator’s report for allowing rule-breaking parties in his office while Britain was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson urged his party and country to ‘move on’ and focus on the UK’s economy and the war in Ukraine. But two thumping special election defeats for Johnson’s Conservative Party and allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior party official sealed the fate of a politician whose ability to survive scandals was legendary.
Recent disclosures that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker, before he promoted the man to a senior position turned out to be the last straw.
Last week, Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip after complaints he groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations leveled against Pincher – and shifting explanations from the government about what Johnson knew when he tapped him for a senior job enforcing party discipline.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured Wednesday in parliament) will finally resign today, ending an unprecedented political crisis that has paralyzed the country’s government after more than 40 ministers quit and told him to go
The British leader (pictured) admitted defeat half-an-hour after a shattering intervention from finance minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed on Tuesday night in the wake of the departure of Rishi Sunak
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi (pictured on Wednesday) told Mr Johnson that his situation is ‘not sustainable’
Although he stopped short of resigning, Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Zahawi 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. You must do the right thing and go now.’
Education Secretary Michelle Donelan, who was installed in post at the same time as Mr Zahawi, also declared she is quitting, barely two hours after Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis fell on his sword.
At 6.47am, Mr Lewis tweeted that he could no longer continue without ‘honesty, integrity and mutual respect’.
Minutes later Treasury minister Helen Whately followed suit saying ‘there are only so many times you can apologise and move on’.
Security minister Damian Hinds and science minister George Freeman had followed by 7.30am, and pensions minister Guy Opperman by 7.50am.
Meanwhile, Wales minister David TC Davies publicly announced that he had refused a promotion to take over from Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, who quit last night. The Attorney General, Suella Braverman has called for Mr Johnson to resign and said she is only staying in place to keep the government functioning.
With the resignation tally now standing at 52, the government was unable to find a minister willing to go on the airwaves to speak up for the PM this morning.
The chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris was seen going into Downing Street early morning, after the lights were seen on in the PM’s flat deep into the night.
However, Mr Johnson’s critics have been swarming to studios.
Former Cabinet minister Julian Smith warned that the premier had seen how Donald Trump behaved in relation to the Capitol riots after the US election, and was looking to have a ‘mini version in the UK’.
There were even suggestions from allies that Mr Johnson could try to force a snap general election in a desperate bid to cling to office – something that could drag the Queen into a constitutional crisis.
Veteran Tory MP Bernard Jenkin this morning urged Carrie Johnson to step in a convince her husband that he should throw in the towel.
But the PM yesterday rejected pleas from a delegation of loyalists including Priti Patel and new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi for a seemly departure, vowing to fight until the bitter end.
Despite the UK being a parliamentary democracy, he claimed to have a presidential-style mandate from the last election, apparently saying: ‘If the party wants to overthrow the elected will of the people, they have to dip their hands in blood.’
In a sensational twist late last night, Mr Johnson summarily sacked Michael Gove with No10 sources branding the Levelling Up Secretary a ‘snake’ who had tried to tell the premier that the ‘the game was up’.
Constitutional experts had branded the ‘nuclear option’ of asking the Queen for a dissolution ‘deluded madness’ which would spark a crisis as the monarch would be obliged to turned down his request.
Johnson now may try to remain in office until the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, a process likely to take place over the summer. But some Conservatives said he should leave 10 Downing St. immediately to end the chaos engulfing the government.
George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday, tweeted that ‘Boris Johnson needs to hand in the seals of office, apologise to Her Majesty (Queen Elizabeth II) and advise her to call for a caretaker prime minister. To take over today so that ministers can get back to work and we can choose a new Conservative leader to try and repair the damage and rebuild trust.’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today) is being bombarded with more resignations but has refused to quit
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has resigned, telling the Prime Minister that Government requires ‘honesty, integrity and mutual respect’. Minutes later Helen Whately, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, also quit and told the PM: ‘There are only so many times you can apologise and move on’.
The lights in Boris Johnson’s Downing Street living room burn through the night pictured at 4.26am today
The exits of Lewis and Whatley is another huge blow to Boris – who is vowing to fight on
Boris Johnson’s allies have now raised the prospect of taking the ‘nuclear option’ and asking the Queen to dissolve parliament to trigger an election – which he does technically have the power to do – but the monarch could also refuse the request
Michael Gove (left) – who notoriously stabbed Boris Johnson (right) in the back to end his leadership hopes in 2016 – has tonight been sacked from his cabinet position as embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched his own counterattack in a desperate bid to save
Boris Johnson arriving back in Downing Street after his appearance at the Liaison Committee on Wednesday
In his resignation letter, Mr Lewis – a former party chairman who has been Northern Ireland Secretary since early 2020 – warned divided Conservatives cannot win elections.
He said: ‘A decision to leave Government is never taken lightly, particularly at such a critical time for Northern Ireland. I have taken a lot of time to consider this decision, having outlined my position to you at length last night.
Mr Lewis told the Prime Minister that in recent months, the Conservative Party has been ‘relentlessly on the defensive, consumed by introspection and in-fighting’. ‘A divided Party cannot win elections. It cannot deliver for those who trusted us with their votes for the first time in 2019,’ he said.
Mr Lewis told Mr Johnson he had ‘given you, and those around you, the benefit of the doubt’.
‘I have gone out and defended this Government both publicly and privately,’ the Northern Ireland Secretary told Boris Johnson in his resignation letter.
‘We are, however, now past the point of no return. I cannot sacrifice my personal integrity to defend things as they stand now. It is clear that our Party, parliamentary colleagues, volunteers and the whole country, deserve better.’
Ms Whately, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent and another loyalist, said: ‘I have argued that you should continue as Prime Minister many times in recent months, but there are only so many times you can apologise and move on. That point has been reached.’
Security minister and MP for East Hampshire Damian Hinds wrote on Twitter: ‘It shouldn’t take the resignation of dozens of colleagues, but for our country, and trust in our democracy, we must have a change of leadership.’
In his letter of resignation, he wrote: ‘…more important than any government or leader are the standards we uphold in public life and faith in our democracy and public administration.
‘Because of the serious erosion in these, I have come to the conclusion that the right thing for our country and for our party is for you to stand down as party leader and Prime Minister.
‘I had hoped you would take this course sooner, of your own volition. But as it has become clear that you still intend to stay, I cannot continue to serve in your administration.’
Mr Freeman said ‘the chaos in your Cabinet and No 10 this month is destroying our credibility’ and ‘it can’t go on’.
Pensions minister and Hexam MP Guy Opperman wrote on Twitter: ‘I resign with great regret, given there are serious ongoing issues that need addressing ranging from cost of living support, to legislation, & parliamentary debates.
‘It should not take the resignation of 50 colleagues, but sadly the PM has left us no choice. He needs to resign.’
Deputy PM Dominic Raab is thought to have told the Prime Minister that he risked putting the monarch in an intolerable position if he tried to call a snap election, The Sun reports.
The Queen, 96, was yesterday pictured being driven from Wood Farm near Sandringham, Norfolk, to her helicopter which flew her back to Windsor Castle.
She typically holds a weekly meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesdays, which have frequently taken place over the phone since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, but it is not clear whether it occurred yesterday amid the pandemonium surrounding Mr Johnson’s leadership.
In two days of drama, more than 40 resignations have been sent to the Prime Minister since Sajid Javid sparked a tidal wave of revolt late on Tuesday evening in a move that now threatens to bring the Government to its knees.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis were among the Cabinet ministers telling Mr Johnson to stand down.
Attorney General and leadership hopeful Suella Braverman later joined the calls for the Prime Minister to quit as she launched a bid to replace him.
And Mr Johnson was last night hit with the departure of another Cabinet minister – Welsh Secretary Simon Hart.
One senior MP said that the civil service would advise against putting the Queen in a ‘difficult position’, and his private secretary or cabinet secretary would tell him not to seek a dissolution because while the monarch could refuse it would be seen as constitutionally ‘inappropriate’ to put her in a position where she has to make a ‘controversial decision’.
Under the ‘Lascelles principles’, the monarch can turn down a request for a dissolution on three conditions, which are:
- The existing parliament is ‘vital, viable and capable of doing its job’;
- An election would be ‘detrimental to the national economy’;
- and if the monarch can ‘rely on finding another prime minister who could govern for a reasonable period with a working majority’
The Prime Minister rejected calls to quit on Wednesday and dramatically sacked Cabinet rival Michael Gove, but was later hit with the departure of a third Cabinet minister – Welsh Secretary Simon Hart – and further demands to go from the Attorney General
Concern among MPs comes following the approval of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act which was brought into law this year, repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act and allowing for the body to be dissolved by the Queen, pictured Wednesday, ‘on the request of the prime minister’
Powerful 1922 committee chair Graham Brady was seen going into the Cabinet Office on Wednesday night – another access point to Downing Street
Behind the famous black door of No10, the PM had earlier struggled with backbench chief Sir Graham Brady and senior figures including chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris – who warned him that the ‘game is up’.
But an unapologetic PM shocked Sir Graham and his ministers by telling them he is going nowhere, effectively daring them to call another confidence vote and saying he will focus on the ‘hugely important issues facing the country’. There are claims he has told friends ‘if you are going to die, go down fighting’.
The PM appointed his chief of staff Steve Barclay to replace Mr Javid as Health Secretary, and universities minister Michelle Donelan was promoted to Cabinet to replace Nadhim Zahawi.
Former royal aide Samantha Cohen – known as ‘Samantha the Panther’ is now being lined up to restore order to the Downing Street operation, and was appointed Mr Johnson’s interim Chief of Staff after Mr Barclay was moved to become Health Secretary.
Meanwhile, the dramatic sacking of Michael Gove, a long-standing ally who has served in Cabinet roles in successive governments since 2010, came after a whirlwind two days in Westminster that has seen Mr Johnson’s core support hemorrhage.
The PM’s relationship with Mr Gove has long been troubled, with Mr Johnson’s leadership campaign in 2016 derailed when his rival withdrew support and decided to run himself.
Mr Johnson phoned the Levelling Up Secretary yesterday evening to tell him he was being removed from his Cabinet job, accusing him of ‘treachery’.
One senior Tory told The Sun newspaper: ‘He has lost it. He has become like Caligula — the Roman emperor who wanted to make a horse a consul. Michael was one of the best ministers in the Cabinet.’
The sacking came after the minister went alone to see Mr Johnson in his Downing Street study shortly before 10.30am yesterday and tried to persuade him to stand down.
Mr Gove warned the PM his position was ‘no longer sustainable’, telling him: ‘The party will move to get rid of you’.
‘It is better to go on your own terms,’ he urged him.
Despite his pleading, at the end of the amicable five-minute conversation, Mr Johnson told Mr Gove: ‘Thank you, but I am going to fight on.’
The pair then walked down the corridor to the Cabinet Room, where the Levelling Up Secretary helped Mr Johnson to prepare for Prime Minister’s Questions.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps (pictured) are among the group who confronted the PM
Asked if he would quit as he arrived for a grilling by the Liaison Committee Wednesday afternoon, Mr Johnson said: ‘No, no, no.’
Sajid Javid yesterday delivered a vicious parting shot at Boris Johnson saying the ‘team is only as good as the team captain’
But the minister was noticeably absent from the frontbench as the PM faced MPs.
At 2.27pm, the news that Mr Gove had told Mr Johnson to go was broken on The Mail+. But the Levelling Up Secretary’s allies insisted he was not quitting and was not planning to lead a wider delegation of ministers to Downing Street to call for the PM to stand down.
An hour later the Prime Minister was questioned about his cabinet colleague’s warning to him as he appeared before the Commons liaison committee.
Mr Johnson did not dispute that Mr Gove had told him he should resign. Asked if the story was true, he replied: ‘I am here to talk about what the Government is doing. I am not going to give a running commentary on political events.’
At around 9pm, Mr Johnson rang Mr Gove to sack him. Neither Mr Gove nor his advisers were the source of The Mail+ story, but the PM said he believed the minister was behind the leak.
A No 10 source last night accused him of being a ‘snake’, adding: ‘You cannot brief the Press that you’re calling on the PM to go and expect to stay in Cabinet.
‘It’s not the first time he’s been treacherous, appalling and disloyal. This is something he [Mr Johnson] should have done years ago. We need team players who share the PM’s vision for Britain.’
Danny Kruger, who had been a ministerial aide to Mr Gove at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) last night said he was quitting his post in response to the sacking. ‘Very sorry indeed to hear Michael Gove has been fired by the PM,’ he tweeted. ‘As I told No 10 earlier today it should be the PM leaving office. I am resigning as PPS [Parliamentary Private Secretary] at DLUHC.’
Three ministers at the department – Kemi Badenoch, Neil O’Brien and Stuart Andrew – had earlier announced they were quitting. Duncan Baker, another PPS, also resigned.
Tory former minister Tim Loughton said last night: ‘Michael Gove has taken the PM the traditional whisky and revolver. The PM has downed the whisky and turned the revolver on Gove.’
Mr Gove torpedoed Mr Johnson’s Tory leadership bid in 2016 following the Brexit referendum, when he dramatically withdrew support for his campaign at the last minute and then ran himself.
Ultimately it ended both men’s hopes and left the field clear for Theresa May to reach No 10.
In the 2019 Conservative leadership race, Mr Gove finished third place amid claims votes were switched from Mr Johnson to ensure Jeremy Hunt made the final two instead of him.
A Johnson ally claimed at the time: ‘He stabbed us in the back. We stabbed him in the front.’
But Mr Johnson made Mr Gove Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in his first Cabinet in July 2019 before moving him to become the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Mr Gove has been in and out of Cabinet positions. David Cameron removed Mr Gove from his post as education secretary in 2014 and demoted him to the role of chief whip. When Theresa May became prime minister in 2016, she sacked Mr Gove as justice secretary, before bringing him back as environment secretary a year later.
Tory MPs were seen slumping in their seats in the House of Commons on Wednesday as the ex-Health Secretary delivered a devastating blow to Mr Johnson’s premiership less than 24 hours after his bombshell double-resignation with Rishi Sunak
Flanked by a stony-faced Dominic Raab and new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Mr Johnson fended off a series of attacks from Keir Starmer saying Europe was enduring the ‘biggest war in 80 years’ and he was getting on with the job
Johnson’s career was always one of extremes. He took Britain out of the European Union and led the nation during a global health crisis that endangered his own life, but was toppled after flouting restrictions he imposed in response to COVID-19.
Revelations of parties in Johnson’s Downing Street office while the country was in lockdown in 2020 and 2021 caused outrage and tested the patience of the Conservative Party for its election-winning but erratic leader.
An investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray criticized ‘failures of leadership and judgment’ in Johnson’s government for allowing multiple rule-breaking gatherings in 2020 and 2021. Dozens of people were issued police fines, including the prime minister, his wife Carrie Johnson and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak.
It was, seemingly, the final blow to the career of one of the most divisive politicians Britain has ever known. A sympathetic biographer, Andrew Gimson, called Johnson ‘the man who takes on the Establishment and wins.’
But for former member of Parliament Rory Stewart, who ran unsuccessfully against Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019, he was ‘probably the best liar we’ve ever had as prime minister.’
Johnson’s selection as Conservative leader and prime minister in July 2019 capped a rollercoaster journey to the top. He had held major offices, including London mayor and U.K. foreign secretary, but also spent periods on the political sidelines after self-inflicted gaffes.
Many times, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was written off as a lightweight who lacked the seriousness needed in a leader. He sometimes colluded in that impression, fostering the image of a rumpled, Latin-spouting populist with a mop of blond hair who didn’t take himself too seriously.
He once said he had as much chance of becoming prime minister as of finding Elvis on Mars.
First elected to Parliament in 2001, he moved for years between journalism and politics, becoming well known as a newspaper columnist and guest on TV comedy quiz shows.
He sometimes made offensive remarks – calling Papua New Guineans cannibals and comparing Muslim women who wear face-covering veils to ‘letter boxes’ – that caused furor and that he shrugged off as jokes.
His first big political post, as mayor of London between 2008 and 2016, suited his talents. He built a high global profile as cheerful ambassador for the city – an image exemplified when he got stuck on a zip line during the 2012 London Olympics, waving Union Jacks as he dangled in the air.
Critics blasted his backing for vanity projects including a little-used cable car and a never-built ‘garden bridge’ over the River Thames, and warned he could not be trusted.
As a young journalist, Johnson had been fired by The Times of London for making up a quote. He was once recorded promising to give a friend the address of a journalist that the friend wanted beaten up. He was sacked from a senior Conservative post for lying about an extramarital affair.
As Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, he specialized in exaggerated stories of EU waste and ridiculous red tape – tales that helped turn British opinion against the bloc, with far-reaching consequences.
Historian Max Hastings, Johnson’s former boss at the Telegraph, later called him ‘a man of remarkable gifts, flawed by an absence of conscience, principle or scruple.’
It was Brexit that gave Johnson his big chance. Johnson’s co-leadership of the campaign to take Britain out of the European Union helped the ‘leave’ side secure a narrow victory in a 2016 referendum.
His bullish energy was essential to the victory. So, critics said, were the campaign’s lies – such as the false claim that Britain sent 350 million pounds a week to the EU, money that could instead be spent on the U.K.’s national health service.
The Brexit vote was a triumph for Johnson, but it did not immediately make him prime minister. Theresa May won a Conservative Party leadership contest and took the top job.
Johnson had to watch and wait for three years as May struggled to secure a divorce deal acceptable to both the bloc and Britain’s Parliament.
When she failed, Johnson’s promise to ‘Get Brexit done’ won him the prime minister’s job. In December 2019 he secured the Conservative Party its biggest parliamentary majority since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
His first months in office were fraught. Lawmakers resisted his Brexit plans and he suspended Parliament – until the U.K. Supreme Court ruled the move illegal. Opponents said it was another example of Johnson’s rule-breaking and disregard for the law.
After several delays to the departure date, Johnson achieved his goal of leading Britain out of the EU on Jan. 31, 2020. Yet despite Johnson’s slogan, Brexit was far from ‘done,’ with many issues still to be resolved, including the delicate status of Northern Ireland, an ongoing source of friction between Britain and the bloc.
Boris Johnson left Downing Street for the House of Commons yesterday – later than usual as pressure mounts on him to quit
The former Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary had earlier urged Mr Johnson (pictured together above in 2019) to quit Downing Street as the Tory coup ramped up
Mr Johnson’s Cabinet was thinned after Welsh Secretary Simon Hart (above) announced he too would stand down from his position late on Wednesday evening
And then the pandemic struck. Johnson initially appeared relaxed about the threat the new coronavirus posed to the U.K., and hesitated to impose restrictions on movement and business activity.
He changed course and imposed a lockdown in late March 2020, and days later came down with COVID-19 himself, spending several nights in intensive care in a London hospital. He later said it had been ‘touch and go’ whether he would be put on a ventilator.
Johnson’s handling of the pandemic drew decidedly mixed reviews. By nature a laissez-faire politician, he bristled at having to impose restrictions, and early on spoke rashly of the pandemic being over within weeks.
The U.K. went on to have one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in Europe, and some of the longest lockdowns. But the government got one big thing right, investing early in vaccine development and purchases and delivering doses to the bulk of the population.
The vaccination success brought Johnson a poll boost, but his troubles were growing. He faced allegations over money from a Conservative donor that he’d used to refurbish his official apartment. And he suffered a huge backlash when the government tried to change parliamentary standards rules after a lawmaker was found guilty of illicit lobbying.
The final straw came when details emerged of parties held in Johnson’s Downing Street office and home while the country was in lockdown.
The details were sometimes comic – staff smuggling booze into Downing Street in a suitcase, a supporter’s claim that Johnson had been ‘ambushed with a cake’ at a surprise birthday party. But the anger they sparked was real. Millions of Britons had followed the rules, unable to visit friends and family or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals.
Hannah Bunting, a University of Exeter lecturer who has studied public trust in politicians, said that in the past, voters were ‘well aware of Johnson’s flaws and this didn’t dim his electoral popularity.’
The party claims changed that, because people could ‘compare their actions to his,’ she said. ‘Most of us complied with government restrictions because we thought it was in everyone’s interests. We made sacrifices to ensure people were safe.’
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 gave Britain’s politicians and media more urgent things to focus on.
It brought a reprieve from domestic woes for Johnson, who won international praise for his military, financial and moral support for Ukraine.
He traveled to Kyiv twice to meet President Voldymyr Zelenskyy, a reliable and welcome ally.
But the special election defeats of June 2022 – one in a district that had voted Conservative for a century – drove home to Conservatives that anger at ‘partygate’ had not gone away.
Soon after, Johnson was caught changing his story on the way he handled allegations of sexual misconduct by a senior member of his government. Ministers who had defended Johnson through thick and thin had finally had enough. They quit the government in droves, leaving Johnson no choice but to resign.
Johnson’s run of miraculous escapes had finally come to an end.