Boris Johnson to resign as UK prime minister

Thu, 07 Jul 2022

Boris Johnson will today resign as prime minister as he finally bows to the pressure of swathes of government resignations.

A No 10 source said Mr Johnson had spoken to the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady and agreed to stand down, with a new Tory leader set to be in place by the party conference in October.

A separate spokesman has now said: "The prime minister will make a statement to the country today."

It comes after his newly appointed Education Secretary Michelle Donelan resigned after 36 hours in the post, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi told the prime minister to "go now" and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace withdrew his support.

It follows intense pressure from party colleagues, with dozens of resignations within government from cabinet level down.