Boris Johnson Has Resigned. Here’s How He Lost Britain’s Government

Boris Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday, after more than 50 members of his government resigned in protest against a series of ethics scandals.

In a statement to the country from the steps of 10 Downing Street, Johnson announced he would step down as leader of the Conservative Party but would continue as prime minister until a replacement can be found.

He said a timetable for the party leadership contest, which has already begun in earnest, would be announced next week—even as some members of his party are pushing for him to leave his post immediately and be replaced by a caretaker.

“In the last few days I’ve tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we are delivering so much,” Johnson said. “I regret not to have been successful in those arguments.”

“Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader,” he added.

Johnson’s slow-motion political demise began on Tuesday, when his finance minister Rishi Sunak and health minister Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other. “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak said in his resignation letter. Their resignations were followed over the next 48 hours by more than 50 other members of the government—an unprecedented number.

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The immediate trigger was a sexual abuse scandal. Chris Pincher, a senior member of Johnson’s government, was forced to resign on July 1 after allegations he had groped two men on a drunken night at a private members’ club. His resignation was followed by reports in the press of multiple other past sexual harassment allegations against him. Johnson’s spokesperson initially said the prime minister had not been aware of allegations made about Pincher at the time he had been appointed to government in 2019. But Johnson was forced to backtrack after it emerged he had been briefed about a specific allegation ahead of that appointment. There were reports that Johnson had also referred to the lawmaker as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature.”

But it was only the latest in a series of escalating domestic scandals involving Johnson. In late 2021, and in early 2022, it emerged that the beleaguered prime minister and his colleagues had attended multiple parties at Downing Street at a time when the rest of the country was under strict COVID-19 lockdowns. Johnson was found to have broken the law—a first for a sitting prime minister—and fined by police for attending one of the parties. He later apologized to the Queen for another gathering that was held on the eve of her husband’s funeral.

Against many people’s expectations, Johnson survived the “partygate” scandal and eagerly stepped into a more statesmanlike role after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. He popped up unannounced twice in Kyiv, and committed more than $2 billion of military aid to Ukraine, more money than any country except the United States.

Read more: Boris Johnson Survives No-Confidence Vote After Partygate

But back home, support for him and his party continued to ebb, with rising inflation and a constant drumbeat of “Tory sleaze.” One Conservative lawmaker was forced to resign after admitting watching pornography in parliament. Another was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy. In local elections held to replace them, opposition candidates won by large margins, leading increasing numbers of Johnson’s colleagues to ask whether he was leading their party to defeat at the next election. He narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in June—with more than 40% of his own lawmakers voting against him.

Under party rules, Johnson’s victory in that vote should have kept him safe in the post for 12 months. But as the resignations from Johnson’s government kept coming in on Wednesday and Thursday, there were reports that there were not enough willing lawmakers to fill vacant government positions—as good a sign as any that he was running on borrowed time.

This story was updated on July 7 following Johnson’s resignation statement.