Boris Johnson has announced that he is stepping down as prime minister of Great Britain. The decision was made after the resignations in the government caused by the Chris Pincher scandal.
This was reported by Sky News.
"Obviously, the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party now is that there must be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister," he said, adding that the process of choosing a new party leader should begin today.
Johnson added that he would serve "until a new leader is chosen."
Johnson thanked those who voted for the Conservatives in the last general election.
"The reason I fought so hard over the last few days to continue passing the mandate personally is not just because I wanted to, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you," Johnson said, adding that he was immensely proud of the government's accomplishments.
"We led the country through a pandemic, provided the fastest distribution of vaccines in Europe, the fastest exit from isolation and in the last few months have led the West in opposing Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine," he added, saying Britain would continue to support the Ukrainians' fight against Russian aggression.
Johnson added that in the past few days he has tried to convince his colleagues that it would be eccentric to change leaders when "we are making such significant gains, when we have such a broad mandate and when we are only a couple of points behind in the polls."
"It pains me that I haven't been able to follow through on so many projects myself. But as we saw in Westminster, the herd instinct is very strong. When the herd moves, it moves," he stressed.
In doing so, Johnson addressed the future leader of the Conservative Party, saying he would give him all the support he could.
"And to you, the British public. I know that there will be many people among you who will be relieved, and probably quite a few who will be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to part with the best job in the world," he said, adding that until a new prime minister is appointed, the interests of Britons will be served.
"Even if things seem bleak now, our future together is golden," Johnson said.
Recall that last week, Chris Pincher, the deputy chief organizer of the ruling Conservative Party in the House of Commons, went on a drunken rampage at London's elite Carlton Club for Conservatives in Piccadilly.
He was accused of sexually assaulting two men. It later emerged that this was not the first time Pincher had been accused of such things. In 2019, for example, there was a staff investigation against Pincher, but despite that, Johnson appointed him to office in February of this year.
After the drunken debauchery and harassment came to light, Pincher resigned.
On July 5, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid criticized Boris Johnson for saying he was allegedly unaware of the 2019 allegations against MP Chris Pincher.
To date, 54 British government ministers have resigned.
At the beginning of June, members of the ruling British party held a vote of no confidence in Johnson. Then it was not possible to gather a sufficient number of votes. However, according to the results of the vote it turned out that the head of government is not trusted by more than 40% of the deputies of his own party.
