07 July 2022 - Boris Johnson to resign
Boris Johnson to resign as UK prime minister
Att Honeycombe-Foster and Emilio Casalicchio (Politico, 07/07/2022)
Boris Johnson will stand down as U.K. Prime Minister after a wave of government resignations and a revolt from his own Cabinet left him unable to carry on.
Johnson — who spearheaded the campaign for Brexit and led his party to an emphatic election victory in December 2019 — will be stepping aside soon, teeing up a race to replace him as head of the governing Conservative party, according to a close ally.
“The Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today,” said a No. 10 Downing Street spokesperson.
Boris Johnson to resign as Tory leader but hopes to stay as PM until autumn
Rowena Mason and Jessica Elgot (The Guardian, 07/07/2022)
Boris Johnson is to resign on Thursday as Conservative leader but will push to stay on as prime minister until autumn, prompting a backlash from some Tory MPs who say he has to go now.
Johnson resigned after an extraordinary standoff with his cabinet, which ended after Nadhim Zahawi, his new chancellor, told him to quit. By that point, more than 50 ministers had walked out, citing his mishandling of a string of scandals and failure of ethics.
Boris Johnson: a terminal case of hubris syndrome
Matthew Flinders (The Conversation, 06/07/2022)
As Boris Johnson barricades himself in Number 10, apparently unwilling or unable to listen to the advice of close party colleagues who are calling on him to resign, how can we understand this bizarre melodrama?
As I watched Johnson’s appearance in front of the House of Commons Liaison Committee on the afternoon before his showdown with key members of his cabinet, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a deeper malady at play. It was as if an existential disconnect had settled across the comfortingly boring committee room.
Boris Johnson: The prime minister who broke all the rules
Brian Wheeler (BBC, 07/07/2022)
Boris Johnson has defied the normal rules of politics for so long, it is hard to believe he is actually going.
Scandals that would have sunk other politicians appeared to have no effect on him. He was always able to bounce back. His gaffes and blunders became part of his brand.
In an age of boring, machine-like politicians, he was seen as a "character", his unruly mop of blond hair and bumbling persona instantly recognisable even to those with no interest in politics. His fun-loving, relentlessly upbeat image, allied to formidable campaigning skills, helped him reach parts of the electorate more conventional Conservatives could not.