Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to step down after several high-profile cabinet members resigned and left his party in disarray..Johnson declared he will stay on in the PM role until a new Conservative party leader is found, which could take months..The move follows his resistance for almost two days to demands he step down..The outgoing PM said the reason he fought so long to remain in office was because "I thought it was my job, my duty and my obligation to you.".Johnson admitted to the world’s media outside No. 10 Downing Street in London that “it is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader and a new prime minister.”.“I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed,” he said..Johnson also said he had attempted to persuade his cabinet it would be "eccentric" to change prime minister at this point, but said, "I regret not to have been successful in those arguments.."At Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.".“The process of choosing that new leader should begin now. And today I have appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will until a new leader is in place,” Johnson said..Several of his own MPs want him to leave immediately, stating that after so many resignations from his government, he does not have a mandate to remain at the helm of the party..Former prime minister Sir John Major has said it would be “unwise and may be unsustainable” for Boris Johnson to remain in office while a new Tory leader is elected..Johnson said, “I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world..The PM was philosophical about events saying, “But them’s the breaks,” — a phrase suggesting that's 'just the way things go.'.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also threatened to call a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons — with the support of other opposition parties — if Conservative MPs cannot oust him immediately..Johnson has faced months of damaging revelations of soireés at Downing Street contrary to the rules of tha coronavirus lockdowns, with leaks and photos emerging in the UK media since January..Last year, Johnson attempted to coerce Conservative MPs to vote in favour of overturning the suspension of a fellow Conservative Member of Parliament..An influential Conservative backbencher and former cabinet minister, Owen Paterson, was looking at a 30-day suspension after being accused of an "egregious" breach of lobbying rules..One of the earliest scandals Johnson grappled with was an allegation of corruption after WhatsApp messages revealed he had asked a Conservative Party donor for money to refurbish his Downing Street residence..British media reported that the work cost approximately £200,000 (CAD$310,000).
