The former mayor of London will remain Prime Minister until a new leader is appointed.
Le Monde with AFP
He hung on until the end before being, finally, overthrew by his own party. Used by the scandals, weakened by an unprecedented series of resignations, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, resolved on Thursday, July 7, to leave power, announcing his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party. He will remain Prime Minister until a new leader is appointed.
“It is clearly the will of the Conservative Party that there is a new leader and therefore a new Prime Minister,” he said at midday, during a speech of six minutes, in front of Downing Street, saying “sad” to leave “the best job in the world”. Recognizing his failure, he nevertheless judged “that it would be crazy to change government, when we achieve so many things, that we have such a vast mandate and that we are only a few points behind in the polls”.
“I am immensely proud of the achievements of this government: to have carried out Brexit, settled our relations with the continent, restored power to this country to make its own laws”, he praised.
exit the hero of Brexit
After three years turbulent in power, marked by Brexit of which he was the champion, the pandemic of Covid-19, the Russian invasion in Ukraine and record inflation, Mr. Johnson assured that the one who would succeed him would have “all] support”. The calendar for the election of a new conservative leader will be specified next week, he added.
From Bali, British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liz Truss, possible candidate for the succession of Mr. Johnson, called for “calm and unity”, believing that the latter had “made the right decision”.
A Yougov survey to members of the Conservative Party gives the Minister of Defense, Ben Wallace, favorite to succeed Mr. Johnson.
“We do not need a change at the head of the Tories. We need a real change of government,” said the head of the opposition Keir Starmer, threatening to organize A vote of distrust in the House, if Mr. Johnson remained in power.
pushed towards the exit by his own government
With a formerly stainless popularity, Boris Johnson had sunk in opinion surveys: according to two polls this week, almost 70 % of British wanted his departure.
Last month, he escaped a vote of distrust, 40 % of conservative deputies refusing, however, to trust him.
Resignations and calls for the departure of Mr. Johnson continued until his announcement on Thursday, while Downing Street announced a series of appointments to replace ministers and secretaries of resigning state.
The all new Minister of Finance, Nadhim Zahawi, appointed on Tuesday, called Boris Johnson to “leave now”, while the Minister of Education, Michelle Donelan, also appointed Tuesday, announced her resignation, believing that She had “no other choice”. In total, sixty departures have been announced in the government since Tuesday, including five ministers, an exodus of unprecedented speed in British political history.
Wednesday evening again, several ministers had gone to Downing Street to try to convince Boris Johnson that having lost the confidence of the Conservative Party, he had to resign in his interest and that of the country.
Throughout the day, the 58 -year -old Prime Minister had hooked himself, saying that he had a “colossal mandate” to accomplish, before retiring by dismissing by phone, Wednesday evening, the Minister who was the first to come and advise him to resign earlier during the day, Michael Gove, in charge of territorial rebalancing. In vain.