The latest on Boris Johnson's resignation

Boris Johnson’s resignation speech told a story of how one of the UK’s most controversial leaders would like his time in Downing Street to be remembered. It is not how everyone in the country will recall his nearly three years as Prime Minister.

He spoke of his achievements, starting with getting Brexit done and “settling our relations with the continent for over half a century.” The UK is currently engaged in an almighty spat with the European Union over the very Brexit deal that Johnson signed in 2019, which is threatening to tear Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.

He celebrated the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which to date has killed over 180,000 Brits. He spoke of his flagship "levelling-up" agenda, a series of policies which have been widely derided as vague and non-existent.

And he spent a large part of the speech defending his own actions over the past few days, where in the face of derision from across the political divide Johnson clung to power, even though it was becoming clearer by the minute that not resigning was creating instability and chaos.

Johnson said that he did everything to stay in office because “it would be eccentric to change governments, when we're delivering so much when we have such a vast mandate and when we're actually only a handful of points behind in the polls.”

In reality, Johnson’s leadership has been in crisis since the start of the year and his protests that he should stay in power despite the numerous scandals and crises looked to many like craven attempts to hang on, no matter what was happening around him.

Attention now turns to a new leader, who will have to inherit a mess, both in terms of the Conservative party and the country. For all Johnson’s desire to remembered as a great Prime Minister, for many, that mess will be his legacy.

However, by the end, Johnson, unlike Donald Trump, did appreciate that his time was up. He wanted to hang on, but he admitted, “Them’s the breaks… no one is indispensable.”

For all the fears of a constitutional crisis, in the end, he did admit he'd run out of road.

Several Conservative party members were booed by angry members of public while leaving Downing Street following Johnson's resignation statement, CNN's Luke McGee reports from the scene.

Protesters have descended on the heart of the British government in recent days, demanding that Johnson quit.

Despite his resignation, Johnson has been appointing new cabinet ministers to ensure the government continues to work as he prepares to depart.

The newly appointed UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Greg Clark said on Thursday that he has a "duty to ensure that the country has a functioning government." 

"We have a duty to ensure that the country has a functioning government in the weeks ahead," Clark said in a tweet. "Having been Secretary of State at the Communities department before, I will do my best to provide stability, good governance and accountability to Parliament at this important time."

Clark was appointed as a cabinet member on Thursday, replacing former minister Michael Gove, who was fired from the position by the prime minister on Wednesday night. 

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Thursday that Prime Minister "made the right decision" to resign as Conservative party leader, adding that the government needs "to keep governing while a new leader is found." 

"The PM has made the right decision," Truss said in a tweet. "The Government under Boris's leadership had many achievements -- delivering Brexit, vaccines and backing Ukraine."

"We need calmness and unity now and to keep governing while a new leader is found," she added.

In a speech delivered outside 10 Downing St, Boris Johnson said he would remain in his role until a new leader is selected.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative party on Thursday, telling the British public that "the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week."

Johnson indicated in his resignation speech that he plans to remain in post until a successor is chosen. That's what would happen under normal circumstances: a prime minister who has resigned as party leader stays in office as caretaker prime minister until there is a new party leader.

But it’s not clear that the Conservative party will stand for that in Johnson’s case; many of his lawmakers have called for him to step down now.

One alternative would be for Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab to step in as caretaker. There’s no precedent for that -- but there’s also no precedent for more than 50 government officials resigning in two days in order to force a prime minister out. 

Here's what could happen next:

Does Johnson's resignation trigger a general election?

No. It starts the Conservative party process for choosing a new leader of the party. UK prime ministers are not directly elected by the people; Johnson is a prime minister because he is the head of the largest party in the House of Commons. The Conservatives will still be the largest party after Johnson quits, so the new head of the party will become prime minister.

How is the new Conservative Party leader chosen?

Leadership candidates need the support of at least eight lawmakers. If there are more than two candidates, Conservative party lawmakers hold round after round of votes to whittle the number of leadership candidates down to two. Then Conservative party members nationwide vote -- by mail -- between the two finalists. The winner becomes leader of the party and prime minister.

When Johnson does finally leave Downing Street, what happens?

He submits his resignation to the Queen, in person. The Palace will announce officially that Queen Elizabeth II has accepted Johnson’s resignation, and will say who she has invited to become prime minister to replace him. That person will then go to meet the Queen to accept the invitation.

Does the new prime minister have to call a general election?

No. The United Kingdom isn’t scheduled to have another general election until December 2024. The new prime minister could choose to ask Parliament to vote for an early election, but isn’t required to do so.

Here is Johnson's resignation speech in full:

Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. Thank you. Thank you. It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister, and I've agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now, and the timetable will be announced next week.

And I have today appointed a Cabinet to serve -- as I will -- until a new leader is in place. 

So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting Conservative for the first time. Thank you for that incredible mandate -- the biggest Conservative majority since 1987, the biggest share of a vote since 1979. 

And the reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was not just because I wanted to do so, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019. 

And of course, I'm immensely proud of the achievements of this government -- from getting Brexit done to settling our relations with the continent for over half a century, reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in Parliament, getting us all through the pandemic, delivering the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, the fastest exit from lockdown, and in the last few months, leading the West in standing up to Putin's aggression in Ukraine. 

And let me say now, to the people of Ukraine, that I know that we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes. 

And at the same time in this country, we've been pushing forward a vast program of investment in infrastructure, in skills and technology -- the biggest in a century. Because if I had one insight into human beings, it is that genius and talent and enthusiasm and imagination are evenly distributed throughout the population. But opportunity is not. And that's why we must keep leveling up, keep unleashing the potential in every part of United Kingdom. And if we can do that, in this country, we will be the most prosperous in Europe. 

And in the last few days, I've tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we're delivering so much, when we have such a vast mandate and when we're actually only a handful of points behind in the polls -- even in midterm after quite a few months and pretty relentless sledging -- and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally.

I regret not to have been successful in those arguments, and of course, it's painful, not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself. But as we've seen in Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful when the herd moves, it moves. 

And my friends in politics, no one is remotely indispensable, and our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader, equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times. Not just helping families to get through it, but changing and improving the way we do things -- cutting burdens on businesses and families and yes, cutting taxes, because that is the way to generate the growth and the income we need to pay for great public services. 

And to that new leader, I say wherever he or she may be, I say I will give you as much support as I can. And to you, the British public -- I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few will also be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them's the breaks.

I want to thank Carrie and our children to all members of my family who have had to put up with so much for so long. I want to thank the peerless British civil service for all the help and support that you have given our police, our emergency services, and of course, our fantastic NHS who at critical moment helped to extend my own period in office, as well as our armed services and our agencies that are so admired around the world and our indefatigable Conservative party members and supporters whose selfless campaigning makes our democracy possible.

I want to thank the wonderful staff here at Chequers -- to here at Number 10 -- and of course at Chequers and our fantastic prop force detectives, the one group by the way, who never leak.  

Above all, I want to thank you, the British public, for the immense privilege that you have given me. And I want you to know that from now on, until the new prime minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on. 

Being Prime Minister is an education in itself. I've traveled to every part of the United Kingdom and in addition to the beauty of our natural world, I find so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways, that I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden. 

Thank you all very much. Thank you.

WATCH:

While Johnson expressed sadness about his resignation, he told the nation in a televised speech that "them's the breaks."

He added: "Above all, I want to thank you, the British public, for the immense privilege that you have given me. And I want you to know that from now on, until the new prime minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on."

As he announced his resignation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the nature of politics is that "no one is remotely indispensable."

"As we've seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful — when the herd moves, it moves. And my friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable," he said Thursday. "And our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader, equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times."

Johnson said he will support his successor as much as he can. "To that new leader — whoever he or she may be — I say I will give you as much support as I can."

He also addressed the British public, saying he is sad to be leaving the "best job in the world."

"To you, the British public: I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps, quite a few will also be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world."

WATCH:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his resignation as Conservative party leader following a wave of government resignations.

"It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister," he said on Thursday.

"I'd agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week."

“And I’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.”

"So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voted Conservative, for the first time. Thank you for that incredible mandate. The biggest Conservative majority, since 1987," he added.

As recently as last night Johnson said he intended to stay and fight. But the avalanche of resignations from government ministers continued through to Thursday, with letter after letter criticizing the scandal-hit leader and imploring Johnson to step down.

Johnson's departure marks a remarkable downfall for a Prime Minister who was once seen as having political superpowers, with an appeal that transcended traditional party lines. He won a landslide victory in December 2019 on the promise of delivering a Brexit deal and leading the UK to a bright future outside the European Union. But his premiership unraveled in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The most immediate cause of his demise was the fallout from Johnson's botched handling of a scandal surrounding a government official who is alleged to have groped two people at a dinner last week.

But Johnson has faced numerous other scandals that have hit his standing in the polls -- despite his 80-seat landslide general election victory less than three years ago. These include accusations of using donor money inappropriately to pay for a refurbishment of his Downing Street home and ordering MPs to vote in such a way that would protect a colleague who had breached lobbying rules.