Update (740am ET): It’s official – Boris Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister but defied pressure to step down immediately, insisting he would remain in office until a new Conservative party leader is chosen. In an address in front of No 10 Downing Street, after days of turmoil and mass resignations from his government, the prime minister said: “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader for the Conservative party and therefore a new prime minister.”
Johnson, one the most controversial British leaders in modern times, said the timing of the leadership contest would be announced next week. However many Conservatives, including a number of former ministers, believe Johnson should leave Downing St immediately. “There’s no way I could serve under him in any circumstances,” said one.
BoJo also took a swipe at his own political party which abandoned him in record short time, saying “the herd instinct is powerful, and when it moves, it moves.”
“Them’s the breaks”, Johnson summarized his exit. His departure will end a tumultuous three years in office marked by Britain’s exit from the EU, the ravages of Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and a cost of living crisis, as well as his 2019 election win — the Tories’ biggest victory for over four decades.
Before his speech Johnson had already started to fill some ministerial vacancies, with Greg Clark set to come in — temporarily — as levelling-up secretary. James Cleverly becomes the third education secretary in as many days.
Johnson intends to convene his hastily assembled interim cabinet for a meeting on Thursday afternoon, in an attempt to convey a sense that he wants to maintain national stability.
Johnson’s announcement has fired the starting gun on the race to succeed him, with a wide array of candidates expected to confirm they are running in the coming days. There is no clear frontrunner.
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Watch Live as BoJo announces his resignation:
In the end, PredictIt was right…
… and the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was the announcement by Boris Johnson’s newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi who also called on BoJo to quit just one day after his appointment, saying “Prime minister, you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, and go now,” Zahawi wrote. “The country deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity.”
Michelle Donelan, who replaced Zahawi as education secretary on Tuesday night, also resigned. “I see no way that you can continue in post, but without a formal mechanism to remove you it seems that the only way this is only possible is for those of us who remain in Cabinet to force your hand,” she wrote.
That was the tipping point, and just minutes later news broke that the scandal-plagued and extremely unpopular prime minister Boris Johnson plans to resign bringing the curtain down on a tempestuous three years in office marred by a succession of scandals that culminated in the rebellion of his own cabinet and parliamentary group, including a record number of cabinet resignations in a single day.
Johnson, 58, bowed to the inevitable after the mass resignation of members of his government, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, as a mounting number of Conservative MPs launched excoriating public attacks on his judgment, leadership and allegiance to the truth.
According to the FT, Johnson spoke to Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee of Conservative backbench MPs, at an 8.30am meeting in which the prime minister said he had concluded that he should resign in the interests of the party and the country.
BoJo will leave a nation mired in political and economic uncertainty, rocked by scandal after scandal, and still showing the strains of his singular triumph, the UK’s exit from the European Union, as it confronts surging inflation, potential recession and the threat of widespread industrial action. The Conservatives trail the main opposition Labour Party in the polls, their past reputation for sleaze revived on Johnson’s watch.
As Bloomberg notes, Johnson wants stay on as caretaker premier until October while the Tories elect a new leader. Whether or not his party allows him to remain in office for that long, possible successors are already lining up. They include Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and the newly installed chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, as well as Sunak and ex-Health Minister Sajid Javid, who both quit the cabinet on Tuesday. The field is likely to swell.
Johnson is expected to make a statement shortly after midday, when he will announce plans to remain as a caretaker prime minister until the Conservative party conference in October, according to FT reports. He has already started to fill some ministerial vacancies, with Greg Clark set to come in temporarily as “levelling-up secretary”. But a significant number of Conservative MPs do not think Johnson’s position is sustainable and want him to depart Downing Street sooner.
Baroness Ruth Davidson, the former leader of the Scottish Tory party, said: “There’s no way he can stay on until October. It’s arrant nonsense to think he can. Someone needs to grip this.”
Johnson initially responded that he had “a mandate” from the British people and refused to quit. He sacked Michael Gove, one of the senior ministers who had advised him to step down, with a Number 10 aide calling Gove “a snake”.
In response to the news, the pound jumped 0.5% against the dollar, from $1.193 to a high of $1.199 in a modest relief rally, as investors reacted positively to Johnson’s expected resignation.
Finally, those curious who will be the next UK PM, betting service Ladbrokes has Ben Wallace at the head of the betting to replace Johnson. Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt are second and third favorite.
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I don’t think Conservative means what the rotten toothed, British heretics think it does.
Doesn’t it mean people that think they are the real liberals? This must be why they’re always calling democrats ‘nazis’ – because the conservatives feel they are left of the democrats.
I only recently learned that the “conservative” National Review was owned by a man who was “married” to a fellow homosexual. So much for Bill Buckley’s flagship of principled conservatism… if it ever was such.
FWIW I once was a National Review subscriber, but I wised up to their fakery 30 years ago.
Buckley’s mag wasn’t fit for toilet paper 30 years ago.
I should know, I did freelance illustration for them and The Weakly Std.
Nests of corporate lackey CINOs. If I got too close to the truth
or gored the wrong ox my work got spiked. Kristol’s Standard was the worst.
They finally stopped using me and folded a year later. Make of that what you will.
Thank you for your service, though disheartening.
Like The Nation, Mother Jones, and Ad Busters, just another lugen presse rag selling their brand of gutted out ideology, with the deviant owner’s laughing to the bank to deposit 3-letter agency/committee fronted advertising payoffs.
His image on the $3 bill should have been a clue.
His wife was remarkably mannish.
“Conservative” means something different every decade
“Conservative” ? Means ya got ammo left. Afterwards.
Boris was just more gas on the raging Brit dumpster fire started decades ago.
The next one will be even more high octane.
No cliffhangers please – what does Conservative mean, in the original meaning?
This [Northern conservatism] is a party which never conserves anything. Its history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity and will be succeeded by some third revolution; to be denounced and then adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted? Its impotency is not hard, indeed, to explain. It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It intends to risk nothing serious for the sake of the truth, and has no idea of being guilty of the folly of martyrdom. It always when about to enter a protest very blandly informs the wild beast whose path it essays to stop, that its “bark is worse than its bite,” and that it only means to save its manners by enacting its decent role of resistance: The only practical purpose which it now subserves in American politics is to give enough exercise to Radicalism to keep it “in wind,” and to prevent its becoming pursy and lazy, from having nothing to whip.”
― Robert Lewis Dabney
“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types — the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.”
― G.K. Chesterton
The funny thing is, both quoted gentlemen accepted the progressive definition of ‘conservative.’
” What does ______ mean?”
A fake Dichotomy…
di·chot·o·my
[dīˈkädəmē]
NOUN
a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different:
“a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism”
synonyms:
division · separation · divorce · split · gulf · chasm · difference · contrast · disjunction · polarity · lack of consistency · contradiction · antagonism · conflict · contrariety
botany
repeated branching into two equal parts.
The ‘Names have changed, ALWAYS been the currently popular ‘Uni-Party’.
‘VOTING’ ???? 😂 😂 😂
“NEVER give People a ‘CHOICE’ ya don’t want them to make.”
You prefer Orwellian Newspeak?
Can Joe be next?
We can only hope.
Camel Toe is next in line.
Or will the burning cities and economic collapse take front stage?
I am hoping for the latter.
I’m hoping Trudeau is the next to go.
i was going to say the exact same thing!!!!! X100
but that arrogant prick will never see his demise
Don’t be a Debby Downer.
Even such monsters as the WEPH’s Kanuk poster-child will eventually receive just desserts and certain comeuppance.
…..feet first into a woodchipper?
Did you leave that part off?
Nah. Joe’s a useful stooge who is too hopeless to do anything but what he’s told. He’s the perfect front man. He can be disposed of and blamed for everything when it’s convenient. There’s obviously a reason beyond the ridiculous official story for Boris the Slob getting the axe.
Waiting for Dirty Old Joe to put Boris on the J6 Commission, sitting right next to Liz.
British trump
Not bad. Up vote for ya …. first time ever.
Brit RINO. FIFY.
Swing and a bad miss.
Both Houses, Lords and Commons loved that fucking shaggy globalist puppet.
The exact opposite of DJT. The globalists DESPISE Orange Man Bad.
Try again.
If the US was a parliamentary system, both the worthless democrats and the worthless republicans would already have been replaced by superior parties, or at least would have to hope to be part of a coalition government.
Umm….don’t think that’s an improvement. Just look north of the 49th. Parliamentary system, and a Complete Train Wreck. Worst governance in the country’s history (by a longshot) somehow holds power with the mandate of only 1 in 5 eligible voters, but colludes with an even farther left government (whose leader is actually banned from his native country due to his association with terrorists) to seize totalitarian control and hold it until at least 2025. Doesn’t get more worthless than that.
The parliamentary system is the most corrupt form of governance imaginable. Go research the Weimar Republic.
Here is the nasty.
Bojo is a real POS. TPTB are only getting rid of him because he is not a big enough POS for their liking.
Expect worse from whoever follows.
Yes, just like in New York State where Horrible Hochul replaced the criminal Cuomo.
They should pick Tommy Robinson.
Why not just directly go with Yair Lapid, and drop any pretense?
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/07/07/israels-new-leader-yair-lapid-has-four-months-to-prove-himself
not aggressive enough with the russians
Sarc, right?
Breaking news …. well, it is for Ursela van der whatever-the-fuck …. just yesterday said that the loss of Russian oil could be very bad for Europe.
Ya think … ya fucken cunt???!!!! Better late than never, I guess.
Of course, the dumb bitch doubled down on getting moar green renewables on line in the next few months. Maybe someone can stick a windmill up her ass …. = unlimited energy.
Now the really really funny shit. Get ready!! The EU passed a bill yesterday stating that now gas is environmentally sustainable!!! hahahaha See how that works? A stroke of the pen determines, well, …. whatever the fuck they want it to be! Fortunately, it is all based on The Science.
.
.
.
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/EU-chief-warns-of-danger-of-complete-cut-off-of-17286816.php
I saw that yesterday.
As you said, with a stroke of a pen, NG is GREEN! Nuke too!
I guess we can solve all world issues by simply changing the current definitions. We really are living in Orwell’s nightmare.
We have always been at war with EastAsia. (and we will cancel you if you suggest otherwise)
I read that Ursula von der Luegen is actually fairly stupid… promoted well beyond any level of personal competence.
Still, she is a cosmetically-presentable female, which counts for a lot when you’re trying to present an un-elected, quasi-Nazi dictatorship as somehow good for all the little people.
” Still, she is a cosmetically-presentable female” 😂
https://www.amazon.com/vision-enhancing-glasses/s?k=vision+enhancing+glasses
Where You got Yours?
From the AP:
Recent disclosures that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a Conservative lawmaker before he promoted him to a senior position in government proved to be one scandal too many.
Oh, the horror! Allegations of sexual misconduct are a requirement for a post in Brandon’s administration.
I thought sexual perversion was a requirement to work for Dementia Joe? “Heels Up Harris” is the closest thing to normal they have.
Good point.
“I thought sexual perversion was”… the distinction between erotic and kinky?
https://www.anvari.org/shortjoke/Questions_and_Answers/485_q-whats-the-difference-between-erotic-and-kinky-a.html
Have not looked. Chicken or feather?
Feather in Your cap, If/If not…It looks like You have a chicken in front of You, seemingly suspended in mid-air, waist high.
Auntie is simply going to be heartbroken no moar of Boris’ theme music once he is gone:
Well, actually this seems to be the permanent music for most Western politicians.
“seems to be the permanent music for most Western politicians.”
Just where have i heard THAT song before? It’s like Deja Vu all over again!
Big deal. I’m sure another dipshit will take his place.
Succinct, I like it.
S-pants Biden makes BJ look like Winston Churchill. Our problem is that Biden’s replacement is 5x’s worse. The English will appoint someone as bad or even worse than BJ. Say hi to the new boss. Same or worse as the old boss.
Who’s next ?
The Pope
$oros
Biden
I loved hearing the chorus of jeers and boos from the crowd . Too bad he wasn’t lynched as an example.
Deus ex lynchina.
Party on, Boris. Last call for Ol’ Blightee.
Are you not entertained? Because that’s all this is
“Are you not entertained?”
(channeling St. Ronnie) Well, at least They get bread. Still.
Look how FAR civilization has progressed! What’s not to Love?
“the herd instinct is powerful, and when it moves, it moves.”…Like Peristalsis?
Well then, Cheerio, ‘ol chap!
You’re Flushed!
Austrian Peter, please pick up the red courtesy phone.
In case anyone is interested…whatfinger dot com recently installed Disqus on their site.
They’re already deeply engaged in the practice of shadow banning comments! No dissenting opinions allowed.
Apparently their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
PHYSIOGNOMY!!!!
Tater. Yep, definitely a tater.
Resigned, Yes. Given the Boot No !
Much pilfering still to do at #10, someone had better lock the drinks cabinet and stock take the silver
Not a good day for former prime ministers as Shinzo Abe was not-quite assassinated in Japan this day.
“Locking down” entire nations and most of the world for a plandemic has consequences, folks.
Moar consequences for the tools of the Evil Fuckers is a positive sign.
He is alive? I saw it reported that he was dead.
The Japanese being Japanese. He is dead.
The Brits might be able to borrow Marine Le Pen.
Mais non?
C’est bon!