By Tony O’Reilly-
Boris Johnson has officially resigned, saying is “clearly now the will” of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader.
Announcing his resignation in Downing Street, the prime minister said: “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.
“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.
“I’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.”
Mr Johnson addressed the British public, telling them: “I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but them’s the breaks.”
Greg Clark has been named new levelling up secretary, and James Cleverly as education secretary.
And Robert Buckland returns to the cabinet, as Wales secretary.
Shailesh Vara becomes Northern Ireland secretary, Kit Malthouse has been appointed chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Andrew Stephenson as minister without portfolio.
In his resignation speech, Mr Johnson said he had appointed a new a cabinet to serve until a successor is elected to replace him as Tory leader.
He said: “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’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.”
The prime minister told the nation he’d decided to step down after failing to convince his Cabinet he should stay.
“I tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much,” he said, adding: “I regret not to have been successful in those arguments.”
The outgoing prime minister appeared to show little contrition over the circumstances which led to his resignations, suggesting he’d been forced out by a “herd instinct” in Westminster which was too “powerful” to resist.
Almost all of those who stepped down raised issues with the prime minister’s integrity, particularly surrounding scandals such as Partygate, though the tipping point was the controversy surrounding Chris Pincher controversy.
It appears the final straw for many was Mr Johnson’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Pincher, who resigned after reportedly “groping” two men last week.
Mr Johnson apologised for hiring Mr Pincher as deputy chief whip despite being aware of allegations against him on Tuesday, but moments later Mr Javid and Mr Sunak walked out.
The timing of a contest to replace Mr Johnson will be decided by the executive of the 1922 Committee, which is effectively the parliamentary party’s HR department.