British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party.
The BBC reported on the 7th that Prime Minister Johnson, who had been under pressure to resign amid the resignation of the cabinet, was resigning. He said he would step down as prime minister and resign as leader of the ruling Conservative Party. The UK has a parliamentary system where the leader of the majority party is the prime minister. “Prime Minister Johnson will step down today and a new prime minister will take office in the fall,” the BBC said.
Prime Minister Johnson is due to give his resignation address within hours. “Inside sources are expecting Prime Minister Johnson to issue a statement around lunchtime,” the Financial Times said.
Citing local media, Reuters reported that Johnson said he would hold the position until a new prime minister is elected this summer.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Johnson faced the risk of resigning several times, including violating COVID-19 quarantine rules. On the 6th of last month he was voted of no confidence in Congress. At that time, he remained Prime Minister with 211 votes in favor and 148 against.
However, on the 6th, the issue of gender equality among aides arose, and Prime Minister Johnson faced a crisis again. The problem is that Rep. Christopher Fincher, who was appointed by Prime Minister Johnson to the Conservative Household Committee in February, went ahead with his appointment despite knowing that he had committed sexual assault while serving as foreign secretary in 2019.
Ministers pressured Johnson to resign. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been forced into a situation where it is difficult to secure his position after the resignation of the cabinet following the resignation of Health Minister Sajid Zabid and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak on the 5th.
The new finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, who was appointed by Johnson as the successor of former Treasury Secretary Sunak, urged Johnson to resign within 36 hours, less than two days after his appointment.
“For himself, for the Conservative Party and above all for the UK, Prime Minister Johnson must do the right thing now,” Nadhim wrote on Twitter. More than 50 government leaders resigned, including the top four cabinet ministers.
Congress also put pressure on Prime Minister Johnson until the 11th, when it decided to put a proposal to change the principle, which was guaranteed to keep the result of the confidence vote unconditionally, for 12 months.
By Park Joo-yeon, staff reporter grumpy_cat@hankyung.com
