UK’s Boris Johnson resigns after losing party’s support
Al JazeeraThe 58-year-old Conservative became prime minister in 2019 but has suffered a series of scandals. Boris Johnson, the prime minister who oversaw the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and his country’s struggles with the coronavirus pandemic, has announced his resignation, having lost the support of top cabinet ministers. “And today I have appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.” He thanked his voters: “Thank you for that incredible mandate, the biggest Conservative majority since 1987, the biggest share of the 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,” Johnson said. ‘Good news’ Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour party, said Johnson’s departure was “good news”, but just changing the leader of the Conservative party was not enough. Chris Wilkins, a former strategy director and chief speech-writer for UK’s Former Prime Minister Theresa May, told Al Jazeera that it would wrong of Johnson to stay on until October as a caretaker prime minister.