Boris Johnson has stepped down as the United Kingdom’s prime minister on July 7 after his latest political crisis, following the resignation of key ministers and other officials.
He said he would stay on as a caretaker prime minister until his replacement is chosen by his party.
The wave of resignations started on Tuesday despite Johnson’s apology for not realising that Chris Pincher, a former minister in charge of pastoral care, was unsuitable for a job in government after complaints of sexual misconduct were made against him.
Pincher quit as deputy chief whip last week following claims that he groped two men at a private members’ club, but Johnson was told about allegations against him as far back as 2019.
Those who resigned over the scandal said they lost confidence in Johnson’s ability to govern in the national interest.
The final crisis came just weeks after Johnson survived a no-confidence vote in early June from his own Conservative Party members of parliament by 211 votes to 148.
Johnson’s leadership has come under intense scrutiny after an investigator’s report in May criticised a culture of rule-breaking inside the prime minister’s office in a scandal known as “Partygate”.
The report described alcohol-fuelled bashes held by Downing Street staff members in 2020 and 2021, when coronavirus pandemic restrictions prevented UK residents from socialising or even visiting dying relatives.
Johnson, 58, has spent months battling to maintain his grip on power after the controversy saw him become the first serving UK prime minister found to have broken the law.
Boris, after studying at Eton and Oxford, Johnson worked as a reporter and writer for right-wing magazines and newspapers before starting his political life as a member of parliament.
He later became mayor of London, foreign secretary and eventually prime minister.
He identified as a “one-nation” Conservative. A divisive figure until his last weeks in office, some will remember him as an outspoken and controversial leader, while others view him as a jolly and affable prime minister with a can-do attitude.
Known for offensive gaffes, as a politician, he based much of his career on waging war against the European Union and what he saw as its constraining rules.
“Although he was in two minds on whether to support the Remain or Leave campaign, he spoke with a fair degree of commitment against the UK remaining in the EU,” David Phinnemore, a professor of European Politics at Queen’s University Belfast, told Al Jazeera.
One of the masterminds of Brexit, as prime minister, he led the country out of the bloc. He was ultimately the prime minister who secured a withdrawal agreement that had the support of the British parliament.
What was important was securing the deal, not the substance of it, Phinnemore added.
Source: aljazeera.com