Boris Johnson says goodbye – reluctantly

Boris Johnson has announced his resignation. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister confirmed that he would reluctantly leave office after a majority of his MPs lost faith in his ability to lead. He said it was ‘clearly the will of the parliamentary Conservative party’ that he goes.

In terms of the speech, Johnson used it to big up his achievements in office and pledge support for Ukraine. He also said it was critical that the Conservative party continues with the levelling up agenda so as to unleash all the ‘genius and talent and imagination’ in the country.

The speech was rather pointed in places. A notably unapologetic Boris Johnson said he had tried to make the point to colleagues that changing leader now would be ‘eccentric’ but had failed despite the fact he had a ‘vast mandate’ and the party is only a handful of points behind in the polls.