Boris Johnson resigns

The man who brought the Conservatives their biggest majority since Thatcher has been effectively ousted from his party, resigning after more than 40 MPs resigned from Government in 24 hours.

It all kicked off on Tuesday night with Sajid Javid resigning as Health Secretary, shortly followed by Chancellor Rishi Sunak too. This alone enacted seismic change within Government with two of the most senior figures citing integrity as a reason to quit. The latest in a line of scandals clouding Johnson's tenure was the appointment of Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher back in 2019, who recently resigned after recent groping allegations. Downing Street denied that the PM knew of the past allegations against Pincher which had since surfaced, but sources have since confirmed this to be false. It begs the question as to why the PM would appoint such a person to this position of power. In light of this, Javid and Sunak's resignations initated a chain reaction, with multiple MPs stepping down from the positions within Government.

Johnson eventually annouced this morning that he was stepping down as Conservative Party leader, triggering a Conservative Party leadership contest, similar to the one he won in 2019. For the interim period, so far it seems he will remain PM, despite calls for a de facto leader (perhaps deputy PM Dominic Raab). This would be an unprecedented move as the PM usually remains until the next one is elected.

This is something that has been stewing for a while, with Pincher's situation acting as the tipping point for the Conservatives. The issue is what happens next for Britain and who will become PM. The Leadership Contest will surely see names such as Patel, Raab, Zahawi, Javid and Sunak, amongst others. Either way, this is just the beginning of a new form of government: a new PM will reshuffle the Cabinet and have a new way of operating. The UK is less than two years from the next General Election, meaning the new PM could call one early (although this is unlikely).

There is so much yet to come, and with ever, so much uncertainty for Britain moving forward. The person chosen by the Conservatives will no doubt be the rival for Keir Starmer and the Labour Party in the 2024 General Election, so the party will be thinking about which candidate will be able to win over the public despite the party's conduct since 2019.

As in 2019, I will be covering the Conservative Party Leadership Contest in detail via Instagram Stories. So stay tuned for what is next, because if the last 12 years of UK politics is anything to go by, one day can change the course of British history indefinitely.

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*Photo obtained from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62076257 all rights reserved