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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Thursday he will step aside as Conservative party leader, though will continue to serve in the role until his successor is in place.
Johnson said it was ‘clearly the will’ of the Conservative party that there should be a new leader, ‘and therefore a new prime minister’. The search should begin now, Johnson said, but he will continue to serve the country's interests in the interim.
Johnson said he had tried to persuade his Cabinet it would be ‘eccentric’ to change prime minister now, but ‘I regret not to have been successful in those arguments’
His statement outside Number 10 shortly after midday on Thursday came after reports in the morning, with the news broken by the BBC, that he would be quitting as Tory leader after ministers and MPs made clear his position was untenable.
The prime minister has haemorrhaged support among his ministers and MPs over the past 48 hours following the Chris Pincher scandal.
Johnson faced accusations of a ‘cover up’ over his appointment of Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip last week over allegations he drunkenly groped two men at a private members' club.
A mass resignation was triggered by Tuesday's departure from Cabinet of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, as chancellor and health secretary, respectively.
The prime minister had sought to remain in office, but resignations continued into Thursday with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi who was only appointed to the role on Tuesday going public with a call for the prime minister to quit and Michelle Donelan, also only appointed on Tuesday night, resigning as Education Secretary.
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