Boris Johnson steps down as British PM 

Boris Johnson will announce his resignation as British prime minister on Thursday after he was abandoned by ministers and his Conservative Party lawmakers who said he was no longer fit to govern.

Eight ministers, including two secretaries of state, have already resigned in the last two hours. An isolated and powerless Johnson will be stepping down on Thursday. 

Following a series of scandals and months of political turbulence, ministers and senior members of Johnson’s Cabinet, including health secretary and chancellor, have resigned and are saying they no longer have faith in his leadership. 

On Tuesday, a group of senior ministers met Johnson at 10 Downing Street to try to persuade him to resign. However, Johnson has so far been defiant and said he did not intend to resign given his 'colossal mandate' in the last election. 

After days of battling for his job, Johnson had been abandoned by all but a handful of allies. It was far cry from when Johnson, 58, rose to power in 2019 when he won a large majority, capturing votes in parts of Britain that had never supported his Conservative Party before.

Even his finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed to his post on Wednesday, had called on his boss to resign. 

On July 1, the UK government claimed that Johnson was unaware of the allegations against Pincher. But a spokesperson later revealed that it was not entirely true and the PM did know about the accusations. On Tuesday, Simon McDonald, the senior most official at the UK Foreign Office between 2015 and 2020, also accused the Prime Minister of lying.

Soon, Johnson faced pressure to explain what he knew about previous misconduct allegations against lawmaker Chris Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip last week amid complaints that he groped two men at a private club.