 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes a statement at Downing Street in London, Britain, July 7, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Peter Nicholls) |
Bowing to the inevitable as more than 50 ministers quit and lawmakers said he must go, Johnson said it was clear his party wanted someone else in charge, but that his forced departure was "eccentric".
"Today I have appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place," Johnson said outside his Downing Street office.
"I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them's the breaks," he added, making no apology for the events that forced his announcement.
A snap YouGov poll found that defence minister Ben Wallace was the favourite among Conservative Party members to replace Johnson, followed by junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt and former finance minister Rishi Sunak.
 People listen as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes a statement at Downing Street in London, Britain, July 7, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Peter Nicholls) |
The crisis comes as Britons are facing the tightest squeeze on their finances in decades, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with soaring inflation, and the economy forecast to be the weakest among major nations in 2023 apart from Russia.
It also follows years of internal division sparked by the narrow 2016 vote to leave the European Union, and threats to the make-up of the United Kingdom itself with demands for another Scottish independence referendum, the second in a decade.