British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to step down as party leader on Thursday less than three years after winning one of the biggest landslides in British history. Media reports said Mr Johnson had finally bowed to mounting pressure to quit from cabinet ministers, MPs and Conservative Party officials. Mr Johnson wants to remain prime minister until the autumn, when a new leader is chosen, the BBC reported. However, there is growing pressure for him to go immediately and be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab. Mr Johnson has been plagued by a series of scandals in recent months, including reports that he and his officials held more than a dozen social gatherings when the country was on lockdown due to the pandemic. But allegations of sexual assault with former deputy Tory MP Chris Pincher brought the rebellion to a boil this week as reports emerged that Mr Johnson had overlooked Mr Pincher’s behavior and appointed him as deputy leader. His resignation is a humiliating end to a career that seemed to defy political norms. He was born to British parents in New York as Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and spent much of his youth in Brussels, where his father, Stanley, worked for the European Commission. After a privileged education at Eton and Oxford, he joined The Times as a trainee reporter in 1987, only to be sacked for making a suggestion. His political career began in 2001 when he won a seat in Parliament. He then served as Mayor of London for two terms and returned to Westminster in 2015. Through it all, he relied on humour, self-deprecation and more than a little exaggeration. He led the campaign for Britain to withdraw from the European Union in 2016 after he was torn about which side to support. After winning a Brexit referendum that year, Mr Johnson became a staunch critic of then-prime minister Theresa May, who tried to negotiate a withdrawal deal with the EU. Mr Johnson led the drive to force Mrs May to resign and was elected party leader in 2019. He went on to lead the Conservatives to a huge majority in December 2019, promising to “get Brexit done”. But the deal negotiated with the EU has wreaked havoc on Northern Ireland because it effectively left the province bound by EU rules and cut off from the rest of Britain in terms of trade. Mr Johnson has now moved to end key parts of the deal, despite signing it in 2020. He also came under fire for his handling of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite nearly dying from the disease. And while he managed to launch a successful vaccination drive, he was mired in scandals over renovations to his Downing Street flat and allegations of repeated breaches of COVID-19 regulations. The scandals prompted Conservative MPs to hold a leadership review last month. Mr Johnson received the support of a majority of MPs, but 148, or 40 per cent of the caucus, voted for him to resign. A few weeks later, the Tories lost two by-elections by wide margins, raising more questions about Mr Johnson’s ability to continue as leader. Through it all, Mr Johnson has remained defiant and refused to quit, even as dozens of ministers and parliamentary secretaries resigned this week and called on him to resign. There are no clear favorites to succeed him as party leader. Some of the main contenders are expected to be Mr Raab as well as former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Mr Johnson’s departure but said it was too late. “It is good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister,” Mr Starmer said. “But it should have happened a long time ago.” The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
