A FURIOUS campaign to stop Boris Johnson limping on in Downing Street for another three months was thundering tonight.
As the PM assembled his “zombie Cabinet” in No10, a pincer movement of angry Tories and Labour was plotting to prize him out.
Critics demanded Mr Johnson resign immediately and make way for a caretaker PM like Dominic Raab rather than wait until October.
In his resignation speech this afternoon the PM vowed to stick around while a new Tory leader was elected before the party’s autumn conference.
Top Tories lashed him for hopelessly clinging on and ramped up efforts to get him out as soon as possible.
Senior MP Sir Bob Neill said: “We should look to have this result not by October, I think, we should do it in the summer. Nowadays most people are on email, we can do it quite easily.”
Former Minister George Freeman who resigned this morning said “his authority is gone”.
He said: “Fifty ministers have resigned, and I think we’re going to have to, in the next few days, select somebody. It’s not beyond the wit of man.”
Labour are also gearing up to table a motion of no confidence in the Commons next week to collapse the government and force a resignation.
On a dramatic day in Westminster
- Mr Johnson made new Cabinet appointments to fill the slew of vacancies
- More than 55 Tory MPs have now quit as government ministers or aides
- The PM phoned the Queen to tell her he planned to quit
- Suella Braverman became the first Tory to announce a leadership run
- Brexiteer Steve Baker also said he might put his name forward
- Defence Secretary Ben Wallace topped a Tory members poll as the preferred choice
- Leadership contender Liz Truss flew back from the G7 in Bali
- Sir John Major said a caretaker PM should takeover
In his resignation speech the PM confessed: “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 fired the starting gun on a Conservative leadership race that will be launched next week and bitterly fought throughout the summer after a timetable is set out next week.
But some Tory MPs are demanding Mr Johnson bows out now and makes Dominic Raab a caretaker PM while a new leader is elected.
Mr Johnson’s government has utterly imploded with 55 resignations and junior ministers refusing to fill the vacant jobs.
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to table a vote of no confidence if Mr Johnson does not leave immediately.
He said it had been an “immense privilege” to serve in the “best job in the world” but admitted that “no one is remotely indispensable”.
Two years and 348 days since he first entered No10 in 2019, the PM today called The Queen to tell her he planned to stand down.
In a packed Downing Street, thronged with supporters including Carrie and baby Romy, he thanked the millions who voted for him in a historic landslide.
Yet after a brutal Cabinet coup he said: “In Westminster the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.
“And my friends in politics, no one is remotely indispensable.”
He said he was “immensely proud of the achievements of this government” such as Brexit and the vaccine rollout.
In his resignation speech Mr Johnson said he had tried to cling on for so long because he considered it “eccentric” to change leader at a time of instability.
“I regret not to have been successful in those arguments and of course it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself,” he said.
He sent a message to the besieged Ukrainian people that Britain will continue to remain a loyal friend.
As he prepared to dig in for three months, Mr Johnson announced Greg Clark would replace sacked Michael Gove as Levelling Up Minister.
James Cleverley was made Education Secretary after Michelle Donelan resigned this morning after just 36 hours in the job.
New Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi published a letter telling the PM it’s time to go.
It came after seven ministers quit before breakfast, meaning the overall number of resignations topped 55.
Mr Johnson played down his woes, insisting” we’re actually only a handful of points behind in the polls.
“Even in mid-term after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally.E
A race to replace Mr Johnson as Tory leader and British PM will now begin. Mr Johnson said the timetable will be set out next week.
Big Conservative hitters like Rishi Sunak, Nadhim Zahawi, Liz Truss, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt are all expected to have a tilt.
This morning Attorney General Suella Braverman announced live on air she was not resigning – but wanted to be the next leader.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is the favourite among Tory members, according to a new poll.
Mr Johnson has been reeling from the Chris Pincher groping scandal first revealed by HOAR last Thursday.
The crisis climaxed in the past 24 hours when Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid both quit the Cabinet and called for him to go.
It fired the starting gun on a wave of ministerial resignations that has so far swelled to around 40 Tories.
In an assassination attempt with echoes of Thatcher’s removal, Cabinet members yesterday saw the PM individually to demand he quits.
Previously loyal Conservative backbenchers withdrew their support and demanded the PM steps down for the good of the party and country.
Until hours ago the PM was defiantly vowing to remain in post and even fight to win the next election.
He told the Commons: “The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when he’s been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going – and that’s what I’m going to do.”
But Cabinet Ministers including Nadhim Zahawi, Grant Shapps and Simon Hart took matters into their own hands.
They waited for Mr Johnson to arrive back in No10 and then told him to quit.
Even ultra-loyalist Priti Patel turned to urge the PM throw in the towel after backbench support drained away.
Ex-Health Secretary Mr Javid attempted to deliver the fatal blow with a blistering resignation speech in the packed Commons.
The big beast said: “At some point we have to conclude that enough is enough. I believe that point is now.
“The reset button can only work so many times. There’s only so many times you can turn that machine on and off before you realise something is fundamentally wrong.”
More Conservative rebels stuck the knife in during PMQs and asked if there was anything that would make him resign.
Mr Johnson was elected as PM in 2019 on a wave of optimism and with a pledge to Get Brexit Done.
The PM was praised for winning Red Wall seats that for too long had been taken for granted by Labour.
