(7 Jul 2022)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4387583
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London - 7 July 2022
1. Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, arriving at lectern outside 10 Downing Street, greeting crowd
HEADLINE: Boris Johnson announces his resignation  
++WHITE FLASH++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister:
"It is clearly now the will of the Parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister. And I have agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week. And I today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place."
++WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister:
"So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting Conservative for the first time. Thank you for that incredible mandate. The biggest Conservative majority since 1987. The biggest share of the vote since 1979."
++WHITE FLASH++
4 . SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister:
"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. But as we've seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful. And when the herd moves, it moves. And my friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable."
++WHITE FLASH++
5. Johnson turns and walks back into 10 Downing Street
STORYLINE:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned Thursday, acknowledging that it was “clearly the will” of his party that he should go.
He stepped down immediately as leader of his Conservative Party but plans to remain as prime minister while a leadership contest is held. He said he has appointed a new Cabinet following a multitude of resignations, but many are calling for him to go now.
It is a humiliating defeat for Johnson, who succeeded in leading Britain out of the European Union and was credited with rolling out one of the world’s most successful mass vaccination campaigns to combat COVID-19.
The announcement came after the latest ethics scandal around Johnson's leadership led some 50 senior lawmakers to quit the government and left him unable to govern.
Speaking outside No. 10 Downing St., Johnson thanked the British public for voting for his party in the 2019 election and giving it an "incredible mandate."
But he acknowledged that “in politics, no one is remotely indispensable.”
Johnson had clung to power for two days, but he was forced to concede defeat Thursday morning after two more members of his Cabinet quit and one of his closest allies, Treasury Chief Nadhim Zahawi, publicly told him to resign for the good of the country.
The internal election to pick a new leader of the Conservative Party, who will also be the next prime minister, is likely to take place over the summer. Johnson said a timetable for the leadership contest will likely be announced next week.
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