Boris Johnson's Resignation  

Boris Johnson withdrew from the race to become Britain's next prime minister, following the resignation of Liz Truss. "In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once again contest the Conservative party leadership," Johnson said in a statement. "But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament."

In remarks made outside of 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his immediate resignation as Conservative Party leader after recent scandals led to a wave of resignations from his top officials. He said he is also resigning as prime minister, but will hold the post until a successor is in place. In the resignation speech, Johnson highlighted his achievements during his three-year tenure, including "getting Brexit done," his pandemic response and his handling of the war in Ukraine. Still, he said, "It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader." "I want to tell you how sorry I am to be giving up the best job in the world," Johnson said to a crowd. "But them's the breaks."

The British government released its findings of a special investigation into government parties attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff while the UK was under COVID-19 lockdown and citizens were barred from socializing. Investigating 16 gatherings over a 20-month period, the report found that many of them should not have been allowed to happen and "represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time." The report, which noted that disciplinary action was not within its scope, was delayed due to a separate police investigation released last week that resulted in 126 fines to 83 people involved in the parties. Boris Johnson made a statement in the House of Commons regarding the report, saying he takes "full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch." He concluded that he wants to "move on and focus on the priorities of the British people."

The London Metropolitan Police announced that it had begun a criminal investigation into parties held by Boris Johnson despite COVID-19 regulations in the UK. “I can confirm that the Met is now investigating a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two years in relation to potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations,” the police commissioner said during a press conference.