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,
Boris johnson is stepping down as the UK's prime minister.
Unable to overcome a string of scandals around unlawful parties during the pandemic and broader
questions about his integrity.
In less than three years,
he's gone from this to this,
apologies to everybody for the misjudgments that
I've made,
that we may have made johnson enjoyed a steady rise from journalist to
London mayor to prime Minister,
despite gaffes that sometimes led to accusations of racism,
sexism and spreading misinformation,
I'm sorry for the offense that I have caused,
but I will continue to speak as directly as I can as prime minister.
He had the shortest tenure of any conservative head of government in nearly 60 years,
johnson was once considered the golden boy of the Conservative Party.
So how did he climb so high and why did his premiership fall apart?
To answer that question,
we need to understand what sort of politician Boris johnson is,
which means going right back to the start.
What are you not ashamed of the Boris whatever there is not to be ashamed,
Back when he was a political columnist in the 90s,
Johnson's early appearances on the BBC's satirical current affairs show.
Have I got news for you brought him national recognition and endeared him to the British
public people like Boris
johnson and find him amiable and fun and that served him very well during his career.
His celebrity status made him one of the most
recognizable politicians in the UK.
This helped him get elected to parliament in 2000 and one and seven years later,
he became the first conservative to win the race for mayor of London.
I know that there will be many whose pencils hovered for an instance
for an instant before putting their X in my box as mayor.
He found success focusing on issues such as crime and public transport.
He also reveled in promoting the London 2012 Olympics,
including the infamous moment he got stuck on a zip wire.
But johnson had loftier ambitions.
We should take the chance now as a country to take back
control,
take back control,
take control,
take back the democratic control.
In 2016,
Johnson was back in parliament and surprised many by going against the leader of his own party by backing
Brexit.
I will be advocating leave.
He quickly became a leading voice in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union,
which then one the british people have spoken and the answer is
the Brexit referendum and the following negotiations with the EU ended the careers of two conservative
prime ministers and paved the way for johnson to take power.
There will be people around the place who will
question the wisdom of your decision.
In october 2019.
He called a general election and led the conservatives to their biggest victory since 1987
allowing the swift passage in december of his divorce deal with the EU.
I think Boris will get Brexit done and people will not
regret Boris being the next our new prime minister.
His pitch that the public was,
I'm going to use Brexit this divorce with the EU to sort of reset the way that we do
politics in the UK and bring areas of the UK that has long been forgotten about
or brushed over by his predecessors back to the forefront and and
treat blue collar workers better,
johnson though,
would not be able to bask in his electoral victory for long.
The number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has
increased 13-fold global pandemic.
In 2020,
Johnson was faced with leading the country through the coronavirus pandemic,
which has so far caused the deaths of more than 180,000 people in the UK.
The Prime Minister was criticized for not acting quickly enough to prevent the spread of the virus and for not taking it seriously.
From the start,
I was at the hospital the other night where I think there were actually a few coronavirus patients and
I shook hands with everybody.
At the end of March,
johnson announced that he had mild symptoms of the virus.
I've taken a test that has come out positive and was
hospitalized.
Just over a week later,
He spent seven nights in the hospital,
including three in intensive care.
The pandemic in some ways.
Played both the johnson's great strength and his great weakness and the great strength is that
he's an excellent communicator and he really managed to rally the country behind him and
also pushed a very successful vaccine program.
The downfall was that he is a natural libertarian and is known for being somewhat
indecisive and so Britain sadly suffered one of the highest death tolls in
europe from the disease,
in part because Mr johnson was very reticent to lock the country down,
johnson faced backlash when he admitted to attending a party in Downing Street during a period when people could only meet one
other person outside to prevent the spread of coronavirus Mr Speaker.
I want to apologize,
I believed implicitly that this was a work event.
Some Conservative lawmakers defended johnson,
but many people across the country who had abided by the strict lockdown rules,
felt betrayed by the Prime minister.
I don't trust him anymore.
There's no trust at this point,
I think he's kind of lost his credibility as Prime minister.
A police investigation into the events resulted in the Prime Minister being fined though he resisted demands to
resign.
I've paid the fine and I once again offer a full
apology.
The revelations proved to be the beginning of the end.
For johnson in june,
he was booed by a crowd as he arrived for a special jubilee service of thanksgiving for the
queen and only a few days
after that.
He was subject to a vote of no confidence by his own party.
He survived but was badly bruised.
Around a third of Conservative lawmakers voted against him.
Don't forget that,
you know,
when I first stood to be Leader of the Conservative Party in
2019,
I didn't get anything like that much support from my colleagues
were building that.
Meanwhile,
Johnson is also accused of mishandling a series of scandals around conservative lawmakers misconduct.
I think it was a mistake and I apologize for for it.
I think in hindsight it was the wrong thing to do.
And the party lost local and national elections,
casting doubts over his popularity with voters in july a flurry of cabinet
resignations,
including the Treasury Chief and Health Secretary rocked the government.
We have reason to question the truth and integrity of what we've all been told.
And at some point we have to conclude that
enough is enough.
I believe that point is now in the end,
Boris johnson was undone because he was no longer viewed as an electoral asset by
Mps but a liability.
And the minute that lawmakers saw that johnson was no longer likely to win them
elections,
they jettisoned him