Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister

However, he will continue as PM until his successor is elected in the autumn.

Mr Johnson has been under increasing pressure to quit in recent days following recent controversies over ‘Partygate’ and the controversial appointment of Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip.

With scores of Government ministers and a number of cabinet ministers resigning in the last 48 hours, Mr Johnson initially remained defiant and sacked one of his cabinet ministers, Michael Gove, after he publicly said Mr Johnson should go.

He also said that the mandate he had been given when winning the 2019 general election was reason enough for staying.

But this morning, Mr Johnson has bowed to the inevitable and will now leave Downing Street.

Speaking outside No 10, Mr Johnson said: “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 added that it was ‘painful not to see through so many ideas and projects’ but in politics, no one is ‘remotely indispensable’.

Mr Johnson said he had appointed a new cabinet and that he would give the new leader, whoever he or she was, as much support as he could.

He also stressed that is was vital that the levelling up process continued throughout the country.

The Dispatch has contacted Hucknall MP Mark Spencer, a staunch supporter of Mr Johnson, for comment on Mr Johnson’s departure and whether he would be putting his name forward to be the next Tory leader – and therefore, Prime Minister.