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Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister for less than three years, has announced his resignation.

On Thursday afternoon, July 7, he spoke from Downing Street, thanking the millions of people who voted for him and explaining why he had fought for so long to keep Number 10 because “I thought it was my job, my duty, and my obligation to you.”

“It’s painful not to see it through,” Mr Johnson said, adding, “no one in politics is remotely indispensable.”

He stated that he had tried to persuade his cabinet it would be “eccentric” to change prime minister now but “I regret not to have been successful in those arguments”.

Mr Johnson stated that the process of selecting a new leader would begin immediately, with a timetable to be announced next week.

The announcement comes after a string of scandals and months of political turmoil in his administration, with several Conservative politicians, including the health secretary and chancellor, resigning.

Ministers expressed their displeasure with Johnson and his self-inflicted scandals, fueled by his evasions, in resignation letters and speeches in the House of Commons, with one former official saying “enough is enough.”

Johnson, who had vowed to keep power, was under fire for his shifting claims about Chris Pincher, a lawmaker who resigned as a government whip on June 30 due to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Pincher, a Conservative MP, resigned last Thursday after a boozy evening at the Carlton private members club where he allegedly groped two men, touching at least one of them in the groin.

Pincher resigned, claiming that he had embarrassed himself and others while drunk. Following his resignation, the government stated that no further action would be taken against Pincher and that he would retain his position as an MP because he had admitted his wrongdoing. According to the BBC, this infuriated Conservative MPs.

This was not the first time Pincher had been accused of sexual misconduct. Johnson had elevated Pincher to the position of power as the party’s deputy chief whip.

Following initial claims that the Prime Minister was unaware of allegations of misconduct against Pincher before appointing him as deputy chief whip, reports emerged that Johnson was not only informed of a formal complaint against Pincher in 2019-20, but was also personally briefed on it.

Johnson admitted on Tuesday that he was informed about the complaint in 2019 and apologized for appointing Pincher to the government position.

The Pincher scandal is the latest in a long line of scandals for Johnson. After being chastised for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was implicated in the ‘Partygate’ scandal, which arose from Downing Street parties and gatherings held during the pandemic lockdowns.

In April, Johnson was fined by the police for breaking the law and attending a birthday party during lockdown in June 2020.