BORIS JOHNSON has stepped down as leader of the Conservative party.
The former Henley MP will continue as prime minister until the party chooses a successor.
The timetable for the election of a new leader will be announced next week.
Boris Johnson’s speech can be read in full below:
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.
I have agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our back bench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week
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
The reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was not just because I wanted to do so, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019.
And of course I am immensely proud of the achievements of this government, from getting Brexit done to settling our relations with the continent for over half a century.
Reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in parliament, getting us all through the pandemic, delivering the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, the fastest exit from lockdown and, in the last few months, leading the west in standing up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
And let me say now to the people of Ukraine that I know we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.
At the same time in this country we have been pushing forward a vast programme of investment in infrastructure, in skills and in technology the biggest in a century
If I have one insight into human beings it is that genius and talent and enthusiasm and imagination are evenly distributed throughout the population, but opportunity is not
That is why we must keep levelling up, keep unleashing the potential in every part of the United Kingdom and if we can do that in this country we will be the most prosperous in Europe.
In the last few days I have tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we are delivering so much, and when we have such a vast mandate and when we are actually only a handful of points behind in the polls, even in midterm, after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally.
I regret not to have been successful in those arguments, and of course it is painful not to see through so many ideas and projects myself, but as we have seen at Westminster the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.
My friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable.
Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.
Not just helping families to get through, but in changing and improving the way we do it,.
Cutting burdens on businesses and families and, yes, cutting taxes because that is the way to generate the growth and income we need to pay for great public services.
To that new leader, whoever he or she may be, I will give you as much support as I can
To you the British public, I know that there will be many people who are relieved, and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed, and I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but them’s the breaks
I want to thank Carrie, our children and all members of my family who have had to put up with so much for so long.
I want to thank the peerless British Civil Service for all the help and support you have given, our police, our emergency services and of course our fantastic NHS who, at a critical moment, helped to extend my own period in office as well as our armed services and our agencies that are so admired around the world.
And our Conservative members and supporters whose selfless campaigning makes our democracy possible.
I want to thank the wonderful staff at Number 10 and at Chequers and our fantastic prop force detectives, the one group who never leak.
Above all I want to thank you, the British public, for the immense privilege you have given me.
I want you to know that from now until the new prime minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on.
Being prime minister is an education in itself.
I have travelled to every part of the United Kingdom and, in addition to the beauty of our natural world, I have found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways.
I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.
Thank you all very much.
