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Reports: British PM Johnson to Resign

by VOA News

   Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will resign as Conservative party
   leader but stay on as prime minister until a new leader is in place.

   The announcement Thursday came after several of his Cabinet ministers
   and more than 40 junior ministers and ministerial aides resigned their
   posts amid calls for Johnson to step down.

   As late as Wednesday Johnson had been defiant, vowing to stay in office
   after his government faced several ethics scandals.

   Johnson faced a round of tough questions from angry and skeptical
   lawmakers during the traditional prime minister's question and answer
   session in Parliament Wednesday, a day after Finance Minister Rishi
   Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid unexpectedly quit within minutes
   of each other.

   The two men resigned after Johnson apologized for appointing
   conservative lawmaker Chris Pincher to a key party post despite
   allegations Pincher groped two men at a private club in London while
   intoxicated.

   Officials at No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official
   residence, initially said Johnson did not know about the allegations
   surrounding Pincher, but later acknowledged he had been told about
   previous accusations against the lawmaker in 2019.

   In his resignation letter, Sunak wrote that the British public "rightly
   expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.
   I believe these standards are worth fighting for, and that is why I am
   resigning."

   Johnson immediately replaced Sunak and Javid with other members from
   his Cabinet. But another Cabinet official, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart
   added his resignation late Wednesday, saying it was past the point
   where it is possible to "turn the ship around."

   The latest scandal comes just weeks after Johnson survived a
   no-confidence vote within his Conservative Party after he received a
   police fine for violating his own COVID-19 lockdown rules by holding
   parties at 10 Downing Street.

   Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence
   France-Presse and Reuters.