Boris Johnson has finally resigned

Here are five words we weren't sure we would ever get to write: Boris Johnson has finally resigned.

After days of chaos and some 54 resignations from members of his government, the PM had a moment of clarity, realised his position was untenable without the support of his party so started packing his bags.

Speaking outside No 10, he said it was clear the parliamentary party wanted a new leader but that he would stay in place until a new leader was appointed.

He also used the opportunity to praise himself for Brexit, vaccines, and his handling of the war in Ukraine and seemed a bit bitter with the Tory party for forcing him out - so it was not the most humble resignation.

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He said: "The reason I have fought so hard over 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."

He continued: "I'm immensely proud of the achievements of this government in getting Brexit done, to settling our relations with the Continent... reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in Parliament.

"Getting this country through the pandemic, getting the fastest vaccine roll-out 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."

After chuntering on the above, he 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."

"In the last few days I have tried to convince my colleagues it would be eccentric to change leader when we are delivering so much, when we have such a vast mandate and when we're only a couple of points behind in the polls," he said.

"Our future together is golden," he added.

How did we get here? It has been a long old road, let's be honest. He faced scandal after scandal from the Owen Paterson sleaze issues last November, to months of Partygate allegations culminating in a damning report from the world's moral authority, Sue Gray, to name just a couple.

He (narrowly) won a no confidence vote last month as his MPs gave him another chance but then lost two byelections and he really fluffed it with his handling of the Chris Pincher scandal by - as he did with previous scandals - changing his story a fair few times and making everything ten times worse.

So when top ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak resigned, the floodgates opened, and more and more ministers resigned in the couple of days that followed. Resignations beget resignations.

Some low points in a very low couple of days - Nadhim Zahawi cheerily accepted the chancellor role after Sunak resigned then told Johnson he should go. Michelle Donelan cheerily accepted the role of education minister to plug the hole Zahawi left, then resigned less than 48 hours after realising she was backing the wrong horse.

So, Boris Johnson has finally resigned. See ya!

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