UK PM Boris Johnson resigns as party leader
The UK's prime minister Boris Johnson has announced his intention to resign as party leader, though he will aim to remain in charge of the country for a little longer until his Conservatives find a successor.
Since coming into office in July 2019, Johnson has presided over the UK's launch of a selection process for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, the adoption of a new hydrogen strategy, and funding support to several green and blue hydrogen projects. His government also launched a new energy security strategy in April, and pledged to hold a new offshore oil and gas licensing round later this year. But it has also been blamed by the industry for introducing a windfall tax on producers.
The final blow for the PM came with a sexual misconduct scandal involving his deputy chief whip Chris Pincher. His reputation was already greatly dented by the Partygate scandal, and the Pincher affair prompted some 50 of his ministerial staff to resign. A leadership contest will now begin to identify the next Tory leader, based on votes by the party's 100,000 or so members. Some of Johnson's political opponents, notably the SNP and Labour, want a caretaker prime minister installed immediately while the leadership contest is taking place.
Making his resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street on July 7, Johnson said: "As we've seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful. And when the herd moves, it moves. In politics no one is indispensable.
"Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader committed to taking this country through tough times. Changing and improving the way we do things - cutting burdens on businesses and families, and, yes, cutting taxes, because that is the way of generating the growth and income we need to pay for great public services.”