| Dozens of ministers and aides deserted the Prime Minister. On Thursday, he announced his plan to resign.  Photograph by Dan Kitwood / Getty Boris Johnson announced his resignation today just after 12:30 P.M. U.K. time, stating, “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.” The staff writer Sam Knight has been reporting from London on the government’s implosion: “Since the ‘Partygate’ scandal broke, in December—during which Johnson, being Johnson, first denied and then half-admitted and then apologized for breaking COVID rules during lockdowns—each week has seemed to bring another scandal for his government.” Resignation letters from ministers and aides have been piling up since Tuesday night. “We cannot continue like this,” one minister wrote, and another, posting on Instagram, declared, “I can no longer pirouette around our fractured values.” In the speech announcing his departure, Johnson indicated that he will stay on as Prime Minister until a new leader of the Conservative Party is elected. “I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world,” he said. “But them’s the breaks.” —Jessie Li, newsletter editor Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
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