The latest on Boris Johnson's resignation

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his resignation as Conservative party leader following a wave of government resignations.

"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," he said on Thursday.

"I'd agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week."

“And I’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.”

"So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voted Conservative, for the first time. Thank you for that incredible mandate. The biggest Conservative majority, since 1987," he added.

As recently as last night Johnson said he intended to stay and fight. But the avalanche of resignations from government ministers continued through to Thursday, with letter after letter criticizing the scandal-hit leader and imploring Johnson to step down.

Johnson's departure marks a remarkable downfall for a Prime Minister who was once seen as having political superpowers, with an appeal that transcended traditional party lines. He won a landslide victory in December 2019 on the promise of delivering a Brexit deal and leading the UK to a bright future outside the European Union. But his premiership unraveled in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The most immediate cause of his demise was the fallout from Johnson's botched handling of a scandal surrounding a government official who is alleged to have groped two people at a dinner last week.

But Johnson has faced numerous other scandals that have hit his standing in the polls -- despite his 80-seat landslide general election victory less than three years ago. These include accusations of using donor money inappropriately to pay for a refurbishment of his Downing Street home and ordering MPs to vote in such a way that would protect a colleague who had breached lobbying rules.

The podium has now been set up outside Downing Street, where UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is about to make a statement in which he is expected to resign as the leader of the ruling Conservative party.

He may stay on as caretaker Prime Minister until a new successor is picked by his party.

Johnson's premiership has been marred by a series of scandals since his landslide victory in 2019. His latest woes erupted last Thursday over former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher, who resigned amid allegations he groped two guests at a private dinner the night before.

What landed Johnson in deeper trouble were the contortions that Downing Street press officers went into trying to explain why Pincher was ever in government in the first place, amid a wave of revelations of his previous conduct. 

This week more than 50 members of his government quit, with letter after letter denouncing Johnson and asking him to stand down.

Opposition Labour party leader Keir Starmer told Sky News that his party will bring forward a vote of confidence in Boris Johnson if the Conservatives allow him to "cling on" to power.

Johnson is expected to remain as a caretaker prime minister until a new Conservative leader is picked.

UK stocks are higher in response to news that Boris Johnson will resign. The FTSE 100 was trading up just over 1% in the opening hours of trade. The British pound had also gained slightly, trading 0.75% higher at 1.20 against the dollar, recovering slightly from two-year lows hit earlier this week.

The British economy still faces serious challenges as it tackles high inflation, slowing growth and a cost of living crisis. 

Walid Koudmani, chief market analyst at broker XTB, wrote in a note to clients: "Make no mistake however, the [pound] remains severely weak due to the dire state of the UK economy which is underperforming its peers, [and] likely to enter into a recession while the Bank of England refuses to hike interest rates aggressively to deal with the escalating inflation."

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is expected to resign as Conservative Party leader today, has been appointing new cabinet ministers.

Greg Clark was appointed as the new Levelling Up Secretary, replacing Michael Gove who was fired by Johnson on Wednesday, according to Downing Street's Twitter account. James Cleverly was appointed as Secretary of State for Education, it added.

Johnson could remain as a caretaker Prime Minister until a new leader is picked, but critics worry that he may attempt to cling onto office. Many in his party want him to leave today and hand the reins over to another caretaker.

"I know that guy and I'm telling you -- he doesn't think it's over, he's thinking 'there's a war, weird shit happens in a war, play for time play for time, I can still get out of this, I got a mandate, members love me, get to September,'" Johnson's former senior advisor Dominic Cummings said on Twitter.

The British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is cutting short her trip to a G20 meeting in Indonesia to return to London, Britain's PA news agency reported on Thursday.

Truss is widely seen as one of the potential contenders for the leader of the Conservative Party.

The British Minister for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment Rebecca Pow has announced her resignation from her role in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government. 

In her letter posted on Twitter on Thursday, Pow said: “The Party and the good of the country has to come first and I fear under your leadership it has veered too far off course.” 

The British Trade Envoy to ASEAN Economic Community, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia Richard Graham also announced his resignation on Thursday via Twitter. 

“In order therefore to give myself the freedom to say what I feel with integrity, without compromising the loyalty I owe you as your Trade Envoy, I am therefore, with great regret resigning with immediate effect,” Graham said in his letter to the Prime Minister.

UK Conservative Member of Parliament Steve Baker told CNN on Thursday that it is the "right decision" for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to step down as the Conservative Party leader. 

When asked by CNN who should be the caretaker prime minister, Baker said, “It should be Dominic Raab, since he’s the deputy prime minister.”

“I am absolutely determined that we should not prolong this crisis. If it’s agreed within government that Boris Johnson should continue as caretaker, then that’s fine with me," Baker told CNN. "Because we need to just end the crisis, get into a leadership contest, and start fresh in September.” 

Earlier on Thursday in an interview with the BBC, Baker said he was "seriously thinking" about standing in the contest for leader of the Conservative Party. 

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said there will be a "widespread sense of relief" as Prime Minister Boris Johnson's leadership comes to an end following the recent days of "chaos."

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Sturgeon said: "There will be a widespread sense of relief that the chaos of the last few days (indeed months) will come to an end, though notion of Boris Johnson staying on as PM until autumn seems far from ideal, and surely not sustainable?"

Johnson is set to resign as Conservative Party leader on Thursday, but while he will announce his resignation, it is possible that he will remain in office until October, when the Conservative party meets for its annual conference.

"Boris Johnson was always manifestly unfit to be PM and the Tories should never have elected him leader or sustained him in office for as long as they have. But the problems run much deeper than one individual. The Westminster system is broken," Sturgeon said. 

Sturgeon also said that for Scotland, "the democratic deficit inherent in Westminster government doesn’t get fixed with a change of PM," adding that none of the Conservative Party politicians vying for leadership "would ever be elected in Scotland." 

"Lastly, my differences with Boris Johnson are many and profound. But leadership is difficult and brings with it many stresses and strains, and so on a personal level I wish him and his family well," she added.