Boris Johnson has announced he will quit as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after months of scandal battered his premiership.
It comes after days of chaos that saw a large number of minister resign and call for his head over his handling of the Chris Pincher crisis.
He will remain as Prime Minister until a successor is in place, expected to be by the time of the Conservative Party conference in October.
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He said it was "clearly the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader" as he announced his resignation.
Johnson added it is "clearly now the will" of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader.
Announcing his resignation in Downing Street, he said: "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.
"And I've 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."
The resignation comes after the Prime Minister haemorrhaged support among his ministers and MPs.
More than 50 MPs have resigned from government or party roles since Tuesday night, when the mass exodus was triggered by the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from the Cabinet.
The Prime Minister had sought to defy his critics and carry on in office, despite warnings from Cabinet colleagues that this was not sustainable.
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