Boris Johnson is to officially stand down as the leader of the Conservative party following an string of resignations within his own Government in the last 48 hours.
The news comes after mounting pressure was placed on Johnson following the resignation of over 50 MPs within the Conservative party, including former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Although this will seemingly spell the end of Johnson's reign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, it has been suggested that he will remain in the position until a 'suitable' successor is found.
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Johnson's position has been under extreme threat since the lockdown partygate scandal regarding a host of parties that took place in Downing Street during the height of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, July 6, the Prime Minister vowed to make it through the incredibly tough situation that he and his party were faced with, but it seems the drastic loss of his Tory cabinet members has now spelt the end.
Johnson could well remain as leader of the party until October, as a leadership contest will take place during the summer to elect a new Prime Minister.
Senior members of Johnson's cabinet, including newly-appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi have called for his resignation in recent days. Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has also expressed his disappointment and lack of faith in Johnson.
Scotland's First Minister took to Twitter after the announcement was made, saying that allowing Johnson to remain in office until October doesn't seem suitable.
She tweeted: "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?
"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.
"For Scotland, the democratic deficit inherent in Westminster government doesn’t get fixed with a change of PM. None of the alternative Tory PMs would ever be elected in Scotland. And in policy terms, it is hard to see what real difference hard Brexit supporting Labour offers.
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