While it has been widely reported that Boris Johnson has resigned as the United Kingdom’s prime minister, he has instead resigned as leader of the Conservative Party. Johnson has stated he will remain in office as prime minister until a new party leader is chosen.
As the Conservative Party’s leadership process is long and involved, Johnson could conceivably remain prime minister for months. This is problematic, as 59 ministers and parliamentary secretaries have already resigned.
This raises two possibilities. Either there will be major disruption in government, with a new ministry comprised of the remnants of the Conservative Party MPs who are prepared to work with Johnson, resulting in an influx of inexperienced short-term ministers. Or we will see ministers who have previously resigned due to their lack of confidence in the prime minister returning to office to serve for months under a man they don’t trust or respect. Neither is a recipe for good government.
