by Boris Johnson has resigned as prime minister, and next week a competition for the leadership of the Tory Party will begin to replace him.
In a speech outside 10 Downing Street on Thursday afternoon, Johnson said it had been an “immense privilege” to serve the country.
He said he wanted to stay at work and lamented not being able to “see through so many ideas and projects.”
In a parting shot to the MPs who moved against him, Johnson lamented Westminster’s “herd instinct” as he apparently refused to take any responsibility for his own failings by choosing not to mention any of the scandals he ultimately they knocked it down.
His wife Carrie was among those watching his speech outside the famous black door of number 10 as the world’s media gathered to hear what he had to say.
She was joined by a number of loyal Downing Street aides, staff and MPs, some of whom supported the Prime Minister to the bitter end.
Nadine Dorries, the ultra-loyalist culture secretary, and Ben Elliott, the chairman of the Tory Party, could be seen chatting with Mrs Johnson as the crowd waited for Mr Johnson to appear.
Conor Burns, the minister for Northern Ireland and Brendan Clarke-Smith, the red wall MP for Bassetlaw were seen at the estate.
Hardline Brexiteer Peter Bone was also there to see Johnson say goodbye to the British public.
Following Johnson’s resignation, the UK will have its fourth prime minister in just over six years – the fastest turnover of new occupants of 10 Downing Street in nearly a century.
Since the summer of 2016, the country has seen the final weeks of David Cameron’s prime ministerial role, the beginning and end of Theresa May’s tenure as prime minister, and now the entirety of Boris Johnson’s term in the top job. , with another prime minister due to take office before the fall.
There was an equally rapid turnover in the 1970s, but of the four prime ministers in office during the 1974-79 period (Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher), Wilson had already served as prime minister for much of the 1960s.
To find a comparable turnover of new prime ministers, it is necessary to go back almost 100 years.
The period between the summer of 1922 and the end of 1924 saw four different people serve as Prime Minister, all doing the job for the first time.
It started with David Lloyd George (Liberal), who was nearing the end of a long spell as Prime Minister, followed by Andrew Bonar Law (Conservative), who resigned after only a few months due to illness. Then came Stanley Baldwin (Conservative), who lasted only a few months before failing to win a majority in the general election, and finally Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), who led a short-lived minority government.
The turnover of prime ministers in the UK has accelerated in recent decades.
In the 15 years since the summer of 2007, Downing Street will have played host to five different PMs: Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and his successor.
But in the 28 years between 1979 and 2007, only three people held the top job: Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair.
