Touching moment Boris is comforted by wife Carrie & their children after delivering resignation speech at Downing St
IN a bitter-sweet moment, Boris Johnson hugs and kisses his family in No 10 yesterday after resigning as Prime Minister.
Emotional Boris said he was quitting the “best job in the world” after being driven out by the Tory “herd”.
Britain will have a new Prime Minister by the autumn after a mutiny ousted BoJo following months of “relentless sledging”.
Two days of blood-letting, quitting and sackings ended on the steps of No10 with the PM declaring “them’s the breaks”.
Addressing a Downing Street packed with supporters, including wife Carrie and baby Romy, he thanked the millions who voted for him in a historic mandate which allowed him to get Brexit done.
Toddler son Wilfred, two, was standing behind the famous black door of No 10 to hug his drained dad as soon as his goodbye speech was over.
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The PM, 58, embraced and kissed his children and Carrie, 34, as No 10 staff applauded.
In the speech, Mr Johnson had finally accepted the reality of the situation, saying: “In Westminster the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.
“And, my friends, in politics no one is remotely indispensable.”
But pals say the PM is “appalled by the level of treachery” from the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak who did not even call Mr Johnson to tell him he was resigning on Tuesday, sparking the coup by announcing it on Twitter.
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One friend said: “Boris is disappointed as he knew he could have beaten Keir Starmer in an election but was stabbed by an opportunist who had been plotting for weeks.”
Two years and 348 days after he first seized the keys to Downing Street in 2019, the vanquished Premier phoned the Queen yesterday morning to tell her his time was up.
Boris will leave No 10 when a new Tory leader is chosen in the coming weeks — but his enemies swore to force him out sooner.
After 55 resignations from his government, the PM finally offered up his own after being told it was time to go by Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi who had been appointed just a day earlier.
Speaking at 12.30pm on the No 10 steps, Boris said he was “immensely proud of the achievements of this government” — including Brexit, the vaccine rollout and support for Ukraine.
But he admitted his heartbreak at being effectively sacked by his own party just two-and-a-half years after winning an 80-seat majority.
He confessed: “I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.
“In the last few days I have tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we are delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate.”
I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.
Boris Johnson
He also pointed out that the Tories are “actually only a handful of points behind in the polls” even “after quite a few months of pretty unrelenting sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally”.
But Mr Johnson accepted he had not “been successful in those arguments and of course it is painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself”.
The Conservatives have now been plunged into their third leadership contest in just six years — with more than a dozen MPs considering a tilt for the top job.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Mr Sunak are the early favourites to be the next Prime Minister as the starting gun was fired on weeks of drama.
Britain is now braced for the leadership contest as MPs jockey for the crown.
Boris assassins Mr Sunak and Sajid Javid are among those plotting bids for the job.
But previous contenders Dominic Raab, Michael Gove and Matt Hancock ruled themselves out of the race.
Senior Tory MPs will meet on Monday to decide the length of the leadership contest, with Boris vowing to stay on until a new leader has been chosen.
But some MPs baulked at him sticking around for “months”.
They vowed to expedite the contest to turf Mr Johnson out as soon as possible with Deputy Prime Minister Raab stepping in as caretaker.
Former minister Nick Gibb hit out yesterday, saying: “As well as resigning as party leader the PM must resign his office.
“After losing so many ministers, he has lost the trust and authority required to continue.
RACE TO ELECT NEW LEADER
“We need an acting PM who is not a candidate for leader to stabilise the government while a new leader is elected.”
Meanwhile, former PM Sir John Major — who loathes Mr Johnson — wrote to the 1922 Committee to suggest BoJo be booted out of office straight away.
In a bid to calm nerves Mr Johnson pulled together loyalists and Remainers yesterday to fill the holes in his team.
At a meeting of his senior ministers yesterday, he sought to reassure them he will not look to introduce new policies and that any major decisions on tax and spending will be purely for the next Prime Minister.
However, George Freeman, one of the last ministers to resign before Mr Johnson announced he was stepping down, warned of “chaos” if Boris is allowed to remain in office over the summer.
He declared: “Unfortunately it’s very difficult to see how Boris Johnson, given the character that he is, is going to be able to govern for three months in quiet humility and contrition.”
Labour will next week demand a Commons vote to try to force the “squatter” PM to go immediately.
The Sun can reveal how a delighted Sir Keir Starmer gloated to his aides yesterday “this is a great day for us”, as news of the PM’s resignation emerged.
Labour sources say their internal polling shows no Tory contender doing as well in the vital Red Wall seats as BoJo.
After he told the country he was quitting, Mr Johnson made an emotional call to Ukrainian President Zelensky.
During the call he told him: “You’re a hero Volodymyr. Everybody in the UK loves you.”
You’re a hero Boris
Ukrainian President Zelensky
Mr Zelensky replied: “You’re a hero Boris. Everyone in Ukraine loves you.” After the call Mr Zelensky said: “We all heard this news with sadness. Not only me, but also the entire Ukrainian society, which is very sympathetic to you.
“My entire office and all Ukrainians are grateful to you.
“We have no doubt that Great Britain’s support will be preserved, but your personal leadership and charisma made it special.”
But the Kremlin greeted the news of Mr Johnson’s demise with joy.
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President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “He doesn’t like us. We don’t like him either.”
And oligarch Oleg Deripaska said it was an “inglorious end” for a “stupid clown” whose conscience would be plagued by “tens of thousands of lives in this senseless conflict in Ukraine”.
