BORIS JOHNSON RESIGNS AS BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned today.

 “I'm sad to give up the best job in the world, but them's the breaks,” Mr Johnson said in an address outside his office at No. 10 Downing Street at just after midday on Thursday.

"Being prime minister is an education in itself - I've travelled to every part of UK and I've found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways.

"Even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden," Mr Johnson said.

The highly anticipated announcement came as Mr Johnson’s government has been reeling from an avalanche of resignations this week mainly over issues related to the prime minister’s personal integrity.

Much of that is linked to his decision to appoint to a high government office of a man facing current and historical allegations of sexual abuse.

Mr Johnson has been further criticised for not only his judgement on the matter but serious charges by the opposition and members of his own party for lying about how much he knew - and when - about the allegations.

It's not the first time that Mr Joihnson has been caught up in the swirl of such controversy where his character and integrity have been cast into doubt.

The scandal had plunged Mr Johnson’s government into chaos with many of ministers and party loyalists distancing themselves from the embattled prime minister over what they said were repeated instances of Mr Johnson being less than forthcoming and clear about issues which impacted on his personal integrity and that of his government.

In the space of just two days, 60 ministers including five at cabinet level resigned from their government posts with several others withdrawing their support and calling on Mr Johnson nto quit.

Up to late Wednesday night, he was adamantly refusing to do so.

It got to the point that cabinet ministers - including those appointed by Mr Johnson just this week in place of senior ministers who had abruptly resigned their positions - had themselves called on Mr Johnson to go.

His response was to fire one of them. 

One replacement cabinet minister appointed on Tuesday, resigned on Wednesday making her the minister with the shortest tenure in British political history.

History has surrounded the current dilemma gripping the UK political establishment and Mr Johnson in particular.

In a show of defiance against the repeated calls to step down over the growing series of scandals, Mr Johnson has cited his resounding victory at the polls in the 2019 elections - largest margin since Margaret Thatcher won her first victory in 1979, and making history by formally taking the UK out of the European Union after he was elected.

"I regret to not be successful in arguments and it's painful not to see through so many ideas and projects," he said in his resignation speech.

 On the other side of the historical spectrum, Mr Johnson will be remembered for having the shortest tenure as British prime minister in modern times and the ignominious collapse of his government where focus on criticism his character flaws are being seen as overshadowing any achievement he will lay claim to.

Before his resignation announcement on Thursday, Mr Johnson was facing the prospect of being thrown out of office in a second no-confidence as early as next week. Mr Johnson had survived a no-confidence motion this past June and is the crisis around him worsened, the Conservative Party was already in the process of changing the rules which restricted such motions to one per year.

The process of selecting a new British prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party has begun.

In the interim Mr Johnson will remain as caretaker prime minister.

"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."