Boris Johnson resigns: When will Boris Johnson resign, who will be the next PM - Your questions answered

When will Boris Johnson resign?

Reports this morning have suggested Boris Johnson will resign as Prime Minister today after MPs in his government and a number of backbenchers have called for him to go.

Sky News have reported Boris Johnson’s resignation speech is expected to take place “around midday”.

What has happened to Boris Johnson?

Johnson has come under intense pressure over the last week for repeatedly changing his story regarding allegations of sexual assault against former Conservative Deputy Chief-Whip, Chris Pincher.

Johnson originally said he had no idea about the allegations against Pincher before bringing him into government, however, numerous reports and accounts since have said otherwise, forcing No.10 to change their story.

This is not the first time No.10 has had to change their account of events during Johnson’s tenure, the most notable coming during the expansive Partygate scandal, where Johnson said he had no knowledge of lockdown breaking parties taking place in Downing Street, before being fined by police for actually attending one.

Who will be the next Prime Minister?

Speculation about who will be the next Prime Minister has been rife since Johnson’s government began collapsing around him with the resignation of Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, on Tuesday afternoon.

The ensuing drama of who will be the next permanent party leader has been rapidly changing and as of the time of writing, Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace is both the bookies favourite to be in No.10 next and the favourite amongst party leaders.

Bookmakers, Ladbrokes have Wallace at 5/2 to be the next Conservative leader, whilst former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has jumped into second after falling down the order after his own Partygate fine.

YouGov, the international research firm and surveyor, also has Wallace as the most popular candidate amongst Conservative Party members, with 13% saying they would like to see him replace Johnson as PM.

So far, only the Attorney General, Suella Braverman, has publicly announced she will run in the leadership race, however, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is said to be cutting her trip to Indonesia short in order to return to the UK and prepare a leadership bid.

How is the Conservative leader decided?

Once Johnson’s resignation is official, a leadership contest will ensue in order to choose his successor.

Conservative MPs who wish to stand in the leadership race will have to win over their fellow MPs in order to end up one of the final two candidates.

The final two candidates will then be put head-to-head with only Tory party members allowed to vote for who the next leader will be.

Will Boris Johnson resign?

The big news all morning has been that the Prime Minister is going to resign at some point today, however, news coming out of Downing Street recently suggests Johnson is appointing new cabinet ministers and he has been altering his resignation speech.

According to the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar, there is concern growing that Johnson may not read out the speech originally written for him.