On Monday this week, I met with British legislators, as I
always do when I’m back in London. And as always in these past few months,
there was irritation with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had once again
sidetracked the country from the enormous challenges facing it and the rest of
the West by appointing and then failing to sack a parliamentary whip known to
have sexually harassed other men. But it’s safe to say that nobody expected the
extraordinary developments that took place over the subsequent 60-or-so hours,
culminating in Johnson’s announcement that he’s resigning.

Johnson, a man known for his habit of disregarding rules and conventions, has taken that habit all the way to the country’s highest political office. It seemed a big scandal when, in 2019, he prorogued—suspended—parliament, forcing Queen Elizabeth II to sign off on the highly controversial move. (The Supreme Court later found it to have been unlawful, and Johnson was forced to apologize to the queen.) But, his cabinet and most of his members of parliament (MPs) concluded, it was just Boris being Boris. Since then, Johnson has repeatedly broken rules and conventions, with more grumbling as the only result, because Boris was just being Boris. Not even the much-decried illegal lockdown parties in 10 Downing Street—one of which resulted in a fine for Johnson—brought him down. On June 7, 148 Conservative rebels in parliament voted against him as leader—but 211 voted in his favor. Conservative MPs of my acquaintance openly opposed Johnson or quietly grumbled over his rule-breaking: Either way, it seemed impossible to remove him.

Then, this week, an extraordinary chain of events unfolded that
has now forced Johnson to announce he’ll resign. It began with the news that
Chris Pincher, the government’s deputy chief whip, who has also served as a
junior foreign minister, had groped two men while drunk at party for politicos.
Another Conservative MP had reported Pincher to Johnson—who failed to dismiss
him as whip until forced to do so several days later. Johnson then claimed not
to have known of previous substantiated sexual harassment claims against
Pincher, which caused the Foreign Office’s former top civil servant to publicly
contract the prime minister. Johnson had indeed been told—but by lying about
it, he’s also forced his own ministers to lie, as they had repeated his defense
in countless media interviews.

By Tuesday night, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid had had enough. Both resigned, Sunak saying that government must be conducted “properly, competently and seriously,” and Javid explaining that “Conservatives at their best are seen as hard-headed decision-makers, guided by strong values. We may not have always been popular, but we have been competent in acting in the national interest. Sadly, in the current circumstances, the public are concluding that we are now neither. . . . I regret to say . . . that it is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership—and you have therefore lost my confidence too.”

Even that evening, a Conservative insider texted me to say that
these would probably be the last resignations. 24 hours later, several dozen
junior ministers and parliamentarians with ministry duties had resigned.
Michael Gove, the government’s key strategic thinker and a respected cabinet
minister, had been sacked after demanding that Johnson resign. A whole
delegation of cabinet ministers, too, had demanded that Johnson resign. The prime
minister, though, dug in his heels.

But this is Britain, not America. By this morning, facing dissipating support in parliament and the inability to form a functioning government (as ministers have to be drawn from parliament), Johnson announced he would stand down. He wants to stay on until the autumn, though, when a new Conservative leader can be elected. A lot can happen in a few short months—or not happen. Almost paradoxically, the war in Ukraine seemed to have saved Boris Johnson in February, having arrived during his lockdown-party crisis. And Johnson, whatever his motivations, made the UK an early and steadfast leader in supporting Ukraine. But President Zelenskyy need not worry about losing this aid: its real architect, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, remains in post, and the military aid has enormous parliamentary support. The EU, meanwhile, is undoubtedly hoping the UK will get a leader with whom it can negotiate over Northern Ireland and other tricky issues without having to worry that the British leader will disregard it.

As for the UK, with an ousted leader in charge, even as the
lamest of ducks, the country will struggle mightily to address some of its most
urgent challenges—skyrocketing energy prices, rising food prices, Russian
aggression, Brexit complications and much else besides. But there’s a more
practical reason Johnson’s interim plan may not come to pass: He won’t find
enough Conservative legislators to make even his interim government function
properly.

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