Thursday evening UK news briefing: Boris Johnson resigns

According to those who talked to him in the early hours, Mr Johnson awoke this morning in a moment of clarity, with a marked change in how he viewed his dire political situation after a night’s rest.

By 6am, he was working on his resignation speech. Ben Riley Smith has the inside story on how Mr Johnson went from defiance to resignation in 24 hours.

Perhaps he was moved by his own thoughts from 2010, when he wrote this piece for the Telegraph after Gordon Brown lost the General Election.

Already high-profile figures smell the chance to undo his work in office.

Lord Michael Heseltine has said that “if Boris goes, Brexit goes”, as he urges the next Tory leader to renew ties with Brussels.

Wallace the favourite

Ben Wallace has emerged as the front-runner to become the next Prime Minister, according to a YouGov poll of Tory members.

The survey found that he is the favorite in head-to-head match-ups against other leadership rivals.

So far only Dominic Raab and Michael Gove have ruled themselves out of the race. Here are the potential candidates.

The Prime Minister hopes to stay on as caretaker until October but Tory MPs are plotting to replace him by the end of next week by side-stepping party members.

Although the Prime Minister has announced his resignation, a timetable is still to be agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee.

Here is your guide to how the Tories choose a new leader.

Until that time, Mr Johnson has appointed a clutch of new ministers to fill the gaping holes in his cabinet, despite having already announced his intention to step down. Here are his new ministers.

Gravity-defying rule breaker

Even now Mr Johnson’s critics insist that he is a buffoon who does not take the grandest office of state seriously.

Yet as those who would unseat him have learned, becoming Prime Minister was the culmination of his life’s work, an achievement against the odds defying all political norms.

He takes it very seriously indeed. He is certainly not about to relinquish it lightly.

Harry deQuetteville takes a look back at the turbulent career of the gravity-defying rule-breaker who proclaimed he wanted to be “world king” – as his time as prime minister comes to an end.

Take a look back at the colorful life and times of Mr Johnson in pictures.

Comment and analysis: Johnson resignation in focus

Around the world: Zelensky’s ‘sadness’ in call with PM

Boris Johnson spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky “to reiterate the United Kingdom’s steadfast support” as he quit as Tory leader. Mr Zelensky was quoted as saying: “We all welcome this news with sadness. Not only me, but also all of Ukrainian society which sympathizes with you a lot.” Yet Russian officials lined up to celebrate his downfall, with a leading tycoon casting the British leader as a “stupid clown” who had finally got his just reward for arming Ukraine against Russia. In the war, Russia has not made any territorial gains in Ukraine for the first time in 133 days, according to its own assessments, hinting at an “operational pause” for its battle-stricken forces. Watch the moment Ukraine drops home-made bomb directly into Russian tank hatch.

Evening briefing: Today’s other essential headlines

NHS to cull up to 8,000 jobs | Health chiefs have ordered a blitz on bureaucracy, with up to 40 per cent of jobs to go at central bodies. It follows revelations of an “explosion” in such jobs since the pandemic. Here are the details on the restructuring of central NHS bodies.

Tuesday interview

‘Batters? Men’s Ashes? It’s not wokery – it’s politeness’