On 7 July 2022, Boris Johnson announced his resignation as prime minister, succumbing to a catastrophic collapse of his government. His departure marked the end of an unprecedented political crisis, which saw over 60 ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, and aides resign in just 48 hours.

The immediate trigger for the mass ministerial revolt was the government’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal. On 5 July, Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip following allegations that he had drunkenly groped two men at the Carlton Club in London. Downing Street’s initial attempts to deny the prime minister had specific knowledge of historic allegations, which were later rubbished, were regarded by many serving ministers as the “last straw”.

This latest scandal followed the rolling revelations of the ‘Partygate’ affair, which centred on a series of gatherings in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns. Johnson had survived a no-confidence vote on 6 June – but the fact that 148 of his own MPs (41 per cent) voted to remove him left him severely weakened.

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The government’s collapse began on the evening of 5 July with the resignations of two of his most senior cabinet ministers: first Sajid Javid stepped down as health secretary, then Rishi Sunak resigned as chancellor. An all-consuming torrent of departures followed, accompanied by letters lambasting Johnson’s character, judgement and conduct.

In his resignation missive, Sunak stated simply: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.

“It has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different. I am sad to be leaving government but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this.”

In the 24 hours that followed Sunak and Javid’s resignations, 36 MPs stepped down from their roles in government.

Johnson initially resisted calls to resign. He conducted a cabinet reshuffle that saw Nadhim Zahawi replace Sunak as chancellor, and Steve Barclay appointed health secretary.

When he returned to the House of Commons on 6 July to face prime minister’s questions, the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, referred to Johnson as a “pathetic spectacle”.

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Starmer mocked those who remained in his cabinet, stating: “As for those who are left – only in office because no one else is prepared to debase themselves any longer. The charge of the lightweight brigade.”

Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP, asked Johnson whether he thought “there are any circumstances in which he should resign?”

Johnson responded that “the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when he’s been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

Following PMQs, Sajid Javid rose to deliver a scathing personal statement. With Johnson sitting on the government frontbench, he declared that “enough is enough”.

Javid declared: “I also believe a team is as good as its team captain, and that a captain is as good as his or her team. So loyalty must go both ways. The events of recent months have made it increasingly difficult to be in that team.”

The intervention drew comparisons to Geoffrey Howe’s 1990 famous post-resignation statement, which precipitated the collapse of the Thatcher government.

https://x.com/BBCPolitics/status/1544652561315250177

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Johnson then attended a scheduled hearing of the liaison committee of senior MPs. There, he was confronted with the news that a delegation of ministers, including Zahawi, the newly appointed chancellor, and transport secretary Grant Shapps, had gathered in Downing Street to convince him to resign.

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With the chaos still escalating, Michelle Donelan, who had been appointed as education secretary in the recent reshuffle, stepped down. Her tenure lasted just two days. Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, was sacked for “disloyalty”. Suella Braverman, the serving attorney general, announced her candidacy for a post-Johnson leadership election. And Zahawi said the situation was “not sustainable and will only get worse” in a public statement.

On 12:30 on 7 July, Johnson delivered a defiant resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street, blaming the “herd instinct” at Westminster for his removal.

He stated, ruefully: “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.”

Johnson, who had secured an 80-seat majority only three years previously, concluded: “Them’s the breaks”.

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Starmer said it was “good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned”, but added: “It should have happened long ago.”

The prime minister subsequently conducted a further cabinet reshuffle to fill the gaps in his interim/caretaker government. Greg Clark and Robert Buckland, longstanding Johnson critics, were appointed as levelling up secretary and secretary of state for Wales respectively.

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Johnson’s resignation as Tory leader triggered a leadership race, which was contested by a series of senior party figures. Sunak, Javid, Braverman, Shapps and Zahawi were among those who stood as candidates.

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, ultimately defeated Sunak in the final round. She had not resigned from cabinet in July 2022, but later issued a statement calling Johnson’s departure “the right decision” and for “calmness and unity”.

Truss’ disastrous premiership was quickly followed by a second leadership contest. Johnson initially expressed interest in standing as a candidate, but proved unable to secure the necessary support.

Truss was ultimately succeeded as prime minister by Rishi Sunak on 25 October 2022.

Johnson remained in the House of Commons as a backbencher until June 2023, when he resigned following receipt of the privileges committee report into Partygate. The report found that he had lied to the commons on several occasions during his tenure as prime minister.