Boris Johnson says he is ‘immensely proud’ in resignation speech

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday, marking the end of his time at the top of UK politics.

After resisting calls to step down for nearly two days, Johnson admitted to the world’s media gathered outside No. 10 Downing Street in London that “it is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader and a new prime minister.”

“The process of that should begin now. the timetable should be announced next week,” added Johnson, who went on to thank British voters who propelled the Conservatives to their largest House of Commons majority for nearly four decades in the 2019 general election — a result Johnson had repeatedly cited as he sought to cling to power.

Johnson said that he had fought to persuade his colleagues over the past few days that it would be ill-advised to “change governments when we are delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate and when we are actually only a handful of points behind in the polls.”