UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson quits after dozens of ministers resign over his conduct

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to resign after several dozen ministers quit his government.
• A senior government source told Insider on Thursday that Johnson had agreed to go.

Boris Johnson agreed to stand down as Prime Minister on Thursday after the mass resignation of his ministers in the wake of a string of scandals.

Johnson resigned after at least several dozen Tory MPs quit the government, including former chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid.

A senior government source told Insider that Johnson had agreed to go. A few hours later, he made a speech in front of 10 Downing Street confirming his departure.

The source said Johnson would quit as leader of the Conservative Party, but "remains Prime Minister until [a] new leader is in place in time for party conference," an annual event scheduled this year for October 2-5.

The source said the plan had been "agreed with Graham Brady", the chair of the backbench 1922 committee which oversees the process for electing Conservative Party leaders.

The source gave the information on condition of anonymity, a convention in UK political reporting.

Johnson in his speech also said he would stay in post until a successor was found, but did not give a precise timeline.

Before Johnson agreed to quit ministers, including the newly promoted ministers Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Education Secretary Michelle Donelan, as well as longer-standing ministers Simon Hart and Brandon Lewis, gathered to tell Johnson he had to go.

Nadhim Zahawi, who was brought in to replace Rishi Sunak late on Tuesday night, published a letter Thursday morning telling Johnson he must go.

Using Treasury-headed paper, the Cabinet minister confirmed he was one of several senior Tories who told Johnson the time had come for him to quit.

"I am heartbroken that he hasn't listened," Zahawi added. "Prime Minister, you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, and go now."

His intervention comes after another deluge of ministerial resignations brought the total to leave Johnson's government to more than 50.

Michelle Donelan later resigned after 36 hours as Education Secretary. However, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he would remain in post, citing the safety of the UK.

The ministers quit following the latest scandal around Johnson's premiership — allegations that Chris Pincher, his deputy chief whip, had drunkenly groped two men in a private members' club.

In the aftermath of Pincher's resignation, Johnson claimed not to have known about similar allegations when he gave him the job. That soon fell apart in another public example of him not telling the truth.

Those who quit repeatedly cited a loss of trust in the government, and in Johnson personally, as their reason for going.

In April, Johnson became the first sitting prime minister to be found to have broken the law after he received a fine from the Metropolitan Police for attending an illegal gathering in Downing Street during a coronavirus lockdown, despite telling Parliament that he and others had followed the rules.

The gathering, to mark his birthday, was one of a number of lockdown-breaking events in the "Partygate" scandal examined by senior civil servant Sue Gray. In a report, Gray criticised "failures of leadership and judgement in No 10 and the Cabinet Office" amid details of vomiting, fighting, and a child's swing being broken in parties at the heart of government.

On June 6, he survived a vote of no confidence which saw 41% of his own MPs vote to remove him.

Johnson was also criticized for moving to refurbish his official apartment with money from a Conservative Party donor.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.