Listen to the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 6:35
(CNN) --
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party following mounting pressure from lawmakers in his own party to step down.
In the British political system, in between elections only members of the Conservative Party in Parliament have the power to remove a sitting Conservative Prime Minister.
Why did Boris Johnson's government go into crisis?
What comes next?
So what happens to the UK government when a prime minister resigns, and how is a new leader chosen?
Does Johnson's resignation trigger a general election?
No. It initiates the internal process of the Conservative Party to elect a new leader of the party.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on Wednesday to address Parliament for the weekly Prime Minister's Questions session.
UK Prime Ministers are not directly elected by the people;
Johnson is prime minister because he is the head of the largest party in the House of Commons.
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The Conservatives will remain the largest party even if Johnson resigns, so the new party boss will become the new UK Prime Minister.
How is the new leader of the Conservative Party chosen?
Candidates for the position need the support of at least eight legislators.
If there are more than two candidates, Conservative Party lawmakers hold round after round of voting to reduce the number of candidates for the party leader position to two.
Conservative Party members from across the country then vote — by mail — between the two finalists.
The winner becomes the leader of the party and, consequently, according to the last popular vote, the prime minister.
Who is the prime minister while all this is going on?
Johnson indicated in his resignation speech that he intends to remain in office until a successor is chosen.
That is what would happen under normal circumstances: a prime minister who has resigned as party leader remains in office as caretaker prime minister until there is a new party leader.
But it is not clear that the Conservative Party will accept that in Johnson's case.
An alternative would be for Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab to take over.
There is no precedent for that, but there is also no precedent for more than 50 government officials to resign in two days to force out a prime minister.
The scandals that have shaken the mandate of Boris Johnson 1:28
When Johnson finally leaves Downing Street, what will happen?
He will present his resignation to the queen, in person.
The Royal Palace will officially announce that Queen Elizabeth II has accepted Johnson's resignation, and will say who she has invited to replace him as prime minister.
That person will then go to meet the queen to accept the invitation.
This is a formality.
Does the new prime minister have to call a general election?
No. The UK is not due to hold another general election until December 2024.
The new prime minister can ask Parliament to vote for early elections, but is not required to do so.
How did we get here?
The immediate cause of the crisis that led to Johnson's resignation is the resignation last Thursday of deputy chief of staff Chris Pincher, amid allegations that he had groped two guests at a private dinner the night before.
What put Johnson in a bigger bind was the shenanigans of Downing Street press officers in trying to explain why Pincher was ever in government in the first place.
Chris Pincher resigned from the government on June 30 following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Initially, when new reports of past misconduct by Pincher emerged in light of his resignation, Downing Street denied that the prime minister had any knowledge of the allegations, which came while Pincher was foreign secretary.
When it became clear that this was not sustainable, Johnson's team said that they knew about the past allegations, but that they had been "settled".
When it emerged that one of the previously unreported allegations against Pincher had been confirmed, Johnson's spokesman explained that "resolved" could mean that it had been confirmed.
Then, on Tuesday morning, Simon McDonald, a former senior Foreign Office official, revealed that Johnson had been briefed in person on the outcome of an investigation into Pincher's conduct, prompting a wave of resignations over the years. day length.
With information from Jack Guy and Luke McGee.
Boris Johnson
