change of leadership as Boris Johnson resigns as UK PM

They initially hailed Boris Johnson as Great Britain's answer to Trump, but aside from the weird, messy hair, Boris Johnson has proven not to share many qualities with Trump at all. I'll let you decide whether that's a good thing. The Liberty Daily writes:

The western world was shaken Thursday as Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Sky News said, “This is the weirdest cabinet reshuffle I’ve known of.”

ITV reported, “Boris Johnson and Tory ministers resigning are entitled to £420,000 of severance pay, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis confirms. Labour MP Rupa Huq asked if they ‘will be forfeiting their right to this? Because we do not reward failure.'”

PA Media reported, “Downing Street has appointed Kit Malthouse as Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office after the Prime Minister.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the nation on Thursday, Downing Street confirmed, amid reports he will resign.

It comes as more than 53 government ministers and ministerial aides quit over Johnson’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against a former deputy chief whip.

A Downing Street spokesman said Johnson “will make a statement to the country today.”

According to the BBC, citing an unnamed source from Johnson’s office, Johnson has agreed to stand down.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday morning, Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi said he, alongside other ministers, had “made clear” to Johnson in private on Wednesday that “he should leave with dignity.”

“I am heartbroken that he hasn’t listened and that he is now undermining the incredible achievements of the government at this late hour,” Zahawi’s statement read.

Zahawi said no one would forget “getting Brexit done,” keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of government, the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its support for Ukraine, but “the country deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity.”

“Prime Minister, you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, and go now,” the letter concluded.

Mark Steyn also weighed in, quoting himself from 2019:

I don't really have anything new to say about this failed prime minister because, in the third of a century since I first met him, he has been, in the turbulence of a constantly changing world, eternally unchanging.

[...]

Today Her Majesty's Government suffered its first resignation since Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister. The Minister for Universities and Science quit, and is leaving Parliament. His name is Jo Johnson. Any relation? Why, yes. He's Boris' brother. In the normal course of events, no normal person knows who the Minister for Universities is, or indeed that such a post exists, or, if aware of this grand office, what the chap who holds it does all day long: He ain't a heavy, he's his brother - that's all. But the junior Johnson, a Remainer, has walked out on the senior Johnson, a Leaver, so it's the biggest thing since Cain fired his Secretary of State for Sheep-Herding. Boris was his brother's keeper, but he couldn't keep him. So the Remainer leaves, putting a question mark over whether the Leaver can remain.

[...]

Whatever one feels about Boris Johnson (and almost any one who's had any truck with the man has, if he's honest, highly mixed views) today's election is a spectacular triumph for him. On the day Andrew Scheer, the Canadian Tory leader, announced he would be stepping down, the UK Tory leader led his party to their biggest share of the vote in half-a-century and swiped seats held by Labour since 1935 - from Blythe Valley to Bishop Auckland. Both Scheer and Johnson are unprincipled opportunists, but the latter is a fighter who knows how to return the ball and swat it down the opposition's gullet.

Fast-forwarding to now, Steyn writes:

And so he did. And then he utterly squandered an eighty-seat majority.

Well, Johnson is out—and from my admittedly unenlightened Yankee perspective, he was a flawed and largely ineffective prime minister. I can only hope his replacement will be someone better. The UK could use a break from the circus.

ADDENDUM: Wikipedia says this about Johnson:

Numerous controversies have occurred during Johnson's premiership, including the COVID-19 lockdown trip of his adviser Dominic Cummings, a dispute over a refurbishment of Downing Street, accusations of cronyism involving contracts and lobbying during the pandemic, and Johnson's actions in scandals involving Owen Paterson and Chris Pincher. Amidst a wider controversy over government social gatherings, known as "Partygate", he became the first British prime minister to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office after receiving a fixed penalty notice for breaching COVID-19 regulations.^[9] The publishing of the Sue Gray report, and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction, led to a confidence vote in his leadership among Conservative MPs in June 2022 which he narrowly survived.^[10][11] The Chris Pincher scandal in July 2022 led to the largest number of ministerial resignations in a 24-hour period, triggered by the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from the cabinet, leading to his decision to resign the party leadership and remain in office in a caretaker capacity pending a leadership election.