UK Prime Minister resigns

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said he was sad to announce his resignation as Conservative Party leader, triggering a leadership election for a new Tory leader who will go on to become the new PM.

Johnson, 58, said he will remain in charge at 10 Downing Street until the process of electing a new leader is completed - expected by the time of the Conservative Party conference scheduled for October. "I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world," Johnson said. He blamed the "herd insitinct" of his party as he delivered his resignation speech on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street.

"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," he said.

"I have agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week and I have today appointed a Cabinet to serve as I will until a new leader is in place," he said.

The outgoing leader reiterated he had been given an "incredible mandate" at the 2019 general election, which was "the reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person". "I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019," he said.