Main content

"Them's the breaks" - Boris Johnson's resignation

The insights of the 成人论坛's Nick Robinson as Boris Johnson delivered his resignation speech in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson's resignation brings to an end one of the most extraordinary and turbulent premierships. Two and a half years ago, he was master of all he surveyed politically - having just won a stonking majority at the General Election. But since then, the drip, drip, drip of scandal, of political miscalculation and what some would argue are mistruths - has led to Mr Johnson being ousted by his own party,

At the start of the day, the Prime Minister was planning to cling on to power - but the steady stream of resignations meant that he was forced out. And his resignation speech left the impression that he had felt hard done by. He wanted history to know his resignation was the fault of colleagues and not himself. The "herd", as he called it, had moved quickly, despite winning the biggest majority at the 2019 general election since 1987 and attracting new voters to his party.

Nick Robinson - a presenter of Radio 4's Today Programme and a former 成人论坛 Political Editor - has known Boris Johnson since they were at university together. Since then, he's followed closely his career. For 5 Minutes On - he shares his insights into what the PM said. And what he meant.

Credit image - Dan Kitwood via Getty Images

Release date:

Available now

7 minutes