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As it happened: Boris Johnson resigns

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Updates from the day when Mr Johnson quit as Tory leader, but pledged to stay on as PM until his successor is elected

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Boris always drew a crowd on visits to York

Boris Johnson campaigns for Brexit in York in May 2016. Photograph: Richard McDougall

Boris Johnson has visited York on a number of occasions, always drawing a crowd and grabbing the headlines.

Here are a few of the stories we have covered involving the man who is about to quit as PM.

He came here in May 2016 on the Brexit campaign trail:

Video: Boris Johnson in York – Told off for ‘talking rubbish’ before taking on an egg-thrower

The following year the then Foreign Secretary was spinning at the University of York after the General Election debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.

In July 2019, the Boris Johnson roadshow returned to York as he took on Jeremy Hunt in the Conservative Party leadership hustings at the Barbican.

Pictures: Boris Johnson hits York – and takes on Jeremy Hunt in battle to be Prime Minister

In 2020 he didn’t come in person but sent his representatives to York after he proposed moving the House of Lords to the city:

House of Lords ‘to move to York’, under audacious Boris Johnson plan

He passed through the city via York Station with York Outer Conservative MP Julian Sturdy in November last year:

Pictures: ‘Was he looking for Eton Mess?’ Boris Johnson calls at York Station cake stall

And he’s also visited North Yorkshire. He met officers on a trip to the county’s police HQ in Northallerton in July 2020:

Boris Johnson visits North Yorkshire Police – Pictures

And he was in Selby talking all things railways in 2021:

Boris Johnson is in Selby – to defend rail plan that critics have called ‘a betrayal of the North’

York’s David Davis urges caution over replacement

File photo from2016 of Boris Johnson (left), then Foreign Secretary and now Prime Minister, and David Davis. Photograph: Gareth Fuller / PA wire

Veteran Tory MP David Davis, who was born in York, has urged fellow MPs and former Government ministers to be cautious about seeking to quickly replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister or to try block him from performing a caretaker role until a new Conservative leader is chosen.

The former Cabinet minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “My concern is not for Boris or even Boris’ views.

“My concern is to pick the most straightforward way through this change we have to do and every way we pick has got problems, but the one of waiting until you have got a new leader provides the least problems.”

No word from the Queen

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on whether the Queen has had any communication with Boris Johnson on Thursday morning, PA reports.

The Queen is at Windsor Castle and the Court Circular recorded that she held her weekly audience by telephone with Mr Johnson on Wednesday evening.

The first local reaction is in

York politicians have been reacting to the resignation of the Prime Minister.

This from City of York Council executive member for finance and major projects Nigel Ayre:

And this is former York council Conservative leader Chris Steward:

More than 50 resignations forced him to go

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau / PA wire

The resignation comes after the Prime Minister haemorrhaged support among his ministers and MPs.

More than 50 MPs have resigned from government or party roles since Tuesday night, when the mass exodus was triggered by the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from the Cabinet.

The Prime Minister had sought to defy his critics and carry on in office, despite warnings from Cabinet colleagues that this was not sustainable.

But resignations continued and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi – who was only appointed to the role on Tuesday – went public with his call for the Prime Minister to quit.

The timetable for the Tory leadership contest will be agreed between the 1922 Committee, which runs the parliamentary proceedings to whittle the candidates down to two, and Conservative headquarters.

But critics of the Prime Minister suggested he should not be allowed to remain in office until the autumn.

George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday morning, said that now Mr Johnson had “finally done the decent thing” he should “hand in the seals of office, apologise to Her Majesty, allow her to appoint a caretaker under whom ministers can serve, so the Conservative Party can choose a new leader properly”.

Latest: Boris Johnson is to resign as Prime Minister

Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photograph: Justin Tallis / PA wire

Boris Johnson is quitting as Tory leader after ministers and MPs made clear his position was untenable.

He will remain as Prime Minister until a successor is in place, expected to be by the time of the Conservative Party conference in October.

A No 10 source said Mr Johnson spoke to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee, to inform him of his decision.

“The Prime Minister has spoken to Graham Brady and agreed to stand down in time for a new leader to be in place by the conference in October,” a No 10 source said.