Boris Johnson has resigned as leader of the Conservative Party amid growing pressure from ministers.
A whole host of senior Tories tendered their resignations in the last 24 hours, with many citing the lack of confidence they have in the PM as the reason for their decision.
Law states that the UK must have a Prime Minister at all times, with Mr Johnson usually expected to stay in office until a new leader is elected.
That is the course of action he has chosen to take, with the PM confirming he will remain in post until the next leader is appointed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Justin Tallis
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab
Joe Giddens
Mr Johnson's resignation has automatically triggered a leadership election within the Tory Party.
The winner will then become the new Prime Minister without the need for a general election.
The ballot to find a new leader is split into two stages. In the first stage Conservative MPs put their own names forward.
MPs then vote in a series of rounds to whittle down the candidates.
In the first two rounds, the candidates who don’t meet a certain threshold of votes are eliminated.
For all subsequent ballots, the candidate who comes last is eliminated until there are only two ministers remaining, before a final vote takes place.
Mr Johnson's resignation comes just hours after the PM vowed to “keep going” after a probe from a Tory backbencher during PMQs.
Tim Loughton asked Mr Johnson in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions if there were “any circumstances” in which he should resign.
The Prime Minister replied: “Clearly if there were circumstances in which I felt it was impossible for the Government to go on and discharge the mandate that we have been given or if I felt, for instance, that we were being frustrated in our desire to support the Ukrainian people… then I would.
“But frankly the job of a Prime Minister in difficult circumstances when he has been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going and that’s what I’m going to do.”
