What is an interim Prime Minister? Could Boris Johnson stay until the fall?

Boris Johnson is stepping down as prime minister, but is expected to remain in place in an interim role until a new leader is announced in the fall.

The prime minister is on the about to announce his resignation following an onslaught of resignations protesting his leadership.

More than 50 MPs have resigned from their government or party positions since Tuesday night after it emerged that Mr Johnson promoted Tory MP Chris Pincher despite knowing of the allegations of misconduct against him.

Mr. Johnson is expected to remain prime minister until a successor is named, which is expected to be done by the time of the Conservative Party conference in October.

The Conservative leadership race timetable will be agreed between the 1922 Committee, which is directing parliamentary proceedings to reduce the number of candidates to two, and the Conservative seat.

Mr. Johnson would remain as caretaker prime minister - someone who temporarily leads the government until a new leader is appointed.

However, his critics have suggested he should not be allowed to remain in office until the fall and that someone else should take on the caretaker role.

George Freeman, who resigned as science minister on Thursday morning, said said now Mr Johnson had 'finally done the decent thing' that he should 'hand over the seals, apologize to Her Majesty, allow her to appoint a guardian under whom ministers can serve, so the Conservative Party can choose a new leader properly".

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, also questioned whether it was "sustainable" for him to remain in the post until the autumn.

She tweeted: "There will be a general sense of relief that the chaos of the past few days (if not months) will come to an end, bi Why does the idea of ​​Boris Johnson remaining Prime Minister until the fall seem less than ideal, and surely not sustainable?

More than 50 Tory MPs have quit their government posts after the appearance of Boris Johnson, who promoted Tory MP Chris Pincher despite knowing of the misconduct allegations against him

(Victoria Jones/PA)

"Boris Johnson has always been manifestly unfit to be Prime minister and the Tories should never have elected him as leader or kept him in office for as long as they have."

An unnamed Tory source told the Daily Mail that the former Prime Minister Theresa May could be brought back for a caretaker role when Mr Johnson resigns.

Another alternative could be Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, who took on the role of caretaker Prime Minister when Mr Johnson was hospitalized with Covid-19, and more recently as he s e was recovering from routine sinus surgery.

A No 10 source said on Thursday that Mr Johnson spoke to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative 1922 committee, to brief him of his decision to step down.

'The Prime Minister has spoken to Graham Brady and has agreed to step down in time for a new leader to be in place by the conference in October,' the source said .

The resignation comes after the prime minister had a haemorrhage of support among his ministers and MPs.

Mr. Johnson had sought to defy his critics and continue in office, despite warnings from his Cabinet colleagues that it was not sustainable.

But the resignations continued and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi - who was only appointed to the post on Tuesday - went public with his call for the Prime Minister's resignation.