The Best Reactions To Boris Johnson Resigning As UK Prime Minister
The internet wants Hugh Grant for PM.
If you thought we’d had a pretty wild year in politics in 2022 so far, thank your lucky stars you aren’t living in Britain, where Boris Johnson has taken a leaf out of our books and become the third consecutive Prime Minister to resign mid-term.
Johnson, who kept in good company with former Australian PM Scott Morrison and former US President Donald Trump in recent years, has resigned overnight. His resignation comes after dozens of his colleagues quit in protest of his leadership in recent days.
In his resignation speech, Johnson said he would lead the party in the interim until a new leader has been chosen — a decision that has already received widespread backlash from the party.
“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 PM,” said Johnson in his resignation speech. “I today appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.”
There are many options for a new British Prime Minister in the wake of Johnson’s resignation, but none seem quite as qualified for the job as Hugh Grant — who encouraged protesters to blast The Benny Hill Show theme song in the wake of his exit.
Morning @snb19692 Glad you have your speakers back. Do you by any chance have the Benny Hill music to hand?
— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) July 7, 2022
And blast it, they did.
Hugh Grant tweeted a request at activists protesting outside Westminster to play the Benny Hill theme on their loudspeakers; when they did it became the soundtrack for street interviews with leading Tories trying explain the situation to the British people pic.twitter.com/V1LxUoxRUE
— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) July 7, 2022
Nothing but respect for my British PM.
New prime minister looks dope. Best of luck to him. pic.twitter.com/PasJDLbctU
— Jason Diamond (@imjasondiamond) July 7, 2022
But, in the name of democracy, I must also offer an alternative candidate for you all to choose from. And thankfully, this one is already on a first-name basis with the Queen.
Luckily the British government has a backup plan for these occasions pic.twitter.com/1hlTWLFjwx
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 7, 2022
On account of the fact that this sort of stuff has become all too normalised in recent years, social media users did what they always do in a political shitstorm: they did memes.
Johnson’s resignation unfortunately interrupted Love Island UK, prompting viewers to question whether the contestants on the reality show would be informed of this major political development.
me watching love island while our government is falling apart & boris is resigning #LoveIsland pic.twitter.com/LFhC3dxOjv
— Hannah✨ (@hannahthry) July 7, 2022
Or if a pivot to Love Island would be on the cards for Johnson in his post-politics career.
Plot twist: Boris Johnson enters the villa ?? #LoveIsland pic.twitter.com/h1GWzwDfRv
— derpingpenguin (@dylan43519815) July 7, 2022
At this point, the Brits are no strangers to PMs resigning. In fact, they’re actually using it as a unit of measurement now.
Off to walk the dogs. I’ll be about three or four resignations.
— Mark Austin (@markaustintv) July 7, 2022
But we really can’t blame the UK politicians for simply doing as Beyonce told them.
beyoncé said release your job and half of the uk government resigned
— R❤️? (@sirlovedrought) July 7, 2022
Given Johnson will still be helming the ship that is Great Britain for months to come, rest assured there will be more political shitstorms ahead.
BREAKING: Boris Johnson has reassured the nation he still has plenty of time to completely destroy the UK between now and October x
— Laura Kuenssberg Translator (@BBCFLauraKT) July 7, 2022