According to media reports, the Conservative leadership contest will be held in the summer and a new prime minister will be in place by the party conference in October.
Johnson is expected to give a statement later today.
He has been prime minister since 2019 following a leadership contest, and then went on to win a general election a few months later.
During his tenure, he introduced a 95 per cent mortgage scheme and brought out a Levelling Up agenda that included scrapping Section 21 eviction notices, £1.5bn Levelling Up Home Building Fund and £1.8bn of brownfield funding.
He also recently made suggestions to extend Right to Buy to housing association tenants and to allow housing benefit to be used for mortgages, as well as intergenerational 50-year mortgages.
Gove sacked and other Levelling Up ministers resign
Widespread media reports also reported yesterday that Johnson had fired Michael Gove from his role as secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Reports say that he had called for Johnson to resign amidst growing turmoil in the Conservative party.
Gove has been in the role as secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Local Communities since September. He is the fourth secretary of state since 2015.
Before that he was chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, the Queen’s rural estates. Other roles he has held during his political career include minister for the cabinet office and secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.
He took over from Robert Jenrick, who held the role between 2019 and 2021. Other people who have held the role in recent years include James Brokenshire, Sajid Javid, Greg Clarke and Eric Pickles.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has also had several resignations, including housing minister Stuart Andrew, who took on the role in February.
Other resignations in the department include Kemi Badenoch, minister of state for local government, faith and communities, and Neil O’Brien, minster for Levelling Up, the Union and Constitution.
As of 10:30am this morning there had been 59 resignations since Tuesday evening.
Greg Clark made Levelling Up secretary
Greg Clark has been appointed as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, replacing Gove who was sacked by the now outgoing prime minister.
Johnson is currently making cabinet appointments and is reported to stay on as prime minister in a caretaker role until autumn.
Clark was previously Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, a post he held for three years until July 2019. Prior to that, he was the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from May 2015 until July 2016.
A replacement for the housing minister is yet to be announced, following Stuart Andrew’s resignation yesterday.
