UK Political Crisis: Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, recently announced his resignation.

Key Highlights:

• He will remain in office until the Conservative Party selects his successor.
• Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister after more than 50 members of his Cabinet and lower-level officials resigned from his government, many citing concerns that his ethical lapses had undermined the government’s credibility.
• That triggered the internal Conservative Party contest to pick a new party leader.
• Under Britain’s parliamentary government, the next party leader will automatically become prime minister without the need for a general election.
• Conservative backbencher Tom Tugendhat has become the first contender to throw his hat into the ring to succeed Boris Johnson.
• Other contenders include frontrunner Rishi Sunak, the former Treasury chief, and Nadim Zahawi, who took Sunak’s job as Chancellor of the Exchequer last week.
• Foreign Secretary Liz Truss hasn’t formally announced but is expected to join the race.

Impact on India:

• India has maintained that his resignation will not impact its relationship with UK.
• His resignation is an internal development and India is closely monitoring the situation.

About the Chris Pincher scandal that led to UK PM Borris Johnson's Ouster:

• The Chris Pincher scandal is a political controversy in the United Kingdom related to allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Conservative Party Deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher.
• There were two complaints against 52-year-old MP over his conduct at the Carlton Club in London’s Piccadilly on 29 June.
• He was accused by two men of drunkenly groping them.
• This sparked a wave of accusations against him, some of which dated back years.
• According to reports, he has also been charged with sexual assault cases, one in 2013 and another six years later in 2019.
• After the matter was reported to and investigated by the UK government chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris, Pincher resigned.
• The scandal sparked a major crisis for Johnson's government, with ministers, and a larger number of the government staff, resigning on 5–7 July 2022, followed by Johnson's announcement on 7 July that he would resign as party leader.