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Figures from music and entertainment react to Boris Johnson’s resignation

Figures from the worlds of music and entertainment have been sharing their reactions to Boris Johnson‘s imminent resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Johnson is reportedly set to quit today (July 7) following the recent resignations of Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and over 50 other MPs.

It came after Johnson apologised for appointing Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip despite knowing about a 2019 investigation into inappropriate behaviour made against Pincher. The MP resigned last week after being accused of groping two men in a private members club.

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“In hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do,” Johnson said earlier this week (via Reuters). “I apologise to everyone who’s been badly affected by it.”

Johnson has since been under increasing pressure to step down from his role as PM.

Responding to the initial reports of his resignation, Labour leader Keir Starmer wrote: “It is good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister. But it should have happened long ago.”

Starmer went on to say that Johnson was “always unfit for office”, highlighting the “lies, scandal and fraud” that has occurred under his leadership.

He concluded: “We don’t need to change the Tory at the top – we need a proper change of government. We need a fresh start for Britain.”

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Elsewhere, Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander tweeted: “Very glad to see Boris go now I’d like all the Conservatives to go next.”

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker wrote: “Got a horrible inkling that any moment now Johnson’s going to reload a previous save and we’ll have to do the past six weeks again.” He’d previously joked that it’d “take an exorcist to shift this fucker”.

Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess, meanwhile, retweeted Johnson’s post from January 2020 that read: “This is going to be a fantastic year for Britain.” He captioned it: “Yep.”

Self Esteem – aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor – said: “Celebrate, sure, but don’t underestimate the likelihood that we’ll be going from one evil fuck to an even more evil fuck.”

Trainspotting writer Irvine Welsh posted: “It’s sad that people will remember Johnson as the clown who clung onto power rather than the visionary who got a particularly shit Brexit done, lied to queen and country, killed an excess of 100,000 people through shit covid policy, lied during lockdown, was abusive about blacks, Muslims, gays, women, working class men, led a pandemic inspired wealth grab for taxpayers by Tory donors while partying through lockdown in defiance of his own rules, hid in a fridge and shat it to appear on TV debates.

“But that’s the way it goes. He will leave huge idiot shoes for the next clown to step into. Fortunately the media will herald whoever the utterly useless wanker is as some sort of supremely gifted genius.”

Comedian and former Late Night Mash presenter Nish Kumar wrote: “Yes him going doesn’t solve the institutional rot that brought him to this position. And yes, the real solution is changing a system that elevates a person like [Johnson] to the position of ultimate power.

“But for one moment let’s focus on how incredibly funny it is that the cunt failed.”

Last month, Johnson won a no-confidence vote in his leadership of the Conservative Party. The results, however, revealed that 40 per cent of his MPs were against him (211 Tories voted in his favour, with 148 against).

The vote came after the publication of Sue Gray’s report on the COVID lockdown-breaking parties for which Johnson received a fixed penalty notice in April. He became the first sitting British Prime Minister to have been found to have broken the law.

There had been countless calls for Johnson to resign throughout the so-called Partygate scandal, which first hit the news in December 2021.

This is a developing story and will be updated…