Boris Johnson has officially resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

“It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party and so a new prime minister,” Mr Johnson said during his midday address to the nation.

His efforts to persuade his cabinet that it would be “eccentric” to change prime minister now failed with him saying he “regret not to have been successful in those arguments.”

His resignation follows mass resignations within his government since Tuesday, totalling more than 50 MPs.

Johnson’s last day as PM is still unknown although he did confirm the process to appoint a new leader had begun, with a timetable set out next week.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warned that Mr Johnson must not be allowed to “cling on” in No 10.

“If they don’t get rid of him, then Labour will step up in the national interest and bring a vote of no confidence because we can’t go on with this prime minister clinging on for months and months to come.”