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What exactly happened?

Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson announced on Thursday that he would resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom after significantly losing the support of his ministers and the majority of Conservative lawmakers. He said that he would hold onto his position until a replacement was found. Johnson claimed it was obvious his party wanted someone else in control but that his forced resignation was “eccentric” and the product of “herd instinct” in parliament. As more than 50 cabinet ministers and advisers resigned and MPs declared he must go, Johnson bowed to the inevitable.

Roles & impact of resignation

Boris Johnson has been in charge of UK tech since 2016 when he was appointed as part of the new team at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS). After the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, it was his responsibility to bridge the gap between both industries, helping to grow and support companies from both sides of the channel.

Unfortunately, this never came to fruition, and he resigned just four months before the October 31 deadline for Britain’s planned exit. This means that there is now a vacuum of leadership at such a critical time – where technology was supposed to be centralized upon by Boris Johnson.

After receiving feedback from many cabinet members that he had lost the party’s support, Boris Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and claimed that Tory MPs’ “herd instinct” was to blame for his removal. Johnson said in a statement outside Downing Street that “no one is remotely indispensable” and that Johnson leaving No. 10 was the “decision of the parliamentary Conservative party.” He did, however, also make clear that he intended to continue as prime minister until the party chose his replacement, possibly until the fall, which immediately sparked discontent among Tory MPs. The announcement ends a remarkable stalemate between Johnson and cabinet members, including his new chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, who had been pressuring ham to resign out of resentment.

The resignation of UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is a huge loss to the UK’s technology sector. He was a driving force behind the UK’s push to be a world leader in technology, and his departure is a big blow to the country’s tech sector. 

The following are the big blows to the country’s tech sector:

Full Fiber Nation

Boris Johnson’s resignation as UK Prime Minister means that his flagship policy of delivering a full-fiber broadband network by 2025 is now unlikely to be realized. This is a huge blow to the UK’s digital infrastructure ambitions and a real missed opportunity.

Johnson had made full-fiber a key part of his vision for a post-Brexit Britain and had pledged to invest £5 billion to deliver it. But with him gone and the Conservatives set to choose a new leader, it’s doubtful that this will remain a priority.

This is a real shame, as a full-fiber network would have been a massive boost to the UK economy. It would have created jobs, increased productivity, and attracted investment.

It’s a missed opportunity that we can ill-afford in the current climate. The UK needs to be leading the way on digital infrastructure, not lagging behind. 

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