UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson following mounting pressure from lawmakers in his own party to stand down.
Under the UK political system, between elections, only Conservative members of Parliament have the power to remove a sitting Conservative Prime Minister.
So, what happens to UK government when a Prime Minister resigns, and how is a new leader elected?
Does a Johnson resignation trigger a general election?
No. It starts the Conservative Party process for choosing a new leader of the party.
UK Prime Ministers are not directly elected by the people; Johnson is Prime Minister because he is the head of the largest party in the House of Commons.
The Conservatives will still be the largest party even if Johnson resigns, so the new head of the party will become Prime Minister.
How is the new Conservative Party leader chosen?
Leadership candidates need the support of at least eight lawmakers.
If there are more than two candidates, Conservative Party lawmakers hold round after round of votes to whittle the number of leadership candidates down to two.
Then Conservative Party members nationwide vote -- by mail -- between the two finalists.
The winner becomes leader of the party -- and Prime Minister.
Who is Prime Minister while all this happens?
Johnson indicated in his resignation speech that he plans to stay in office until a successor is chosen.
That's what would happen under normal circumstances: A Prime Minister who has resigned as party leader stays in office as caretaker Prime Minister until there is a new party leader.
But it's not clear that the Conservative Party will stand for that in Johnson's case.
One alternative would be for Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab to step in as caretaker. There's no precedent for that -- but there's also no precedent for more than 50 government officials to resign in two days in order to force a prime minister out.
When Johnson does finally leave Downing Street, what happens?
He submits his resignation to the Queen, in person.
The Palace will announce officially that Queen Elizabeth II has accepted Johnson's resignation, and will say who she has invited to become Prime Minister to replace him. That person will then go to meet the Queen to accept the invitation. This is a formality.
Does the new Prime Minister have to call a general election?
No. The United Kingdom isn't scheduled to have another general election until December 2024.
The new Prime Minister could choose to ask Parliament to vote for an early election, but isn't required to do so.
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