Boris Johnson's successor will be the fourth Conservative prime minister in the past six years, continuing a trend of leaders ousted not at the ballot box but by party infighting.
Flashback: David Cameron resigned after losing the Brexit referendum in 2016 (with Johnson leading the opposing camp), while Theresa May stepped aside in 2019 after her Brexit deal was repeatedly voted down (with Johnson quitting her government in order to oppose it).
- Johnson then called an election in December 2019 and won a landslide on his platform of "Get Brexit Done." The U.K. officially left the EU the following month.
What's next: Johnson will pass a big parliamentary majority on to his successor, along with many of the challenges associated with Britain's exit from the EU, including a fairly grim near-term economic outlook.
- Labour currently leads the Conservatives in the polls, but the next election could come as late as January 2025.
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