BoJo’s no-go: how Johnson went from PM-in-waiting to just another Brexit loser, in three hours

In three hours on Thursday morning, British politics was turned on its head. Again.

The latest victim of the inferno that has ripped through Westminster for the past seven days was the man most responsible for getting the fire started: Boris Johnson, former mayor of London - and, now, former Next Prime Minister of Britain.

Johnson, who as a child wanted to be “World King,” had positioned himself as the favourite to succeed David Cameron when he challenged the premier by coming out for Brexit in February. His energy and charisma delivered victory - and Cameron’s resignation. When he awoke Thursday, the deadline for declaring his candidacy to succeed his old schoolmate, the path to 10 Downing Street was clear. By noon, he was out of the race.

Instead, there’s a five-person contest in which the two frontrunners were on opposite sides of the June 23 referendum on whether to quit the European Union, the event that set off the political earthquake whose aftershocks continue to hit. Johnson’s downfall resulted from former allies’ doubts that he was competent to complete the Brexit process.

The meeting that decided his fate took place just before 9am in the House of Commons office of Justice Secretary Michael Gove. At the hastily called gathering, Gove told about 10 fellow members of Parliament he had no confidence in Johnson, whose campaign he was supposed to be supporting that morning.

“He [Gove] told us he’d decided he was going to stand,” Culture Minister Ed Vaizey told reporters. “The closer we got, the harder he thought about it. Michael’s logic is that if he doesn’t think Boris can do it, he’s got to step up to the plate.”