On the day of Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister, dozens of people crowded on the pavement outside Downing St, London to try to catch a glimpse of, or more likely, to hurl abuse at the departing PM. Unfortunately, since Johnson actually lives at Number 10, the odds of him leaving his Lulu Lytle-wallpapered residence were slim. Not that it deterred the crowd, who played music on sound systems, jeered “bog off Boris” and “bye bye Boris” and, in general, seemed to be having a grand time celebrating the demise of everyone’s least favourite Westminster clown. (Apologies to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who seems to be one of the only people left in the world who actually still likes him.)
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What next for Johnson? Well, he’s said he wants to cling on as a caretaker PM till autumn or when a new Conservative leader is elected, a generous offer that obviously has nothing to do with the fact that him and his wife Carrie have a July wedding bash planned at Chequers, the 16th century mansion that acts as the country home for British prime ministers. But autumn is a long way off, and the crowd outside Downing St were already thinking of his possible replacements. “If Priti Patel came to power - we'd be living like Children of Men,” someone said. VICE photographer Jake Lewis went down to capture the excitement and jubilation outside Downing St on Thursday.
