Boris Johnson announced he was resigning on Thursday after 160 hours of furious backlash from his own MPs.
But, even in his own departure speech, the outgoing prime minister said: “It is now clearly the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party.”
And, in the days leading up to his official departure, Johnson repeatedly tried to cite the “colossal mandate” he received from the general public back in the 2019 general election as a reason for staying.
Because the UK is not in a presidential system, it’s actually the Conservative MPs who vote for their own leader, and the public who vote for their MPs.
Even so, the outgoing prime minister seemed keen to distinguish between voters and the MPs who called for him to resign.
So how has the general public actually responded?
Here are the four best videos capturing the mood among Johnson’s critics when they found out he had resigned:
1. Hysterical laughter
One woman joked, “that’s sad” only for the interviewer to point out: “You don’t look too sad.”
In between peals of laughter, she replied: “Exactly.”
2. Indifference
This person seemed disillusioned about all prime ministers in general, telling the camera: “They say all these things before they get in, and when they get in, they don’t do nout.”
3. Pure delight
A group of four elderly women were so happy at the news, they cheered when speaking to the BBC, nodding as they were asked if they wanted to “hit the pub again” to celebrate, before dancing away from the camera.
4. And quietly pleased
One worker told the BBC: “I didn’t even know he’d resigned. I’ve just finished work, so that’s a bit of good news for the day, I suppose, isn’t it?”
It seems this video particularly resonated with the public, having been watched more than three million times with 10,000 retweets.