After a slew of resignations and letters of no confidence were released on Wednesday 6 July, the world was waiting for – but wasn’t quite prepared for – the news of prime minister Boris Johnson’s resignation.

The pressure has mounted on Johnson and, after a record number of resignations in the span of 24 hours, Johnson has resigned as Conservative party leader, following further ministerial resignations.

It’s said that he will continue to serve as prime minister until the autumn to allow a new leadership contest to take place. The news comes after multiple MPs have stepped down including Helen Whately, Damian Hinds, George Freeman, Guy Opperman, Chris Philp and James Cartlidge.

On the night of Tuesday 5 July, chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid led the charge, resigning from their roles within 10 minutes of each other, closely followed by a flurry of junior ministers and aides.

The pair cited a lack of confidence in prime minister Boris Johnson, his political approach and the future of the Conservative party. In Sunak’s letter, he stated that “it has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different”.

Conservative MP Lee Anderson said he can no longer back Johnson, arguing that “integrity should always come first”, while Robin Walker has resigned as schools minister, saying that he no longer has faith in Johnson’s leadership. 

Will Quince, the children’s minister, has also resigned, saying he has been left with “no choice” after repeating false information from Number 10 in interviews and Laura Trott, MP for Sevenoaks, has resigned as ministerial aide in the transport department, saying that trust in politics is “of upmost importance”.

These further resignations have essentially meant that Johnson is fighting for political survival for the coming months – and the internet is reacting in the best (and most hilarious way) to the news of his resignation. Because what is there left to do with all this cyclical, monotonous political news than to laugh, right?

As we’re left reeling from Johnson’s official resignation, Twitter is alight with memes and reactions to the current political situation. It has been labelled the ‘not-quite-resignation’ speech and was just generally a surreal affair.

One particular phrase had us all rewinding, confused and left to do nothing but laugh at the sorry state of affairs. Because, as Johnson randomly pointed out in his resignation speech, “them’s the breaks”.

Basically, we just don’t know where to start.

Former prime minister Theresa May was clearly out marking the occasion. 

The leaked invoice to Number 10’s renovations have left us, quite literally, speechless.

Who will be taking Johnson’s place? We don’t have the answers (yet) but we can most certainly wonder.

Never has a Euphoria reference been more suitable.

The battle for the keys to Number 10 is on.

Of course, an apt Line Of Duty meme is applicable here.

It was an outcome that many were waiting for.

Because, honestly, the resignation pool was getting a little out of control.

Even supermarket Iceland waded into the matter.

Some are wondering just how Sunak and Javid initially managed to synchronise their resignations so well.

Who knew Conservative MP resignations could bring up memories of the Big Brother house?

… or the Love Island villa, for that matter.

The resignations just kept coming, and while we’re grateful to see the letters in full, some are a little more questionable than others.

The subsequent online ratings of the resignation letters are something we didn’t know we needed but are totally here for:

A major part of it all is imagining the other Tory MP reactions. And, of course, Twitter has obliged.

At this point, if we don’t laugh, we may just cry at the current state of UK politics.

While “reshuffle” will be the most used term of the coming weeks, we’re really struggling to imagine how this would apply to other industries.

And perhaps the most shocking resignation of all goes to Larry, the Number 10 cat.

But the drama? We love it:

Images: Getty