From the New York Times, I'm Michael Wabaro. This is a day.

Today, throughout his tenure, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became famous for his ability

to escape a political crisis. I spoke with my colleague, London Bureau Chief Mark Lander,

about why this time he couldn't survive.

It's Friday, July 8th.

So, Mark, I think we should disclose to our listeners that you are such a wonderful

colleague that you are talking to us very late at night, despite the fact that you have a cough and a sore throat.

That's true. So, I hope I'm not too much of a burden for your listeners early in the morning.

I'll do my best not to cough.

Okay. Well, we can also edit it out. Secret audio, tricks.

So, Mark, it has finally happened. Boris Johnson will be Prime Minister. No more.

It's something we have anticipated, wondered about, and now it's real.

So, just explain the enormity of this moment.

Well, you have to understand that for people living in Britain, Boris Johnson has been a colossus on the landscape.

Really not just for the three years he was Prime Minister, but for the decade or so before then,

when he was mayor of London, when he was foreign secretary, when he was the primary campaigner for Brexit in the 2016 referendum.

So, this is a guy who has really preoccupied Britain's for years.

He's been the most colorful, the most flamboyant, the most impactful politician on the scene by a long shot.

And so, the idea that he is suddenly, no longer the Prime Minister, is really an apical event in British politics.

Empical.

So, I want to get to the very particular set of circumstances that ultimately toppled him.

But it feels like it was very much an accumulation that began many months back.

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