US House Speaker Boehner to resign

Washington

HOUSE Speaker John Boehner will resign from Congress at the end of October, lawmakers said, following repeated clashes with conservative members of his Republican conference including a potential government shutdown next week.

Mr Boehner is citing the defeat last year of former No 2 Republican Eric Cantor and his meeting this week with Pope Francis as among reasons, according to a Republican aide. There is no obvious successor. He announced his decision to rank and file Republicans on Friday morning.