Boris Johnson is weakened. Faced with the resignation of several ministers from his government, the British Prime Minister intends to remain in power. Except that the head of government will have to face a new crisis when a delegation of British ministers including several heavyweights from the executive is preparing to ask for his resignation.
Far from the triumph of his debut in Downing Street in 2019 under the promise of achieving Brexit, the head of the Conservative government faced, on Wednesday July 6, the most difficult day of his mandate, surrounded by embarrassing cases and their flood of accusations of lies.
A call for the resignation of Boris Johnson
According to several British media, a delegation including several senior ministers was preparing to ask him to resign. Asked about this during a hearing before the heads of parliamentary committees, Boris Johnson replied that he was not going to “comment live on political events”. “We will continue with the government of this country,” he said, moments after claiming he was having a “great” week.
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Without warning, Health Ministers Sajid Javid and Finance Ministers Rishi Sunak slammed the door on Tuesday evening, triggering the haemorrhage. Other members of the government, of lower rank, have in turn thrown in the towel one after the other, bringing to more than 30 the total number of departures on Wednesday afternoon.
Boris Johnson remained combative. He judged that he would not be “responsible” to leave power in the current context, between purchasing power crisis and war in Ukraine.
Earlier, during the weekly question and answer session in front of MPs, punctuated by laughter and loud mockery, Boris Johnson said that the “colossal mandate” given to him by voters in 2019 gave him the duty to “ Continue “.
Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer slammed an end-of-reign “pathetic spectacle”, while Scottish Nationalist SNP leader in the House of Commons Ian Blackford demanded a snap election. An idea that Boris Johnson rejected out of hand in the afternoon.
« Bye Boris »
The resigning ministers had harsh words for the head of government, questioning his honesty. In front of the deputies, Sajid Javid detailed the reasons for his departure, convinced that Boris Johnson would not change: “That’s enough”, he launched, before some deputies resumed a mocking “bye Boris” launched by the One. Two.
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The resignation of Sajid Javid and that of his finance colleague was announced on Tuesday evening when Boris Johnson had just issued an apology after a new scandal.
Boris Johnson admitted having made a “mistake” in appointing Chris Pincher to his government in February, deputy chief “whip” in charge of parliamentary discipline for Conservative MPs. The latter resigned last week after being accused of touching two men.
After claiming the opposite, Downing Street admitted on Tuesday that the Prime Minister had been informed of old charges against Chris Pincher in 2019, but that he had “forgotten” them.
“Integrity” in question
For Sajid Javid, 52, the British are entitled to expect “integrity from their government”.
Boris Johnson quickly replaced the two resigners by appointing his Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi to Finance and Steve Barclay, hitherto in charge of government coordination, to Health. But since the departures have multiplied. Early Wednesday afternoon, five secretaries of state jointly announced their resignations, calling on Boris Johnson to step down. A sixth resignation among the Secretaries of State followed minutes later.
According to a Savanta ComRes poll published on Wednesday, 72% of Britons believe the Prime Minister should resign.
Already considerably weakened by the scandal of illegal parties organized in Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic, Boris Johnson survived a vote of no confidence from his own camp a few weeks ago.
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But according to the British press, behind the scenes, the anti-Johnson are maneuvering to allow a new vote quickly, by changing the current rule which protects the head of government for another 11 months. The executive office of the powerful “1922 Committee”, competent to settle the question, was to meet in the afternoon of Wednesday.