Massive blow to the British Parliament. For weeks, Boris Johnson tried everything for his political survival, while two of his ministers announced their simultaneous resignation on Tuesday July 5. But between the repeated scandals and the cascading resignations of the Tories, the storm is brewing in Downing Street. During a statement, this Thursday, July 7, the Prime Minister announced his resignation from the head of the Conservative party. He will remain in office until the autumn, but after that the next leader of the party will represent the future British Prime Minister.
Statement by Boris Johnson: bye bye the Tories
“It is now clear that the will of the parliamentary Conservative party is that there is a new leader of this party, and therefore a new PM”, conceded on July 7, Boris Johnson, the British head of state.
The Johnson firm is in bad shape. Pushed towards the exit door after complicated weeks between resignations and scandals within the Tories, the Prime Minister is preparing to step down as leader of the Conservative Party, and in fact son cabinet. Indeed, for two days, about fifty members of the government resigned. If he clung like a mussel to his rock, Boris Johnson nevertheless took the wave from his own camp.
“The Prime Minister will make a statement to the nation today”, Downing Street told PA Media. The tension is at its height, while the repeated scandals within his own camp have weakened his political authority. However, if he leaves the Tories, he could remain Prime Minister until the fall, “the time that a new leader is elected among the conservatives”according to 20 minutes.
This shows the unbearable pressure of two days rich in rebounds, in which two important ministers announced their resignation in a letter addressed to Boris Johnson, cumulated with cascading departures.
Boris Johnson to resign as Tory leader #AFP pic.twitter.com/vxnjdggbIC
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 7, 2022
Departure of the Ministers of Health and Finance: the drops of water that break the camel’s back
This Tuesday, July 5, the simultaneous and unexpected resignations of the Minister of Health, Sajid Javid, and the Minister of Finance, Rishi Sunak, have again tainted the mandate of Boris Johnson. In a letter addressed to the British head of state, the two former ministers put forward the same arguments. Sajid Javid said: “It is clear that this situation is not going to evolve under your leadership, and therefore you have lost my confidence”.
I have spoken to the Prime Minister to tender my resignation as Secretary of State for Health & Social Care.
It has been an enormous privilege to serve in this role, but I regret that I can no longer continue in good conscience. pic.twitter.com/d5RBFGPqXp
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) July 5, 2022
For his part, Rishi Sunak, the Minister of Finance, agreed that “the public legitimately expects the government to be conducted in a competent and serious manner”.
The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.
I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.
My letter to the Prime Minister below. pic.twitter.com/vZ1APB1ik1
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 5, 2022
It is a blow for the head of the British state, because the two resigners could well have deeper reasons than a simple disagreement with their leader. According to The Point, “The Chancellor of the Exchequer never recovered from the revelations about his wealthy wife’s tax exile status. As for Javid, he failed to pull the National Health Service out of its worst crisis since its foundation in 1945”. According to Le Figaro, the British Prime Minister has appointed the replacement of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer “Nadhim Zahawi, an Iraqi-born Kurd who arrived in the UK without speaking a word of English”.
While the conservative majority is on the verge of implosion, five secretaries of state from Johnson’s cabinet have also just resigned on July 6, according to AFP.
Five more state secretaries announce they are leaving Boris’ government together #Johnson #AFP pic.twitter.com/5OPoi7LI99
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 6, 2022
Will they celebrate with a farewell drink, as Boris Johnson did during the Partygate ?
Partygate and other scandals: Boris Johnson in turmoil
Contested with his own party, Boris Johnson has been put in the spotlight following recent revelations about the scandal of the Partygate. Photographed with a glass in hand, all smiles, celebrating his birthday on June 19, 2020, while the whole world was confined, the British head of state is undergoing his worst political crisis since he came to power in 2019. But what is is it, exactly? Several parties took place in Downing Street, between May 2020 and April 2021, while government restrictions required Britons to stay at home and avoid contact.
Unfortunately for Boris Johnson, the revelations are linked. If he thought he could escape this controversy, denying the facts, the minister had no other choice but to apologize to the Queen and to the House on January 12, as 20 minutes reports. According to this same source, two investigations have been launched: one placed under the aegis of Sue Gray, senior official in charge of writing a report on the excesses of Parliament, the other launched by the British police.
Finally, the administrative investigation, made public on May 22, points to the minister’s responsibility. On this subject, Le Monde reports the words of “Wife” : “I take full responsibility for everything that happened under my direction”.
Scandals within the Tories
On the other hand, critics of Boris Johnson want him out of the way. Following multiple and recent events, the scandal too many has been “The Pincher Affair”. A Tory MP (of the same name) responsible for parliamentary discipline has been accused of groping two men at a London club in the past week. Another apology from the Head of State, since he publicly admitted that it had been a mistake to appoint him to the post of “whip” deputy chief. As confirmed by Le Figaro, the revelations revealed that the Prime Minister “had been warned of similar behavior by the elected official in the past”.
The sex scandals have tarnished the mandate of the Conservative Party. The Guardian has revealed the involvement of David Warburton, a Conservative Member of Parliament, in cases of sexual harassment and cocaine use. This was suspended in April 2022. According to France Info, two other members of Parliament resigned. One also in April, when he confessed to watching pornographic videos inside the House of Commons, another was sentenced in May to 18 months in prison for the sexual assault of a teenager from 15 years old.
Following these numerous scandals, the Conservative Party is swimming in troubled waters…
Vote of no confidence, defeat and resignations from the Conservative Party
Is this really the end of Boris Johnson’s reign? The British Prime Minister clung on somehow, when a similar situation had forced Theresa May, former leader of the Conservative Party, to resign. Subject to a vote of no confidence following the affair of the “Partygate”Boris Johnson emerged victorious, albeit weakened, while out of 359 Conservative MPs, 148 wanted to oust him.
Two weeks after surviving a vote of no-confidence, Boris Johnson’s authority has been weakened again, following the party’s defeat in parliamentary elections on June 24. Indeed, the “Centrist Liberal Democrats overthrew the Tory majority in Tiverton and Honiton constituency, while Labor won Wakefield”, relates Les Echos. It is a crushing defeat, because the riding has been in the hands of the Conservatives for decades. It is about the “Third defeat in a year for the Conservatives”. After the Partygatethe electorate appears to be backing away with the Conservatives in favor of the Liberal Democrats.
In a letter to Boris Johnson, Conservative party chairman Oliver Dowden also announced his resignation on June 24. These defeats echo “a series of very bad results for the party”adding that supporters are “disappointed”.
My letter of resignation to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/xd5MtM2o3n
– Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) June 24, 2022
In short, the impotence of political parties is pointed out by the people.
In the United States, the Democratic camp is weakened on the subjects of abortion and weapons. What about the elections? mid-terms Americans, while resignations abound in the Biden camp?
On the European side, between massive abstention, social movements or even the blocking of distribution centers by farmers… anger is brewing. For Éric Verhaeghe, what is needed today is a “complete renewal of the elites”.
See also: “What is killing this country is the inter-personality of the elites” Éric Verhaeghe