Boris Johnson is no longer the majority leader in the UK. And will therefore soon no longer be Prime Minister. On the third day of a devastating political crisis, the former mayor of London has indeed announced to abandon the head of the Conservative party, as many of his own ministers have been begging him to do for 24 hours.
This Thursday afternoon, the 58-year-old British Prime Minister spoke for six minutes at 10 Downing Street. “The Conservative Party wants a new party leader and Prime Minister to take place and I have agreed with the party’s staff”. “I will not be able to carry out the ideas that I have brought to fruition. In politics, no one is indispensable. I have faith in this system that will bring forth a new ruler. To this new leader, man or woman, I say to you: I will support you”, he announced, saying to himself “sad to leave behind (him) the best position in the world”.
As a reminder, in the United Kingdom, the office of Prime Minister falls to the leader of the majority party. But concretely, Boris Johnson will not immediately leave the head of government: “I have today appointed a government to serve, as I would do myself, until the arrival of this new leader”.
The resignations and calls for the departure of Boris Johnson, weighed down within public opinion and his party by repeated scandals, continued on Thursday and in the morning, no one came to defend him on the programs of morning news, as is usually the custom. The brand new Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, appointed on Tuesday, had called on Boris Johnson to “leave now”, while the Minister of Education, also appointed on Tuesday, announced her resignation.
A total of 57 departures have been announced in the government since Tuesday, including five ministers, an exodus of unprecedented speed in British political history. “Yesterday I begged you to (…) resign in the interest of our party and the country. You have put us in an impossible situation,” new education minister Michelle Donelan wrote in her resignation letter, explaining that she had “no other choice.”
« Bye Boris »
The British Minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, has also announced his departure. “Decent and responsible government is built on honesty, integrity and mutual respect – it is with deep personal regret that I must leave government as I believe these values are no longer upheld,” said writes Brandon Lewis, stressing that the “point of no return” had been reached according to him.
Discontent had been simmering for months, fueled in particular by the scandal of illegal parties in Downing Street during the anti-Covid confinement, when the British had to respect very strict rules. The resignations on Tuesday evening of Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, and Health Minister Sajid Javid, had sounded the hallali for the Prime Minister, after a new sex scandal involving the deputy “whip” in charge of the discipline of Conservative MPs, whom Boris Johnson had named in February, “forgetting” past charges of the same type.