By Our Foreign CORRESPONDENT
Published, Thursday, July 8, 2022
AMIDST SEVERAL ACCUSATIONS AND CONFIDENCE DEFICIT, the embattled British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has resigned as the leader of the Conservative Party and effectively as prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Mr. Johnson announced his resignation Thursday afternoon at 10, Downing Street, London.
He said he, however, remains in office until the Conservative Party elects a new leader who will also assume office as prime minister. That is expected to happen before October.
In his speech on Thursday, Mr Johnson thanked the Conservative Party and the British voters for trusting the party and helping it to victory in the 2019 elections.
It should be recalled that in the upbeat to Boris's resignation about 50 leaders of the party have resigned their government positions citing lack of confidence in the outgoing Prime Minister.
“I want you to know how sad I am giving up the best job in the world,” Mr Johnson said Thursday.
He added that in politics, no one is indispensable. "From now on until the new prime minister is in place, the interest of the British people will continue to be served", he said.
Mr Johnson pledged to support the new leader who emerges. The timetable for choosing a new leader will be released next week.
Mr Johnson came under severe public scrutiny over the party gates scandal and recently over Christopher Pincher who he appointed as Chief Whip despite being aware of his misconduct.
Other issues that sparked Mr Johnson’s woes include the current economic hardship faced by Britons.
A lot of the ministers who resigned cited a loss of confidence in the prime minister as a reason for their resignation.
By yesterday, at least 32 government officials had resigned from Boris Johnson’s administration since the prime minister apologised for not realising that one of his ministers was not suitable for the job.
The resignations started Tuesday, July 6, with health minister Sajid Javid sending in his resignation and stating that he had lost confidence in the prime minister.
A few minutes later, finance minister Rishi Sunak tendered his resignation stating that Britons deserved a better government.
Shortly after the two senior ministers who are seen as pillars of the Johnson administration resigned, other ministers joined the queue.
Will Quince resigned as education minister and Laura Trott as a ministerial aide at the transport department, saying the government has lost trust.
The resignation kept trickling in from Tuesday until yesterday, Thursday, July 7, when the Prime Minister addressed his Conservative party members at the House of Common yesterday.
Andrew Murrison, Trade Envoy to Morocco; Bim Afolami, Conservative Party Vice-Chair; Jonathan Gullis, PPS – Northern Ireland; Sagib Bhatti, PPS-Health and Social Care; Nicola Richards, PPS – Transport, also resigned for similar reasons.
Others include Virginia Crosbie, PPS – Wales; Theo Clarke, Trade envoy to Kenya; Alex Chalk, Solicitor General; Robin Walker, Education Minister; Felicity Buchan, PPS – Business; John Glen, Economic Secretary to Treasury; Victoria Atkins, Justice Minister; Jo Churchill, Environment minister; Stuart Andrew, Housing minister; Claire Coutinho, PPS – Treasury; David Johnston’ PPS – Education; Selaine Saxby, PPS – Treasury; Kemi Badenoch, Equalities Minister.
Others are Alex Burghart Minister DFE; Julia Lopez, Minister DCMS; Neil O’Brien ‘Minister at Levelling UP; Lee Rowley, Minister for industry; Mims Davies, Employment Minister; Duncan Baker, PPS- Levelling up, Housing and Communities; Rachael Maclean, Home Office minister; Mike Freer, Exports minister; Felicity Buchan, PPS Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Mark Fletcher, PPS Business; Sara Britcliffe, PPS Education; Ruth Edwards, PPS Scotland Office.
Hanging on a thin line is Fay Jones who said if the Prime minister does not resign tomorrow, she will after helping him with business questions tomorrow.
Mr Johnson has come under severe public scrutiny after it emerged that parties were held in Downing Street when the world was under lock and key in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The prime minister had initially denied that any such parties happened.
But an investigation into the allegation found that the parties indeed happened and blamed senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, and said they “must bear responsibility for this culture.”
Recently, Mr Johnson came under fire for lying about not being aware of Christopher Pincher’s misconduct.
Mr Pincher had resigned on June 30 as deputy chief whip of the Conservative Party amid complaints that he had allegedly groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations levelled against Mr Pincher and questions about why Mr Johnson promoted him to a senior job.
The prime minister apologised for appointing Mr Pincher to a role involved in offering pastoral care to his party, even after being briefed that the politician had been the subject of complaints about sexual misconduct.
Some still standing by struggling Johnson
Despite the numerous resignations that have greeted the prime minister, he remains resolute and insists on delivering his party’s promises to Britons. He said this at the House of Commons Wednesday afternoon at the prime minister’s questions.
Mr Johnson’s courage perhaps stems from the support of government officials who are resolute in their support for him to continue as prime minister.
After Messrs Javid and Sunak resigned, the prime minister replaced them by appointing his chief of staff, Steve Barclay as his next health minister and Nadhim Zahawi, previously the education minister, as his new finance minister.
Others standing by the prime minister include Housing Secretary Michael Gove; Dominic Raab, Justice Secretary; Nadine Dorries, Culture Secretary; Alister Jack, Scotland Secretary; Kwasi Kwarteng, Business Secretary; Priti Patel, Home Secretary; Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace; Anne-Marie Trevelyan, International Trade Secretary; Suella Braverman, Attorney General; Liz Truss, Foreign Secretary.
Others include Wales Secretary, Simon Hart; Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps; Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis; Chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris; Cabinet minister Alok Sharma; Cabinet minister Michael Ellis; Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke; Lord Privy Seal, and Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Evans; Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, Therese Coffey.
Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News “the prime minister won a large mandate in a general election, a vote of the British people and that should not be taken away from him because a number of people resigned.”
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