The political stance of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, already shaken by various scandals and electoral defeats, weakened significantly on Tuesday evening after two top ministers in his government resigned, criticizing his position and accusing him of not acting in the national interest. So great is dissatisfaction with Johnson within the Conservative Party and the country that many analysts say his government is now nearing its end. However, for the time being at least, there are no signs that Johnson intends to resign, despite finding himself in a political situation that many of his predecessors considered unsustainable.
The resignations of Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. Economy Secretary) and Sajid Javid, Secretary of Health, are just Johnson’s most recent political defeats.
In recent months his government has been hit by the so-called “Partygate”, the scandal surrounding private parties organized at the Prime Minister’s residence during the lockdown, and more recently the Conservative Party lost key local elections and the vote to lose two Conservative MPs to replace those who resigned after sex scandals. In recent days, it has been revealed that Johnson had appointed Congressman Chris Pincher as his deputy party leader (one of the people responsible for collecting the necessary votes in the House of Representatives, a sort of deputy faction leader), despite knowing he had been accused of doing so sexual harassment.
Sunak and Javid’s resignations followed this latest scandal, ten minutes apart, although the two – who are political allies – claim they have failed to coordinate. Neither relate to Pincher’s specific case, although Javid wrote in his resignation letter that “the British people expect integrity from their government”. Sunak, on the other hand, spoke primarily of differences in economic policy.
Johnson’s government suffered another loss on Wednesday morning when Will Quince, Secretary of State for Children and Families, he resigned Allegation by Johnson of lying to him: Quince publicly defended the government against the Pincher scandal on Monday, saying Johnson was unaware of the allegations, only to find out that Johnson knew and that he had lied to him too.
The resignations of Sunak and Javid, the two most important, were seen as a way to accelerate and potentially exploit the government crisis: both Conservative politicians are keen to fill Johnson’s place once he has resigned, according to various analyzes in British newspapers.
However, Johnson has no plans to step down, despite facing various scandals and suffering numerous defeats that would have irreparably damaged many of his predecessors. Despite losing two of his key ministers and two of the Conservative Party’s biggest figures, Johnson has already replaced them with Nadhim Zahawi, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Steve Barclay, his former chief of staff, who became Health Secretary.
The government is now emptied of most of its prominent figures, but Johnson intends to remain in office until forced to resign.
The fact is that although most British citizens want him to resign (69 per cent, including 54 per cent of his party’s voters) and although it is very likely that the majority of Conservative MPs will no longer support him, there are currently no instruments in the British system to remove it: Just last month, Johnson narrowly escaped a no-confidence vote within the party, meaning similar votes cannot be called for at least another year under the rules.
According to Politico, it’s not out of the question that Conservative MPs, in a bid to oust Johnson, will change that rule and call for a new no-confidence vote in the coming days. Johnson would also be forced to leave office if his government ministers resign en masse or if he loses a vote of confidence in the House of Commons (a different procedure from a no-confidence vote within the party).
At the moment, these options are all pretty unlikely. But it’s really hard to imagine Boris Johnson reaching the end of his mandate scheduled for 2024. According to British newspapers, even his ministers are preparing to compete to succeed him: Sunak and Javid, with their resignations, have bet it is politically more convenient to distance yourself from Johnson, while others, like Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, believe it is their chances of succeeding Johnson are better if they stay in power to the end.