A delegation of senior cabinet ministers, including new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, will visit Boris Johnson in Downing Street on Wednesday to tell him he must resign as prime minister.
Two senior Conservative party figures said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis would also be in the group. One Tory official said ministers “believe the situation is now untenable and intend to tell the Prime Minister he must resign”.
Zahawi’s intervention will come less than 24 hours after Johnson appointed him chancellor following the resignation of Rishi Sunak and more than 30 cabinet resignations.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has also lost confidence in Johnson and has informed the chief whip that he must leave, his allies said. Earlier on Wednesday, Johnson was told by senior cabinet minister Michael Gove that his premiership was over.
Two senior government officials told the Financial Times that the promotions secretary visited Johnson in Downing Street on Wednesday to tell him his time at the party’s helm was over.
A person familiar with the conversation said: “Michael basically told him it was time to go, it was over.”
His intervention on Wednesday came after a scathing criticism of Johnson from former health secretary Sajid Javid, who told MPs in a resignation statement that “the problem starts at the top” with the prime minister.
Javid triggered a spate of ministerial resignations when he stepped down on Tuesday night, leaving Johnson to fight for his political survival.
Javid said he was assured “at the highest level” that there were no Downing Street parties during the Covid-19 lockdown, only to find out that was not true.
Most recently, he said, the government had again lacked “truth and integrity” over allegations of sexual harassment by Chris Pincher, the former deputy chief whip. “At some point we have to conclude that enough is enough,” Javid told MPs. “I believe the point is now.”
Javid said it was unfair to make ministers go on air to defend lines that did not “stand up” to scrutiny. “I’m afraid the reset button can only work so many times. There are only so many times you can turn this machine off before you realize something is wrong.”
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The executive of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs will meet on Wednesday night to discuss whether to change party rules to allow another leadership challenge against Johnson.
A senior member of the executive committee from 1922 said that “if more than half the deputies want the prime minister to go, it is our job to facilitate his departure. We are certainly there or very close to there”.
The MP added that Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the committee since 1922, is likely to visit Johnson to tell him the “problem is over” and threaten to change the rules if the prime minister does not leave office. “But we are aware that Boris may try to stick around and it will get very messy.”
Another member of the 1922 executive committee said MPs wanted the leadership contest to start as soon as possible. “Ideally we can take the first rounds [where MPs whittle down candidates to the final two] finished before the summer break and I have a new leader in place for the fall.”
At least 37 members of Johnson’s government have so far resigned in the past 24 hours, just a month after a vote of confidence in the prime minister, which he won by just 59 percent.
Kemi Badenoch, minister for equalization and equality, and Julia Lopez, minister for digital, culture, media and sport, have left their posts.
Three deputy secretaries – Neil O’Brien, Lee Rowley and Alex Burghart – have also resigned, according to a letter of resignation signed by the five MPs.
The letter said “it has become increasingly clear that the government cannot function given the problems that have come to light and the manner in which they have been addressed.”
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