Boris Johnson dramatically announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party after a mass walkout by MPs finally sealed his fate, signaling the end of one of the most divisive and tumultuous periods in British politics.
In a speech to Downing Street on Thursday that was tinged with bitterness, he accused ministers of turning against him but expressed no regret or remorse for his mistakes.
The sudden outcome has set off a battle among the contenders to take over Downing Street – and demands from some MPs that he should leave now rather than wait for the leadership election to conclude.
Johnson told the newly formed interim cabinet on Thursday afternoon that no major policy, tax decisions or other changes in direction would be made before the handover of a new leader.
The day of drama in Westminster began with more of Johnson’s ministers walking out in a bid to force him out – including Michelle Donnellan, the education secretary who took over just two days earlier.
Johnson called Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, early on Thursday morning and walked out of No 10 at midday to publicly admit he had lost his party’s support.
His premiership, which will last just three years, has been overshadowed by the catastrophic Covid crisis and marred by persistent allegations of sloppiness, prompting two ethics advisers to resign.
But in his speech, delivered as his wife Carrie stood nearby holding their young daughter, Johnson called his colleagues’ decision to fire him “eccentric,” suggesting they were driven by a herd mentality.
“Over the last few days I have tried to convince my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we are achieving so much and when we have such a huge mandate and when we are actually only a few points behind in the polls,” he said.
“As we saw in Westminster, the herd is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.”
Johnson has not apologized for any of the self-inflicted scandals that have caused his party to turn against him, including the hiring of an alleged sex predator, Chris Pincher, as deputy chief whip.
Instead, Johnson highlighted the “amazing mandate” his party won in the 2019 general election and policies including the vaccine rollout and the Brexit deal.
His statement followed an extraordinary standoff with his own cabinet. By late Wednesday night, his aides insisted he would stay and fight, even as a delegation of cabinet ministers urged him to leave and dozens of front-line staff resigned.
But as resignations gathered pace and topped 50 on Thursday morning, with even Nadhim Zahawi, appointed chancellor just two days earlier, publicly calling for him to go, Johnson agreed to step down. Johnson will remain in office until another prime minister is elected.
Zahawi has prepared a well-organized leadership campaign, advised by an ally of election guru Lynton Crosby. He has signed up a number of MPs to back him, including a significant number of those who have resigned from the government in the past few days, in an attempt to demonstrate that he remains only in the national interest.
Other candidates calling MPs on Thursday included Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, and Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, who both stood down on Tuesday.
But MPs say another well-organized campaign belongs to Tom Tugendhat – now seen as the moderate Tory front-runner over Jeremy Hunt. Tugendhat assembled a steering committee of backers and supporters, including former cabinet minister Damien Green and Red Wall MP Aaron Bell.
Attorney-General Suella Braverman, whose campaign will be led by her former parliamentary private secretary Jason McCartney, met with MPs from the right-wing Common Sense group to claim the mantle of true Brexiter in the race – which her supporters say she will tried to steal from Sunak.
Johnson will remain in place until the party chooses a new leader, a process which the 1922 Committee hopes to complete as quickly as possible. At the podium outside Downing Street, Johnson was “sad to be giving up the best job in the world” but “they are the breaks”.
The Prime Minister was pictured hugging his family in Number 10 after his speech, carrying his son Wilfred as he kissed Carrie, who was holding their nine-month-old daughter Romy.
Former prime minister Sir John Major stepped in to call for Johnson to be removed immediately – but several moderate Tories, including Greg Clark and Robert Buckland, agreed to serve in an interim cabinet, helping to persuade MPs to let Johnson stay on .
Labor leader Keir Starmer said his party would table a vote of no confidence in the government in the House of Commons if Johnson did not step down immediately.
“He must go: he cannot cling like this. His own party has now decided that he is not fit to be Prime Minister. Now they cannot impose it on the country for the next few months,” he said.
“If they don’t get rid of him then Labor will step up in the national interest and table a vote of no confidence because we can’t go on with this Prime Minister hanging on for months and months to come.”
The proposal is expected to be voted on next week. The government is almost certain to win given the Tories’ comfortable majority – but Labor will be hoping to make political capital by forcing MPs to back Johnson in the voting lobbies.
The cabinet reshuffle came in the last hour before Johnson’s resignation speech, with James Cleverley taking over as education secretary and long-time loyalist Keith Malthouse becoming chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Buckland will be Welsh secretary and Clarke will take on the job of equaliser, replacing Michael Gove, who was ruthlessly sacked by Johnson late on Wednesday night as he fought to save his prime ministership.
The new cabinet meets on Thursday afternoon. An official report said Johnson “made it clear that the government would not seek to implement new policies or make major changes in direction, but would rather focus on delivering on the agenda that the government is selected. He said important fiscal decisions should be left to the next prime minister.
Twelve more junior appointments were announced later on Thursday, with some of those who resigned earlier in the week taking up their old jobs. Among them was Youth Minister Will Queens, who quit after being sent to face the media with false information about what Johnson knew about Pincher’s past.
Even government insiders were surprised by the speed of Johnson’s eventual demise after months of morale-sapping scandals, including Partygate and the failed attempt to protect backbench MP Owen Paterson, who was found to have engaged in paid lobbying.
One of them warned that if Johnson did not agree to go, he was at risk of “going Trump”.
Add Comment