British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a huge blow to his authority after the Conservatives lost by-elections at the end of last week. It prompted resignations from other ministers.
This week, more Tory rebels have urged ministers to resign in a bid to force Johnson out of office, piling even more pressure on Johnson.
1922 Committee vice-chair William Wragg joined a growing group of former Tory Party leaders to urge ambitious ministers to “show a little backbone and indeed leadership.” Wragg and former ministers Damian Green and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, and former Tory leader Michael Howard, also called for the same.
Ministers and peers are demanding that senior members of Johnson’s government consider their positions after the historic and humiliating results.
Party chairman Oliver Dowden announced his resignation in the early hours of Friday last week, telling Johnson that “we cannot carry on with business as usual,” and that someone needed to take responsibility.
At the G7 summit, Johnson insisted he was unperturbed by growing plots to get him out of office. He insisted that questions over his ability to lead had been “settled” in the recent confidence vote, of which Johnson technically passed, but barely.
Johnson made claims that he is preparing for his leadership to hit a third term stretching into 2030, which sparked a fresh flurry of no confidence letters over the weekend. But Johnson insisted he had a mandate to drive his agenda.
Johnson has denied feeling any “personal shame” for voters’ loss of trust in him.
The latest setback for Johnson follows weeks of negative headlines for his government over its failure to mediate national rail strikes, the European Court of Human Rights intervening to ground refugee deportation flights to Rwanda, threatening to rip up a key Brexit agreement that would create unrest in Northern Ireland, the resignation of Lord Geidt as his chief ethics adviser over a trade policy, and a story about lobbying for his wife Carrie to be given a top governmental job.
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