Boris Johnson's scandal-plagued leadership was hanging by a thread on Wednesday as he fought efforts to remove him from office, despite an increasing number of cabinet colleagues urging the ailing British Prime Minister to leave.
Johnson began the day vowing to fight on, despite the surprise resignations of his finance minister, health secretary, and dozens of other lawmakers enraged by the latest saga engulfing Downing Street: the botched handling of resignation by Johnson's former deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, who was accused of groping two men last week.
Boris Johnson Refuses To Resign
Before a delegation of cabinet colleagues gathered at Downing Street to beg Johnson to quit, Johnson took a beating at Prime Minister's Questions and a humiliating appearance before a parliamentary committee of senior legislators. But Johnson was not going down without a fight. On Wednesday night, he fired close ally and senior cabinet minister Michael Gove.
However, the torrent of resignations posed the question of how a prime minister who was losing popularity could replace all of the newly vacant seats. On Wednesday afternoon, five ministers resigned in one fell swoop, and by the end of the day, Johnson had lost more than three dozen members of his administration.
While Johnson has so far refused to budge, Conservative legislators are debating reformulating party rules and voting to dismiss him if necessary, according to CNN. The delegation was led by Chris Heaton-Harris, the chief whip in charge of party discipline, which has completely collapsed due to MPs' outrage over the Chris Pincher groping affair. It comprised the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, as well as Welsh secretary, Simon Hart.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, also went to No. 10 after joining the anti-Johnson side, as did Gove, demanding the prime minister resign. Johnson, on the other hand, is believed to have told them that his departure would result in the chaos of a leadership contest during a cost-of-living crisis, followed by calls for a general election.
In subsequent talks with hesitant MPs, he pushed them to see that, despite the huge resignations, no other prospective leaders could equal his public appeal. There was cheering earlier in the Commons when a Conservative MP accused Mr. Johnson of seeking to blame other people for failures, demanding him to accept responsibility and quit, as per Independent.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Scandal
Johnson has never shied away from controversy or scandal, garnering him the reputation as a Teflon politician who can shrug off potentially career-ending disclosures.
The new incident, however, may bring a stop to Johnson's good streak, as mass resignations upset the administration. Parliament has canceled committee sessions because the Conservative Party does not have enough ministers to attend after the resignation of 44 Conservative ministers and staffers.
Johnson's most persistent and infamous scandal was parties who happened on government property during the most stringent COVID-19 lockdown times. Pincher took up the position on February 8 this year and quit on June 30 after reportedly touching two men at Piccadilly's Carlton Club. The complaint was received by another whip, who forwarded it to the top whip.
In the face of considerable criticism, Johnson was not the only one who had to defend Pincher. Johnson rebuffed committee efforts in 2021 to ban Conservative member and former minister Owen Paterson for 30 days for engaging in outrageous paid to lobby.
Johnson has also been involved in several sex scandals, including one in 2018 in which Lord Michael Ashcroft, the former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, walked in on Johnson having oral sex in his office. Johnson was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs at the time, and he had a lover named Carrie Symonds, whom he subsequently married after divorcing his wife in 2020.
Furthermore, Johnson had backed Brexit from the beginning and gone to considerable efforts to guarantee its success, including an awkward occasion in which he was accused of manipulating the queen. Also, Johnson had supported Brexit from the start and gone to great lengths to ensure its success, including an unpleasant incident in which he was accused of influencing the queen, Fox News reported.
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