After the resignation of the two heavyweights of his government, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, Boris Johnson faces the flight of new ministers. The undersecretary of Education, Robin Walker, has been the last to announce it, this Wednesday, assuring that the Johnson Government has made too many mistakes. Shortly before, Will Quince, also undersecretary for children and families, presented his resignation after having defended the “premier” for his role in the sexual scandal of former deputy Chris Pincher. Quince said that he was leaving the Executive with “great sadness” after Johnson admitted – after denying it – that he did know that Pincher had been investigated. Laura Trott, the parliamentary assistant in the Ministry of Transport, also resigned.
Johnson faces parliamentary fire this Wednesday, where he will try to close the government crisis, although animosity grows unstoppable among the Tory seats.
Sunak, a former Treasury secretary, and Javid, a former health secretary, resigned almost simultaneously yesterday over Johnson’s lukewarm reaction to the Pincher sex scandal. In his brief resignation message, Sunak criticized Johnson, saying a government must function “in a proper, competent and serious manner.” Javid said the UK needed “a strong and principled Conservative Party”. Both considered that the prime minister does not meet the required standards of conduct and competence.
Sunak’s resignation was compared to the 1989 resignation of Nigel Lawson as Margaret Thatcher’s Treasury Secretary, considered the key moment in her downfall (consummated, however, a year later). Johnson tried yesterday to contain the government crisis and apparently secured the support of his “second” and head of Justice, the Secretary of the Interior Priti Patel and the Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace (who appears as the favorite in the race for the succession between conservative voters).
The resignations came just after Johnson had to publicly apologize for previously designating Pincher as his “number two” and ignoring warnings about his sexual conduct since 2019.
Chris Pincher, 52, resigned as second in the parliamentary group and was suspended as a Conservative MP last Friday, after apologizing for “having drunk too much” and having tried to grope two men in public at London’s very private Carlton Club (the same that until 2008 prohibited the passage of women).
In addition to Sunak and Javid, other deputies who held positions of lesser responsibility resigned yesterday, including Bim Afolami, who resigned as vice president of the party, and Andrew Murrison, who stepped down as trade envoy to Morocco. Two private secretaries in the Conservative Party, Jonathan Gullis and Saqib Bhatti, also resigned.
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