Today, Sajid Javid gave Boris Johnson a scathing farewell speech in which he said, “The team is only as good as the team captain.”
The former health secretary made a personal statement to the Commons immediately following PMQs while Mr. Johnson stood by in silence. She said that upholding “honesty and integrity matters.”
He claimed to have given Mr. Johnson the “benefit of the doubt” for many months, but insisted that there was a limit after which “enough is enough.”
Mr. Javid made it clear that the Chris Pincher crisis had been the breaking point when he claimed that ministers had been dispatched numerous times to defend positions that “don’t hold up.”
We have cause to doubt the veracity and integrity of what has been told to us all once again this week. And eventually we have to say, “Enough is enough,” he said.
“I think that time is now,” you say.
The intervention came after Mr. Johnson was subjected to a barrage of criticism as he tries valiantly to hang on despite more ministers quitting and even some of his own supporters turning against him.
With his chances of surviving looking increasingly slim, Mr. Johnson rose to his feet in the chamber and joked that it is a “big day” because the government is enacting “the biggest tax cut in a decade.”
With the new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Dominic Raab by his side, Mr. Johnson rebuffed a barrage of criticism from Keir Starmer by asserting that Europe was engaged in the “biggest war in 80 years” and that he was carrying out his duties.
When Tory MP Tim Loughton rose to ask the prime minister if there were “any circumstances” in which he would resign, the premier became visibly enraged.
The job of a prime minister is to keep going, he declared, adding that he had been given a “colossal mandate” and would “hang on in there” to “win another general election.” That’s what I’m going to do as well.
Victoria Atkins, the minister for prisons, John Glen, Robin Walker, the minister for cities, and Will Quince, the minister for children, all made a fool of themselves by leaving just before the PMQs session.
Jo Churchill, the environment minister, was tweeting her resignation as he was speaking.
The government’s “fractured ideals” were criticized by Ms. Atkins, Mr. Glen expressed a “total lack of faith” in the premier, and Mr. Walker criticized “mistakes and issues about integrity.”
When Mr. Quince joined the exodus, criticizing No. 10’s “inaccurate” claims regarding the Chris Pincher allegations, Mr. Zahawi was in the middle of an interview on the BBC’s flagship Today program.
A somber-looking Mr. Zahawi responded when asked if it meant Mr. Johnson’s tenure in office was “over”: “I am deeply sorry to see colleagues leave government.”
As the challenge to the PM intensifies, more junior aides have also begun to leave their positions. He will face a three-hour grilling from the influential Liaison Committee, which will include some of his savagest detractors, after completing the ordeal of PMQs at noon.
Although Mr. Sunak does not intend to use the platform, MailOnline has learned that Mr. Javid will make what could be a very damaging resignation statement in the Commons this afternoon. It will fuel worries in No. 10 that he might attempt to imitate Geoffrey Howe’s parting shot from 1990, which helped bring down Margaret Thatcher.
Mutinous Conservatives are pleading on Sir Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 committee on the backbench, to intervene and inform the premier that his time is up. When it meets this afternoon, they make a commitment to alter the party’s rules so he can be removed if he persists.
I have this morning presented my resignation to the Prime Minister after I accepted and repeated promises to the media on Monday that have since been proved to be incorrect, Mr. Quince tweeted.
Senior backbenchers Lee Anderson, Chris Skidmore, and Robert Halfon have all come forward to say they no longer trust Mr. Johnson.
However, despite worries that the Conservative brand will suffer severe harm, Mr. Johnson is not showing any signs of giving in and reportedly responded, “F*** that,” when asked about the possibility by aides.
He stated at a meeting of Conservative MPs last night that he wanted to move forward with tax reductions and that Mr. Sunak had been the one holding him back.
And The Mail+ reported that Mr. Johnson had told friends to “stop fighting.”
I’m not leaving, he declared. I’m going to push through and fulfill what the voters who gave us a significant mandate asked of me.
Mr. Zahawi, who was appointed shortly after the resignations last night as the PM tried to right the ship, was sent to the broadcast studios this morning to show his support.
He denied making any resignation threats in exchange for the coveted No. 11 position, and when asked if he wanted to succeed Mr. Johnson, he said, “There is no vacancy.”
“You don’t go into this job for an easy life, sometimes it’s easy to walk away, but it’s important to deliver for the country,” he said in an interview with Sky News.
The prime minister has earned the moniker “Greased Piglet” for his propensity to flee politically dire circumstances, but even his former allies worry that he might be cornered this time.
Laura Trott’s resignation as a ministerial assistant is another indication that support is waning.
In the confusion that followed the double resignation, Mr. Zahawi was promoted from Education Secretary, but a government source insisted that he is the “adventurous and buccaneering chancellor Britain needs.”
And Mr. Johnson himself took another shot at Mr. Sunak, saying he had prevented the tax burden from being lowered.
He said, “I know you’re all avidly in favor of tax cuts and tonight’s events might make that a bit easier to deliver,” to a hastily called meeting of Tory MPs last night.
The government source claimed that despite doing a “fabulous job,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has long coveted No. 11, was “too critical to move” because of the Ukrainian crisis and the Northern Ireland Protocol controversy.
The PM replaced Mr. Javid as Health Secretary with Steve Barclay, his chief of staff.
Michelle Donelan, a minister for universities, was elevated to the Cabinet to take Mr. Zahawi’s place.
There was talk that the PM might face a mass walkout after two such senior ministers left. People expected honesty and competence, according to Mr. Javid, who also cautioned Mr. Johnson that voters were “concluding that we are now neither.”
Indicating disagreements over taxes and spending, Mr. Sunak asserted that the public had a right to expect the government to act “properly, competently, and seriously.”
The PM’s top team was seen yesterday at a Cabinet meeting with glum expressions as they discussed the most recent crisis to grip the Government.
‘You’ve seen the pictures, haven’t you?’ a minister reportedly said to the Mail. Where are the cyanide pills, I hear you ask? However, a number of influential people quickly declared that they would remain, giving Mr. Johnson a slim chance of surviving.
Former chief whip Andrew Mitchell compared Boris Johnson to Rasputin.
“It reminds me a little bit of Rasputin’s demise.” The Conservative MP said on BBC Newsnight, “He’s been poisoned, stabbed, shot, and his body dumped in the freezing river, yet he lives.
He was adamant that the Prime Minister’s career was “over.”
This Prime Minister is “an abnormal one” who is “brilliantly charming, very humorous, very amusing, and of enormous character, but I’m afraid he lacks the temperament and character to be our Prime Minister.”
It happened soon after Lord McDonald of Salford published a damaging letter, giving Mr. Johnson’s detractors more justification for criticizing his selection of alleged groper Chris Pincher for the whips position.
Mr. Sunak stated in his resignation letter that he was willing to give up his political career because “we cannot continue like this.”
In his essay, he stated that “the public rightly expects government to be conducted properly, competently, and seriously.”
Mr. Javid, meanwhile, cast doubt on Mr. Johnson’s honesty, skill, and capacity to act in the country’s best interests.
In a round of interviews this morning, Mr. Zahawi was questioned about his desire to succeed Mr. Johnson as leader.
‘There is no vacancy,’ he said.
He added: ‘First of all, I will be working very hard to make sure that this team continues to deliver. The Prime Minister is focused on delivery, delivery, delivery.’
Pressed on whether his reason for taking the job was to do with personal ambition, he said: ‘No, as I said to you, sometimes walking away may give you some respite, dare I say, but the idea that you have to deliver for the country, I think, is the right thing to do.’
On Mr Quince’s resignation, Mr Zahawi told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘He felt let down, clearly. All I would say to my colleagues is people don’t vote for divided teams.’
Mr Zahawi said he is going to ‘look at everything’ when asked about his tax plans.
The new Chancellor said ‘nothing’s off the table’ when pressed on his vision for corporation tax.
Asked what immediate plans he had made with the Prime Minister when it came to cutting taxes and tackling inflation, he told Sky News: “On my first day at work, we had a chat about how my responsibility is to revive and expand the economy.
I’ll take a close look at everything to ensure that we stay on the side of the people.
When questioned explicitly about his plans for corporation tax, he responded, “I will look at everything. Nothing is off the table. One of the nations with the best investment climates is what I want to.
“I am aware that boards from all around the world consider the long term when making investment decisions, and corporation tax is the one tax they can compare globally. While upholding economic restraint, I want to make sure that we are as competitive as we can be.
The resignations of Mr. Sunak and Mr. Javid occurred despite Mr. Johnson desperately attempting to head off the situation with a groveling apologies for his selection of disgraced MP Mr. Pincher as deputy chief whip. Both men’s aides maintain that their departures were not planned.
If there is a leadership election, the bookies’ favorites are former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, trade minister Penny Mordaunt, foreign secretary Liz Truss, and ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak.
‘I leave as Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice with sadness and regret,’ Ms. Atkins stated in her resignation letter.
Values like integrity, decent behavior, respect, and professionalism need to be important to all of us. Under your leadership, via Paterson, Partygate, and Pincher, I have watched with growing anxiety as those ideals have become more and more shattered. In an effort to be loyal to you as Prime Minister and to our outstanding party, I have always given you the benefit of the doubt.
But this week’s events prevented these contortions from becoming conceivable.
The way Minister Will Quince was treated indifferently and the information in Lord McDonald’s letter show how far your government has strayed from these objectives. I can’t pirouette around our shattered principles any longer. We have the capacity to do better than this.
This is happening at a time when our constituents are experiencing severe cost-of-living pressures for the first time in decades. We must lead the nation in focusing firmly on these challenges. We are unable to offer that focus at this time.
“It has been an honor and a pleasure for me to serve as a minister.”
I am proud to have steered the historic Domestic Abuse Act through the legislative process, which will benefit countless victims in the years to come.
I am also proud to have supported the prison officers and staff who defend the public on a daily basis and to have carried out the Rape Review and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which will bring about much-needed changes in the criminal justice system for rape and vulnerable victims.
Johnson’s position is “untenable,” but Sir Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons justice committee, told Times Radio that Johnson “may well seek to cling on” and that he will hurt the Conservatives for as long as he does.
The executive positions will be up for election next Wednesday, according to the 1922 committee, which establishes the rules for the parliamentary party.
Both Mr. Johnson’s supporters and detractors will compete for seats in order to have a say in whether or not he faces another vote of confidence, which might occur right away.
The PM has a 12-month grace period before facing another challenge after surviving a vote by a margin of 211 to 148 last month.
With disastrous losses in the by-elections for Tiverton and Wakefield since then, however, there has been a new round of crisis, and his detractors are attempting to change the rules to allow another vote before the summer break.
Yesterday, Tory rebels made it known that they were sending Sir Graham letters of no confidence in order to force a vote on confidence right away, if the rules were altered.
If the 12-month grace period is eliminated, and 54 of the party’s 358 MPs submit letters, a leadership challenge will occur. Then, in a subsequent confidence vote, Mr. Johnson’s detractors would require the support of more than half of the party’s MPs to have him removed.
If the leader fails to get a majority, he or she resigns and cannot stand in the contest.
A snap YouGov poll last night found seven in 10 Brits believe Mr Johnson should resign, while a majority who voted Conservative in 2019 also want him gone.
Ben Wallace has been consistently the most popular potential leadership contender in regular surveys by the ConservativeHome website.
In the latest poll this week, 15.8 per cent said the Defence Secretary should lead the party, just ahead of Penny Mordaunt on 15.5 per cent and Liz Truss on 13.9 per cent.
Tom Tugendhat, who is chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, was backed by 7 per cent of members, with Mr Zahawi on 6.6 per cent and former leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt on 6.4 per cent.
Although the poll is not entirely scientific, it is closely watched by MPs and ministers.
Leadership contenders need two nominations from colleagues to put themselves forward.
A series of votes would be held among the party’s MPs to determine which two candidates end up on the ballot paper.
In the last contest in 2019, 66 per cent of members chose Mr Johnson over Mr Hunt.
Mr Johnson’s immediate survival chances were boosted by senior figures including Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, Priti Patel, Ben Wallace and Therese Coffey declaring they will not be resigning.
Notably Michael Gove, who notoriously stabbed Mr Johnson in the back to end his leadership hopes in 2016, does not appear to be jumping ship.
However, the losses in the middle ranks are starting to rack up significantly.
Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk quit as Solicitor General saying he could not ‘defend the indefensible’.
Tory vice-chair Bim Afolami announced his exit live on TV last night, while former loyalist Jonathan Gullis, Saqib Bhatti, Nicola Richards and Virginia Crosbie stepped down from PPS roles.
Theo Clarke and Andrew Murrison also left as trade envoys to Kenya and Morocco respectively.
Lord Frost, previously Mr Johnson’s key Brexit minister, said Mr Sunak and Mr Javid had done the ‘right thing’ and the premier could not change.
Even Cabinet ministers staying in place sounded a gloomy tone privately, with one telling MailOnline yesterday that some of their closest colleagues had ‘run out of sympathy with the PM’.