Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson will resign on Thursday after days of putting up a defiant exterior in the face of an increasing number of resignations from his Cabinet.
Johnson’s tenure at the top post had been marked by a sea of scandals, including the ‘Partygate’ which refers to a number of gatherings attended by the senior lawmakers and the Prime Minister himself even as Britain was under a strict lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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His already fragile position was further compromised as allegations of sexual misconduct emerged against a senior MP of his administration Chris Pincher.
Pincher stepped down as the government’s Deputy Chief Whip after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men at a club in London.
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Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid grabbed headlines by publicly resigning earlier on Tuesday. Several others followed suit.
|As Boris Johnson teeters on the brink, the many crises of his rocky Prime Ministership
A long list of scandals
In early January, the administration came under the scanner after it emerged that Johnson and his aides had attended a ‘bring your own booze’ party on the lawns of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister’s official residence.
It later emerged the office is well-versed with the trouble from their parties, which violated the stringent Covid-19 lockdowns.
As the news broke on social media, the public responded angrily, with several Brits sharing heart-wrenching stories of them being unable to say goodbye to their loved ones who passed away during the pandemic.
In late April, Johnson’s Conservative Party was forced to suspend senior MP Neil Parish after he was caught watching pornography during a session in the House of Commons. Parish formally resigned from his post later.
The pornography row followed close on the heels of an existing discussion on sexism in the British Parliament which had been triggered by a comment on a female MP by a Conservative lawmaker.
|Rishabh Bhandari writes: Boris Johnson’s failures as a leader are catching up with him as the UK political crisis intensifies
A newspaper had published an article which an anonymous Conservative lawmaker claimed the deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, Angela Rayner, sought to distract Johnson in the Parliament by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
All these issues come at a time when Britain is going through a severe cost-of-living crisis.
The rising price of food and fuel, partially driven by supply issues triggered by the pandemic and the Ukraine war, has thrown poor light on Johnson’s leadership.
The inflation had touched an all-time high of 9.1% earlier in May with the economists predicting it will touch double digits in the coming days.
This brings us to the latest Pincher scandal that essentially sealed Johnson’s fate.
A Spectator article has put the number of members, who have resigned at 57. These mass resignations have been triggered by Johnson’s passive response to the allegations against Pincher.
The irregularities in the administration’s press statements on explaining Pincher’s election to his position too caused massive damage to Johnson’s credibility.
Though the administration was quick to defend the Prime Minister’s lack of knowledge on the sexual allegations initially, former Foreign Office official Simon MacDonald told CNN earlier on Tuesday that Johnson’s office was defending him by lying about his oblivion to the misconduct.
With the pressure mounting, Pincher resigned from office on June 30. But the damage was done by then.
Oppn welcomes news of Johnson’s resignation
“It is good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister,” Reuters quoted Keir Starmer, the leader of Opposition Labour Party, as saying.
“But it should have happened long ago. He was always unfit for office. He has been responsible for lies, scandal and fraud on an industrial scale,” he added.
UK continues to have functioning govt: Johnson’s minister tells Parliament
Ahead of Johnson’s expected resignation, Paymaster General Michael Ellis on Thursday said Britain continues to have a functioning government.
“We must continue to serve our country … It is our duty now to make sure the people of this country have a functioning government. This is true now more than ever,” said Ellis in a statement to the Parliament.
Ellis, a minister in the Cabinet Office department which oversees the running of government, added that he would not pre-empt the content of Johnson’s statement, Reuters reported.
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