LAST UPDATE: 17:29
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday defied growing calls for his resignation, Reuters reported, telling MPs he would continue in his job, following a wave of resignations from his government, including two key ministers.
Johnson made the comments in Parliament as he responded to a question from a member of his party, who asked if the prime minister believed there were circumstances under which he should resign.
“Clearly, if there were circumstances where I felt it was impossible for the government to continue to carry out the mandate that we’ve been given, or if I felt, for example, that we were being let down in our desire to support the Ukrainian people, then I would proceed to resignation,” Johnson told parliament.
“But frankly, the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances, when you’ve been given a colossal mandate, is to get on with the job,” Johnson noted, adding: “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Johnson also told MPs that the economy was facing difficult times and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represented the worst war in Europe for 80 years.
The British prime minister also said he detests bullying and abuse of power when asked why he promoted a Conservative MP after sexual harassment allegations were made against him.
A spokesman for Johnson said earlier this week that Johnson was aware of some allegations made against former Conservative caucus leader Chris Pincher, who was last week expelled from the party.
“I abhor bullying and abuse of power wherever it occurs, in this party or any other party,” Johnson told parliament when asked why Pincher had been promoted to the post.
In turn, the leader of the official opposition Keir Starmer, strongly criticizing him, pointed out meaningfully that it is “the first time a ship is sunk to save the rat”.
The British prime minister this afternoon again rejected growing calls for him to step down after a series of ministerial resignations and calls from Conservative MPs for him to step down.
Asked on his arrival for a scheduled appearance before a parliamentary committee if he would resign, Johnson replied: “No, no, no.”
The resignations
As of yesterday, Tuesday, after the first resignations of the two top government ministers, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid, the resignations followed: one of the vice-presidents of the Conservative party; the country’s deputy attorney general; four Conservative MPs from the position of secretaries of ministries; and two trade envoys. Today, among others, the Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, the Under Secretary for Education and the Under Secretary for Home Affairs Victoria Atkins, who until recently was a staunch supporter of Boris Johnson and one of the prominent figures of the Conservatives, also resigned.
The country’s media are wondering whether Boris Johnson will survive the weekend, with the Guardian calling it a “crushing blow to his power” and the Times saying the resignations were “apparently coordinated” and have brought to the prime minister “a potentially fatal blow”. But the pro-government Daily Telegraph also claims that the prime minister’s political future “hangs by a thread”.
By midday today, a total of 21 government officials had resigned. It is worth noting that all those who resigned in their statements clearly emphasize that they no longer trust the British Prime Minister.
A YouGov poll shows the same, in which 69% of respondents say Boris Johnson should resign. 13% say they have no opinion and only 18% still support him.
The reason for the “demobilization” process
It all started because once again Boris Johnson was “caught with the goat on his back”, as he denied knowing that in 2019 there had been a sexual harassment investigation against the then Undersecretary for Europe Chris Pincher. It later turned out that he knew, with the Times even claiming that Boris Johnson had been told five times about Pincher’s past and still gave him a new position within the party.
Pincher recently resigned from his latest post, that of deputy leader of the Conservative caucus, after admitting he had drunkenly assaulted two men at a Conservative party club last week.
Source: Capital
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