Boris Johnson fights for political life amid resignations from his party
Johnson’s moves to quickly fill the top roles did not stem the tide of further — albeit more junior — resignations. By late Wednesday morning, at least 15 Conservative politicians had resigned from their posts in protest over Johnson’s leadership.
The resignations, which have followed a string of scandals, have prompted numerous questions: How long can Johnson survive? Is this the endgame for Johnson? Is there any way to oust him?
The majority of the British public think that he should throw in the towel now. A YouGov poll published on Tuesday found that a majority of Britons (69 percent) think Johnson should resign — including a majority of Conservative voters (54 percent).
Only 18 percent of the British public think that Johnson should stay.
Johnson has made it clear that — if it’s up to him — he’s going to stay where he is. And under the current Conservative Party rules, there’s no formal way for Johnson’s critics to quickly get rid of him.
Rob Ford, a politics expert at the University of Manchester, drew parallels to 2016 when, following the Brexit vote, the then leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, suffered mass resignations from his shadow cabinet in an attempt to oust the Labour leader. While some leaders may have read the room and decided to call it quits, Ford said, Corbyn did not and remained leader until the spring of 2020.
“Likewise, with Johnson, there is widespread opposition to his leadership. You got a leader who won’t bow to informal pressure to go, and the only formal mechanism you have isn’t available. So you’re in a limbo state,” said Ford.
A group in the Conservative Party attempted to dislodge Johnson from his post last month by calling a no-confidence vote in his leadership but because he survived that vote — narrowly — he is insulated from additional party challenges for a year.
There has been much talk in recent days about how those rules can be changed. And in the upcoming days, Conservative lawmakers will elect new members of the powerful 1922 Committee, which makes the rules. Some of those campaigning for roles have suggested that they would support allowing another vote of no confidence.
In the meantime, the number of resignations, including from former loyalists, continues to climb. Analysts say that Johnson is lucky insomuch as their reasons for losing faith in Johnson seem to be varied — his critics aren’t coalescing around a single issue, the way that those who helped to get rid of Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor, did when they ditched her.
One of the lawmakers to resign his post on Wednesday was Will Quince, children and families minister. He said that he could not accept the way in which he was asked to defend Downing Street over the most recent scandal, which involved Conservative lawmaker Chris Pincher.
Quince did a number of broadcast interviews defending the prime minister over Pincher, who had recently quit as deputy chief whip following accusations that he assaulted two men while drunk. Downing Street initially said that Johnson was not aware of historic allegations of misconduct, but then later backtracked to say that he was. Quince said that he had been sent out on the air waves with “inaccurate” information about Johnson’s knowledge of events and had “accepted and repeated those assurances in good faith.”
Ford, the analyst, said that while Johnson could limp on until such time as another confidence vote is held, the chances of him leading the Conservative Party into the next general election, scheduled for 2025, seemed slim.
“At the very least, another confidence vote becomes possible 11 months from now. What exactly will change between now and then to recover confidence in Johnson?” Ford asked. “At this point, I think it would take something close to a biblical miracle. Nothing can be ruled out with the luckiest politician in British politics but it would take something extraordinary.”