Boris Johnson

The two ministers resigned after a day in which the prime minister acknowledged he had changed his story on how he handled sexual misconduct allegations ...

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who seems to have spent half of his premiership apologizing for something, is in hot water again. Big time.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is clinging to power after two of his most senior Cabinet ministers quit, saying they had lost confidence in Johnson's ...

Two of the U.K.'s top Cabinet ministers resigned in quick succession Tuesday in protest of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of misconduct allegations ...

Down-ballot races that rarely get national attention — in addition to a record number of abortion-related ballot measures — are now viewed as the last line of defense in the fight to protect reproductive rights. Why it matters: The Roe v. - Sunak wrote in his letter that he determined Johnson's approach to the economy is "fundamentally too different" from his own to continue serving. - Johnson said Tuesday he "bitterly" regretted the decision not to act on the complaint against Pincher, and that elevating him to a top position "was the wrong thing to do." Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was once seen as the likeliest successor to Johnson before seeing his own popularity plunge during the "Partygate" scandal, wrote in his resignation letter that the "public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously." Driving the news: In the latest scandal to rock the British government, Johnson's spokesperson admitted Tuesday that the prime minister had been made aware of a sexual misconduct complaint against Conservative MP Chris Pincher in 2019 — but then " forgot" about it.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face questions in parliament followed by a grilling by senior lawmakers on Wednesday, with his premiership on the ...

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson on June 24, 2022. (CNN) Boris Johnson's Conservative government is in deep crisis, engulfed once more in a ...

The government's poor handling of Pincher's resignation means the scandal is now tied to Johnson personally. "The biggest threat to this government is its own staggering incompetence," said one senior government official. While he did not admit the allegations directly, Pincher said in a letter to Johnson The details of how Downing Street got itself into such a mess bear laying out. But that was overtaken within minutes by the resignation of the two Cabinet members. Finance minister Rishi Sunak also resigned, saying that people "rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously."

LONDON — Boris Johnson is digging in as U.K. prime minister, after the resignation of two of the most senior members of his government brought his ...

Six years since he successfully urged Britons to voted to leave the European Union, the economic arguments for doing so have failed to bear fruit. After narrowly failing to oust Johnson in a confidence vote last month, Tory rebels had been calling on senior cabinet ministers to take matters into their own hands. “In hindsight it was the wrong thing to do. For many rebels, the rot started when Johnson launched an ultimately botched effort to save a Tory colleague found to have broken Parliament ethics rules. “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak wrote in his resignation letter. He and his office haven’t replied to repeated requests for comment.

Already beset by various scandals and electoral setbacks, Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered even greater body blows on Tuesday with the resignation of both ...

The most compelling strength of the UK economy is employment. It’s not peaches and cream by any stretch but all the main parts of the economy are in reasonable shape when you consider the whole world shut down and then dramatically restarted. The banking sector has been at pains — under the steely eye of the Prudential Regulation Authority — not to leave itself exposed to potential non-performing loans. What matters is that the Bank of England has renewed confidence to continue its rate-hiking cycle to combat inflation. That potential fiscal splurge is hard to model into economic estimates, so be careful when listening to some of the more apocalyptic forecasts. Britain certainly feels fragile at the moment with runaway inflation, war in Ukraine and all manner of local difficulties plaguing the UK body politic.

Britain's prime minister moved quickly to name replacements for Rishi Sunak as chancellor of the Exchequer and Sajid Javid as health secretary.

One reason the cabinet’s support is important for Mr. Johnson is that it has prevented a major figure from emerging as a rival to him. It is that last quality, analysts say, that made Mr. Johnson so vulnerable to the setbacks he has suffered. Several analysts said the impact of those resignations was likely to shatter whatever support Mr. Johnson still had in the party. Mr. Johnson and his opponent, Jeremy Hunt, who were chosen as the party’s finalists, spent six hectic weeks campaigning before a vote among 160,000 members of the party. Differences in policy approaches and a succession of economic shocks have impeded the government’s efforts to pursue a consistent economic strategy. But those rules could be changed by the senior hierarchy of the Conservative Party in Parliament. Mr. Sunak announced billions of pounds in additional spending in May to help people with the rising cost of living, partly funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. The appointment of Mr. Zahawi is a significant promotion. On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak cited the economy in his explanation for why he resigned as chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain’s top finance official. More information is needed about whether Mr. Johnson will stay in power and the plans of his replacement ministers. He was suspended from the party while the accusations were being investigated, but he has not resigned as a member of Parliament. That means that cabinet resignations could be the only effective method of pressuring him to resign.

UK's Boris Johnson fights for his political survival after top resignations and scandals · U.K. · British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid ...

Only a real change of government can give Britain the fresh start it needs." It has since emerged that Johnson appointed him to the role despite knowing of previous misconduct allegations against him. As a number of senior Tories called for Johnson to quit, the government's former Brexit negotiator David Frost also joined the fray, calling on the prime minister to step down without delay. As he faced such a vote only last month, a new challenge would require a rule change to allow another vote within the next 12 months. - But despite calls to resign, the prime minister shows no signs of being ready to stand down. Health Secretary Sajid Javid, likewise, resigned in protest against Johnson's leadership, which has been beset by controversy and scandal in recent months.

The resignations of Sunak and Javid would have knocked out any other prime minister. This one's still standing.

The result is a barrel-scraped cabinet and a prime minister clinging on by his fingertips. But the old adage that “he who wields the knife never wears the crown” — and the knowledge that many lightweight loyalists around Johnson are unlikely to see high office under another Tory prime minister — ensured that ranks remained unbroken. Remembering the cabinet revolt that heralded the downfall of Margaret Thatcher — Britain’s toughest, most successful prime minister — Tory dissidents have recently been begging senior ministers in public and private to send Johnson packing. Another sucker punch came from Javid the health secretary, who told Johnson in his farewell missive that “you have lost my confidence too” and boldly questioned the prime minister’s integrity. In other words, the prime minister wants to buy off voters’ enraged by tax rises and inflation while the chancellor has nightmares about the mounting deficit. But the chancellor was frustrated by the air of permanent crisis hanging over government and contradictory policy-making: his resignation letter declared he had been prepared to compromise and accept collective responsibility for decisions he didn’t agree with, but his differences with the prime minister were now too great to continue in office.

His most senior ministers are getting off the carousel of chaos because they just don't see him governing the country.

He wants a wife and he wants a mistress, responsibility and freedom, power and popularity. The latest scandal is over the appointment to a senior parliamentary position—responsible for enforcing party discipline—of a Tory lawmaker named Christopher Pincher, who had been accused of sexual impropriety. Now Britain is back to where it was only a few years ago, when, riven by Brexit and the failure to implement the result of the referendum, the country seemed utterly ungovernable. On the way up, Boris was a mocking, disdainful jester able to poke fun at the British political class, which had been failing for years even as it patted itself on the back. The U.K. today is a country without direction, without an idea, and without a government capable of governing. What Britain has is a prime minister with instincts, sometimes good, sometimes bad, who almost as a point of principle refuses ever to temper or abrogate them in any way.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday was fighting for his political life as more ministers and aides continued to quit his government, ...

One of the lawmakers to resign his post on Wednesday was Will Quince, children and families minister. The majority of the British public think that he should throw in the towel now. 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. 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. And under the current Conservative Party rules, there’s no formal way for Johnson’s critics to quickly get rid of him. The resignations, which have followed a string of scandals, have prompted numerous questions: How long can Johnson survive?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hold on power was shaken by two major resignations Tuesday. On Wednesday, he vowed to remain in power.

“Mr. Johnson has for three days now been sending ministers — in one case a Cabinet minister — out to defend the indefensible, effectively to lie on his behalf. In hindsight it was the wrong thing to do.” An investigation upheld the complaint, and Pincher apologized for his actions, McDonald said. “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak said. But until Tuesday his Cabinet had largely stayed put and loyal. That account didn’t sit well with Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant at the U.K. Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020. The latest scandal began Thursday, when Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip amid complaints that he groped two men at a private club. “I regret to say, however, that it is clear this situation will not change under your leadership — and you have therefore lost my confidence too.” Johnson’s authority had already been shaken by last month’s confidence vote. That cannot be allowed to continue,” Gale told the BBC. “This prime minister has trashed the reputation of a proud and honorable party for honesty and decency, and that is not acceptable.″ Asked if it was an error to appoint Pincher to the government, Johnson said, “I think it was a mistake, and I apologize for it. Johnson told lawmakers Wednesday that “the job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you’ve been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going.”

Momentum is building against U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and he is in danger of being forced to resign amid accusations he lied about a ministerial ...

One of Boris Johnson's allies claimed that Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid had failed to "tap up" support from other cabinet ministers, before announcing their ...

The chairman of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady, could go to No 10 with - metaphorically - a pile of no confidence letters under his arm. I don't want this to go on until the Autumn." This includes an MP who prominently supported him in the last leadership contest. And what is striking is that I have spoken to a number of Conservative MPs who backed Boris Johnson in the last confidence vote, who would not support him in the next one. If Boris Johnson were to be defeated in a confidence vote, then nominations would be open for a new leader - with MPs potentially whittling the candidates down to the final two before the summer recess. After a wave of high profile resignations, Number 10 will be keen to say they have stabilised the ship - there is a new chancellor, with a new approach, a new health secretary and a new education secretary.

BORIS ICE AGE: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his political life today, again. He faces a grilling by chairs of the British Parliament's ...

DIPLOMACY — HOW STATES AND CITIES CAN STEP UP: The Truman Center has rolled out a plan for cities, states and communities across the United States to contribute to foreign policy. BOTSWANA — CONVENES DEMOCRATS: The Botswana government and National Democratic Institute are co-hosting an International Summit on Constitutionalism and Democratic Consolidation in Africa from today to Friday: Register to watch the livestream. Whatever happens in that vote, Saied plans to rule by decree through the end of the year. While the ship is sailing under a Russian flag, a complicated web of companies is involved. The key point: Methane comes from a mix of human activity (including oil and gas exploration and cattle farming) and natural sources such as tropical wetlands and Arctic tundra, and is partially mopped up by hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere. BORIS THE REMAINER: There is no easy mechanism to force Johnson out of power, and Johnson insists he will stay on. The number of taxpayers fell by a third and the deficit ballooned, making debt payments impossible once Covid costs further drained the budget. The country has already defaulted and now it has all but run out of fuel. He also locked in Britain’s net zero emissions pathway — the end point of a 15-year process started under David Cameron, which saw the British Conservatives split from their American and Australian counterparts on climate. His personal life has been characterized by it; he injected it into the 2016 Brexit referendum by choosing the “Leave” side at the last minute (despite growing up in Brussels as the son of an EU official); and he arrived in Downing Street after spending months destabilizing Prime Minister Theresa May, his party leader. The likely next step: a rule change to enable another vote of confidence in Johnson’s leadership. Blinken’s meeting will come on the heels of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaking Tuesday, which signals a possible tariff roll-back this month.

Two top ministers and a slew of more junior officials resigned this week, saying they could no longer serve under Johnson's scandal-tarred leadership.

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in serious trouble — again — with more than 25 members of his government resigning in the past day.

It was made worse by a series of scandals — dubbed “Partygate” — over several parties being held at Downing Street when lockdowns and social distancing were in place during the worst of the pandemic. And he has been criticized over the mounting cost-of-living crisis in the U.K. “Mr. Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation,” McDonald said. Johnson was criticized for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The committee is set to meet Wednesday and could decide to elect new members next week. But since then, he has lost the public’s confidence: In a new YouGov poll, 69 percent of Britons said Johnson should resign, and many of his party members agree. Johnson says he has no plans to quit. But Pincher last week resigned from that post amid a scandal, as the British press widely reported that he had allegedly tried to grope several men while intoxicated at a bar. At first, as the scandal broke and Pincher resigned, Johnson’s official spokesman said the prime minister did not know of earlier incidents of Pincher’s alleged misconduct. He resigned from his post as government whip in 2017 after a Conservative Party activist accused him of making unwanted advances toward him. Sunak said: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. Having a senior cabinet member resign is a big deal in British politics, and Sunak and Javid were in particularly important positions.

Boris Johnson's scandal-ravaged premiership appeared on the brink of collapse Wednesday, after numerous ministers and former allies pulled their support for ...

Johnson has developed a good relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and been a leading player in Europe's response to Russia's invasion. Johnson's efforts to cling to power were branded "pathetic" by the opposition leader Keir Starmer, who also turned his attack towards the few allies in his Cabinet still propping him up. Numerous Prime Ministers have been dumped from office by sudden and deadly rebellions within their own parties, with leaders typically choosing to resign once the writing is on the wall. "The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously," Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in his resignation letter on Tuesday night. Less than three years ago, Johnson secured a landslide election win and then enacted Brexit, a political revolution for which many within his party had clamored for decades. His longtime ally and senior Cabinet minister, Michael Gove, also urged him on Wednesday afternoon to accept that his time is up, two senior advisers with knowledge of the situation confirmed to CNN. That news was first reported by Mail+, Daily Mail's digital platform.

The British prime minister is under increasing pressure to step down. More than two dozen officials in his government resigned on Wednesday, and he received ...

One reason the cabinet’s support is important for Mr. Johnson is that it has prevented a major figure from emerging as a rival to him. Several analysts said the impact of those resignations was likely to shatter whatever support Mr. Johnson still had in the party. Differences in policy approaches and a succession of economic shocks have impeded the government’s efforts to pursue a consistent economic strategy. Mr. Sunak announced billions of pounds in additional spending in May to help people with the rising cost of living, partly funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. He has spoken often about how Britain has given him and his family “everything” and he feels a duty to serve the nation. But she also expressed strong support for Mr. Johnson after the departure of two of his Cabinet ministers on Tuesday, so it remains to be seen if that loyalty might wound her politically. He added that the events of recent months had made it “increasingly difficult” to be on Mr. Johnson’s team. According to Tory rules, Mr. Johnson would usually be expected to stay in the post until a new leader was elected, as Mrs. May did in 2019 and David Cameron in 2016. Addressing Mr. Johnson in the letter, Mr. Walker wrote: “You won the confidence of your colleagues just a few weeks ago, but the events and revelations since have undermined this. And he did his best to project a defiant image: According to the Times of London, when an ally asked him on Tuesday evening whether he planned to resign, he replied with the epithet “F- that.” The situation appeared to worsen for Mr. Johnson on Wednesday afternoon, as the BBC reported that Michael Gove, an influential cabinet member, had told the prime minister that it was time to go. Several other officials have since followed, including Will Quince, the minister for children and families, who at the start of the week had stoutly defended Mr. Johnson’s role in the scandal.

On Tuesday two top cabinet ministers resigned in protest at his handling of allegations of misconduct against a prominent Conservative Party lawmaker.

The number of resignations from ministers in his government now stands at 20 and there is no sign of let-up. The resignations of Javid and Sunak are particularly significant because both ministers have remained loyal to Johnson throughout the different scandals, including the damaging Partygate affair, when Downing Street held multiple parties during the Covid lockdown. UPDATE 07:55 AM PST: In the two hours since we first posted this story the number of resignations has jumped to 30, with Sky News now running an on-screen ticker to keep track of the total.

Londres (CNN) — El primer ministro del Reino Unido, Boris Johnson, recibió un gran golpe este martes cuando dos de sus principales ministros anunciaron su…

Durante una entrevista con Tom Newton Dunn, de The News Desk, Afolami dijo: “No creo que el primer ministro tenga ya mi apoyo… “He sido miembro del Partido Conservador toda mi vida adulta, un partido que creo que representa la oportunidad para todos. “Me entristece dejar el Gobierno, pero he llegado renuentemente a la conclusión de que no podemos seguir así”. Aunque no admitió directamente las acusaciones, Pincher dijo en una carta a Johnson: “Anoche bebí demasiado” y “me avergoncé a mí mismo y a otras personas”. Cuando surgieron esos informes, Downing Street negó inicialmente que el primer ministro supiera algo concreto sobre ellos. Luego, el equipo de Johnson dijo que había conocido las acusaciones previas, pero que habían sido “resueltas”. Cuando salió a la luz que una de las acusaciones contra Pincher, de la que no se había informado anteriormente, había sido confirmada, el portavoz de Johnson explicó que “resuelta” podía significar que había sido confirmada.

El primer ministro británico, Boris Johnson puede estar en las últimas tras una oleada de dimisiones ministeriales en las últimas 24 horas que han sacudido ...

El miércoles, Johnson se enfrentó a las airadas preguntas de los altos diputados del Partido Conservador que están estudiando un posible voto de confianza para destituirlo. Johnson dice que no recuerda exactamente lo que sucedió en esa noche. Una encuesta reciente de YouGov que rastrea la popularidad del primer ministro muestra que sus índices se han desplomado de nuevo por debajo del 50%. Sin embargo, un sondeo de YouGov realizado el martes indicaba que el 69% de los británicos quería que Johnson dimitiera.

El primer ministro británico, Boris Johnson, enfrenta una crisis de credibilidad en su gobierno que está generando nuevas presiones en las propias filas ...

El ruido povenía de la bancada opositora en lo que fue la sesión de control más dura para Boris Johnson desde que ganó las elecciones. El final de Boris Johnson como primer ministro parece inminente. A Westminster lo define el poder. "¿Es el final?" Y las respuestas siguen cambiando, a menudo en respuesta a hechos incómodos que demuestran que su anterior defensa era una basura, o al menos no tan sincera como podría haber sido", señala Manson. Pero eso no es excusa, yo debí haber actuado a partir de ella". , le pregunté a un ministro del gabinete. En la tarde se le acumulaban las cartas de renuncia y de ausencia de confianza, e incluso los más leales a Johnson reconocían en privado, pero también abiertamente y con detalles, que el juego se acabó. Otro mecanismo que podría llevar a la salida de Johnson es que se convoque un voto de censura en el Parlamento, en el cual los legisladores de todos los partidos puedan participar. Y es que la respuesta del Ejecutivo al escándalo de Pincher ha ido cambiando progresivamente a medida que han ido surgiendo otros elementos, como ocurrió durante el llamado partygate, el caso sobre las fiestas realizadas en la sede del gobierno durante el confinamiento por el coronavirus, en el cual finalmente se comprobó que incluso Johnson había asistido a alguna de estas reuniones sociales. Sin embargo, el 4 de julio, el portavoz del mandatario dijo que Johnson conocía sobre "acusaciones que fueron resueltas o no progresaron hasta la fase de queja formal" y que no se había considerado apropiado detener el nombramiento de Pincher debido a "acusaciones no sustentadas". Aquel intento de destituirlo tuvo lugar después de que salieron a la luz pública fotos y pruebas de encuentros y celebraciones en la sede del gobierno mientras el resto del país se encontraba confinado por las restricciones impuestas por el propio gobierno de Johnson durante la pandemia.

Londres (CNN) -- El primer ministro del Reino Unido, Boris Johnson, se enfrenta a su peor crisis hasta el momento, luego de la dimisión de dos altos ...

Si se elige a un número suficiente de legisladores contrarios a Johnson, entonces existe una gran probabilidad de que cambien las reglas. Las reglas del Partido Conservador dictan que si un lider gana el voto de confianza, entonces son inmunes a cualquier desafío de su cargo por 12 meses. Cuando salió a la luz que una de las acusaciones contra Pincher, de la que no se había informado anteriormente, había sido confirmada, el portavoz de Johnson explicó que "resuelta" podía significar que había sido confirmada.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has weathered scandal after scandal during his three years at 10 Downing Street, but this time he faces a near-complete ...

But he seems determined to press on and defy the odds one more time. After days of dissembling from 10 Downing Street — which has become a very familiar pattern — Johnson admitted his previous knowledge and apologized for hiring Pincher. Shortly after, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the Health secretary, resigned. The rebellion within his own party, marked by mass resignations, is growing fiercer by the moment.

El intento del premier de aferrarse a su cargo a pesar de las masivas renuncias en su gabinete “es un grave error”, según el influyente The Times, ...

“Con Johnson, no hay posibilidad”. Eso solo socava aún más la confianza pública”. Cada día que permanece profundiza la sensación de caos.

The Conservative rebellion has come for Boris Johnson. The United Kingdom prime minister's position looks increasingly in peril, as Johnson faces dozens of ...

And in May, the Conservatives lost hundreds of seats in local elections, a sign that the electorate was moving against Johnson and his party. Johnson and his backers had used Russia’s war in Ukraine to try to tamp down some of the Partygate criticism, and to make the case against a change in leadership during the war. The first is less relevant now, and the second doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. It may be less a matter of if, than when and how, Johnson goes. Johnson has always had a reputation for having a loose relationship with the truth, and it’s not surprising he’s been caught up in a cycle of cover-ups, and then having to apologize for those cover-ups. In some ways, Johnson’s premiership almost seemed as if it was waiting for the thing to bring it down. Even after Johnson survived the no-confidence vote, the party lost two seats in June by-elections (held because two MPs had to resign, also because of sex scandals). One, in Tiverton and Honiton, reversed a Conservative majority of 24,000. As of Wednesday, the 1922 Committee, which oversees the Conservatives in Parliament, has declined to change those rules, but it’s having its own committee elections right now, and after that, could revisit those rules. Not only that, but much of the country was on extreme lockdown and couldn’t visit family or friends in the hospital, let alone host parties. Both Javid and Sunak are major figures in the Conservative Party who may have their own designs on leadership, so their departures were already going to be hard to overcome. Some ultimately interpreted it as the start of a downfall for the once-dominant politician. Johnson held on to his job, but the margin was slim enough to leave him politically weakened.

In twenty-four hours, more than three dozen ministers and aides deserted Johnson and left the U.K. with gaping holes in its government.

“The original No 10 line is not true,” McDonald wrote, referring to 10 Downing Street, “and the modification is still not accurate.” Johnson acknowledged that a complaint had been raised with him and said that he should have acted on it, but he also said, “I’m fed up with people saying things on my behalf or trying to say things about what I did or didn’t know.” “Last night I drank far too much,” Pincher wrote in his resignation letter to Johnson. “I’ve embarrassed myself and other people which is the last thing I want to do and for that I apologise to you and to those concerned.” He is coöperating with an investigation into his behavior. When the questions were over, Johnson had to sit through Javid’s resignation speech, which effectively urged the rest of Johnson’s team to abandon him. Ian Blackford, the parliamentary leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster, compared Johnson to a dead parrot. Andrew Murrison, the trade envoy to Morocco, described the “rolling chaos” of his premiership. It is a wonderful and necessary fact of political biology that we never know when our time is up,” Johnson wrote, in 2006, about Tony Blair. “We kid ourselves that we must stay because we would be ‘letting people down’ or that there is a ‘job to be finished.’ In reality, we are just terrified of the comedown.” At one point, when Johnson tried one of his usual attack lines on the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and his team, the Labour front bench began to wave farewell, in unison. The double resignation was the start of a twenty-four-hour putsch in which more than three dozen ministers and aides deserted Johnson—his moral authority had evaporated some time ago—and left the nation with gaping holes in its government. “I tell you that the prime minister will not go early—because it is simply not in his nature. “We may not have always been popular, but we have been competent in acting in the national interest,” Javid wrote, in his resignation letter. By the time Johnson stood up to face Prime Minister’s Questions, in the House of Commons, at noon, it was becoming hard to keep count of the resignations, or to know on which social-media platform to find them. “Sadly, in the current circumstances, the public are concluding that we are now neither.” Sunak said he was leaving because voters expected the government to be run seriously.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains defiant, insisting he won't resign after another crisis rocked his leadership.

MARX: Well, in a word, yes, at least in terms of the mechanics and at least for a few more days. And having won his party a very substantial majority in a general election just back in 2019, Johnson's argument today seems to be that he retains a powerful mandate from the British public, even though a series of polls in recent weeks have suggested the majority of people in the U.K. would like to see him gone. And so when another scandal arose last week focused on alleged sexual assaults by a conservative legislator that Johnson had promoted to a senior government role, questions were once again raised about his judgment as leader. So after that, last month, the Prime Minister faced a vote of no confidence from his fellow Conservative members of Parliament. He won it, but far from convincingly. CHANG: But even for many within his Conservative Party, the question is not will Johnson leave; it is when. And that is the reality, Mr. Speaker.