The British media announced it for several hours, it is now done: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, worn out by scandals and weakened by an unprecedented series of resignations, announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party on Thursday. A decision that paves the way for his replacement as head of government.
“It is clearly the will of the Conservative Party that there is a new leader and therefore a new Prime Minister”, he declared in front of Downing Street, saying he was “sad to abandon the best job in the world”. He added that the timetable for the election of a new Conservative leader would be specified next week.
“We don’t need a change at the head of the Tories. We need a real change of government, “said opposition leader Keir Starmer shortly before, threatening to hold a vote of no confidence in the House if Boris Johnson remained in power.
Repeated scandals
Discontent had been simmering for months, fueled in particular by the scandal of illegal parties in Downing Street during the anti-Covid confinement, when the British had to respect very strict rules. Boris Johnson, known for not being close to a lie, had varied in his explanations, provoking frustration and then anger among elected Conservatives, in a country faced with record inflation of 9% and social movements.
He had escaped a vote of no confidence last month, 40% of Conservative MPs however refusing to give him their confidence. At the same time, his popularity rating had plunged, and nearly 70% of Britons now want him gone, according to two polls this week.
The resignation on Tuesday evening of Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, and Health Minister Sajid Javid, had sounded the hallali for the Prime Minister, after a new sex scandal involving the deputy “whip”, in charge of the discipline of Conservative MPs, whom Boris Johnson had named in February, “forgetting” past charges of the same type.
“Bye Boris”
All day Wednesday, resignations had succeeded, the conservative party tired of repeated scandals since Boris Johnson, the former hero of Brexit, arrived in Downing Street in 2019. The weekly question session in the House had been particularly stormy for Boris Johnson, with new calls for resignation in his own camp, laughter testifying to his loss of authority, and a “bye Boris” at the end of the session.
On Wednesday evening, several ministers went to Downing Street to try, in vain, to convince Boris Johnson that, having lost the confidence of the Conservative Party, he should resign, in his interest and that of the country. The 58-year-old Prime Minister retaliated by dismissing by telephone Wednesday evening the minister who had been the first to come to advise him to resign earlier in the day, Michael Gove, in charge of territorial rebalancing.
Resignations and calls for the departure of Boris Johnson continued on Thursday. The brand new Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, appointed on Tuesday, had called on Boris Johnson to “leave now”, while the Minister of Education, also appointed on Tuesday, announced her resignation.
In total, around sixty departures have been announced within the government since Tuesday, including five ministers. An exodus of unprecedented speed in British political history.