The United Kingdom (UK) government is about as unstable as our electricity system, and it seems Prime Minister Boris Johnson could be without a job within the next 24 hours.
These ministers gave Boris Johnson no choice but to resign
South Africa’s last memory of the Conservative Party (CP) leader was the untidy outfit he wore to a bilateral meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the G7 Summit, held last week in Bavaria.
Between then and Thursday, the UK prime minister went from being a victim of memes to facing eviction from 10 Downing Street.
Johnson’s tenure as the leader of one of the most powerful nations in Europe has been marred with controversy, and as Sylvia Hui and Danica Kirka write in their Time exclusive, the latest was the last straw for his own Cabinet.
The prime minister’s controversies are always hard to untangle in layman’s terms but this time around, Johnson’s own words placed him in the toaster.
Chris Pincher, once a Conservative lawmaker, is at the centre of a sexual misconduct scandal, where it’s claimed he groped two women at a private member’s club.
Last week, according to The Independent, Pincher resigned from his position as Chief Whip of the Conservatives after the allegations surfaced. An even greater shocker was the damning suggestion that Johnson could have known about Pincher’s sordid behaviour when he’d offered him a job enforcing party discipline.
The prime minister had already survived a vote of no confidence, but this time around, his own Cabinet could not stand beside him when, more than likely, he participated in covering up a sex crime.
If it was not for the ministers listed below, Johnson may have, perhaps, stumbled on toward the end of his tenure in 2025.
Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi
Zahawi quit his job 36 hours after he was appointed to replace Rishi Sunak.
Rishi Sunak
Chancellor Sunak announced his resignation in a letter to Johnson, where he asserted that “the public rightly expect the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.”
“I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning,” he wrote.
The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 5, 2022
I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.
My letter to the Prime Minister below. pic.twitter.com/vZ1APB1ik1
Education Secretary Michelle Donelan
Donelan left her position two days after she was recruited to fill in for her predecessor, Zahawi.
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – Michael Gove
Gove was fired on Wednesday after he pleaded with Johnson to quit his job in the wake of Pincher’s sex scandal.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid
Javid, along with Sunak, was one of the first ministers to quit his job in reaction to the sex misconduct scandal.
`“At some point we have to conclude that enough is enough. I believe that point is now,” he told his party’s lawmakers.”
According to Sky News, at least 59 UK Cabinet members resigned before Johnson conceded. Here are some of their names:
- SImon Hart – Wales Secretary
- Brandon Lewis – Northern Ireland Secretary
- Will Quince – Children and Families minister
- Robin Walker – Schools minister
- Victoria Atkins – Justice minister
- John Glen – Treasury minister
- Jo Churchill – Environments minister
- Stuart Andrew – Housing minister
- Mims Davies – Employment minister
- Kemi Badenoch, Julia Lopez, Lee Rowley, Neil O’ Brien, Alex Burghart – Junior ministers
- Rachel MacCleen – Home Office minister
- Mike Freer – UK Exports minister
- Edward Argar – Health minister
Johnson has yielded to the pressure and, speaking outside Downing Street on Thursday, he admitted it is “clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and so a new prime minister.”
Johnson will remain prime minister until a new leader is elected.