Resignation Day

Wirral (YPI) -- Tuesday 5th July has been the most frenzied day for Boris Johnson and the entirety of UK politics. The afternoon and evening were filled with resignation after resignation and it's likely not going to be over yet.

 

These are not the first resignations of Boris Johnson’s government. This year The Prime Minister has lost his own Principle Private Secretary, Martin Reynolds. Amongst this, he has lost his Chief of Staff, Ministers, multiple government PPSs, and a plethora of advisors and other downing street staff. Most recently Oliver Dowden the Conservative Parties Chairman, who resigned after the harmful by-election defeats this June. This for any Government is a hint into the walls starting to crumble, but it has gotten a lot worse since.

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Tuesday’s events have come after a series of allegations about the Prime Minister lying about knowledge of Tory Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher’s actions regarding sexual assault. Pincher has been said to have sexually assaulted two men at a private members club, by groping them. Speaking to ITV News one said: “He was pretty tipsy, and his hands were everywhere, I felt so uncomfortable knowing that he was an MP.” This is another scandal for Boris Johnson, and many will not believe a word he says anymore, as he has yet again proven himself to have a loose relationship with the truth.

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However, it wasn’t just this recent scandal that caused this, but an overwhelming feeling of defending the indefensible and it seems the government is plagued by scandal after scandal after scandal. On Tuesday we saw the limit for many officials, resulting in some of the fastest successive resignations in a government ever. These are all the people to resign on Tuesday:

Sajid Javid, The Health Secretary started off the resignations today in a dramatic manner, saying “I am instinctively a team player, but the British people also rightly expect integrity from their government.” He then said, “it is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership - and you have therefore lost my confidence too.“

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                                                     Rishi Sunak was next, just minutes after Sajid Javid’s resignation, Sunak tweeted his                                                                      resignation letter and said “The public rightly expect 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.”

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                                                     These are the most significant resignations of Tuesday. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is                                                             said to be the second to the Prime Ministers' role. In addition, the Health Secretary is another                                                         senior minister and a position that has grown massively in prestige since the start of the                                                                 Covid-19 Pandemic. Although, many more resignations continue to flow in. This Is a massive                                                         hit for the Prime Minister and is something that not all Prime Ministers could have survived.

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Tuesday evening also saw the Tory Vice-Chair Bim Afolami, someone who is not known to speak out on controversial matters, resign on live TV. Afolami was in an interview on TalkTV and resigned the position on similar grounds as the two Cabinet Secretaries did. Next came the Prime Ministers' Trade envoy to Morocco, The Tory MP for Southwest Wiltshire, Andrew Murrison. He explained how his “last straw in the rolling chaos of the past six months has been the unavoidable implication of Lord McDonald’s letter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for standards” also saying that Johnson’s “position has become unrecoverable. I strongly urge you to resign.” This led to two more resignations by parliamentary aides. Saqib Bhatti, PPS to Sajid Javid, and Jonathan Gullis, PPS to Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis.

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Many came out in support of the tsunami of resignations, Lord Frost said Rishi and Sajid did “the right thing this evening.” Also saying “The Conservative Party would be best served by a new leadership and a new Prime Minister”

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Next to go was Nicola Richards MP, a PPS in the Department of Transport. Shortly after Virginia Crosbie resigned as a PPS in the Wales Office. This seemed to many as becoming ridiculous, how many more could go before the night ended. Many Tory MPs have also called for the Prime Minister to resign with many not believing he can carry on.

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However, it wasn’t over just yet. The Prime Ministers' trade envoy to Kenya, Theo Clarke MP submitted her resignation letter. And then the final resignation of Tuesday was that of Minister Alex Chalk, the Solicitor General, who submitted his letter saying he could no longer defend the Prime Minister.

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This has been the biggest day in politics for many years and it is unsure yet whether it is over. Many are expecting more to resign throughout the week, with five more resigning on Wednesday morning. The number of resignations is ongoing and can change rapidly.

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However, the discussions over Johnson’s tenure are at their highest with many papers, even those that support Johnson questioning whether he can continue.

 

The Daily Mail on Wednesday read “can even Boris the greased piglet wriggle out of this?” The Times reading “Johnson on the brink.” The Sun “Last chance saloon” and The Metro “Going! Going! Gone!”

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Sunak’s replacement Zahawi, Javid’s replacement Barclay, and Zahawi’s replacement Michelle Donelan have a tough job ahead of them and so does the whole Tory Party. Will Johnson survive the week?

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The rest of the week may see many more resignations, whether that is of more Ministers, Principle Privat Secretaries, Parliamentary aides, and even Cabinet Ministers are yet to be determined. But there is one thing that is for certain, the crisis is not over. Boris Johnson’s future hangs in the balance and many believe that he is now faced with the choice of resigning or being forced out by the party. The Conservative party is well known for only keeping leaders they believe can get them through the next election, such as Margaret Thatcher being forced out by the party in 1990. With the recent election losses and the diminishing election polls for the Conservatives may see Johnson being forced out of Number 10, no matter how much he tries to barricade the infamous black door.