London: Boris Johnson’s premiership is in free-fall, and it is now a case of when, not if, he leaves Downing Street with his suitcase, wife Carrie, two small children and rescue dog Dilyn in tow.
His authority has evaporated, and even his staunchest supporters can no longer abide Johnson’s lack of fundamental values or integrity.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson.Credit:Getty
He may last a day, a week or even a month. But his reign is over.
Johnson has been prime minister for 1077 days – bringing him almost level with Neville Chamberlain’s 1078 days in office.
It’s a comparison he would not take kindly to, although one backbench MP recently referenced the wartime leader when calling on Johnson to quit by repeating the lines Tory MP Leo Amery once said to Chamberlain.
“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing,” former trade secretary David Davis said. “Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”
Two key members of Boris Johnson’s frontbench, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, have dramatically resigned.Credit:AP
Too much of Johnson’s past year has been engulfed in a bonfire of sleaze, blame shifting, lies and deception.
The final straw for his now former chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid – the prime minister’s deceit over the promotion of a man he knew had a history of drunken sexual harassment to deputy chief whip – was ultimately part of a wider pattern.
Confronted with a problem that appeared to reflect badly on his judgment, once again Johnson sought to cover up and conceal in an attempt to avoid confronting the situation.
All Johnson’s missteps have basically been the same offence: a complete disregard for the ethics that come with his office.
Chris Pincher resigned from his role as deputy chief whip last Thursday, after allegations emerged that he had sexually assaulted two men while “incredibly drunk” at the private Carlton Club in central London.
In the days following Johnson was accused of having turned a blind eye to the claims.
A former senior civil servant earlier this week accused Johnson of “still not telling the truth” about allegations of inappropriate behaviour, claiming Johnson was notified “in person” about a formal complaint against Pincher in 2019.
In the end, Johnson could not even deny claims from his former top aide, Dominic Cummings, that the PM once even referred to him as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” long before appointing him in February.
The prime minister’s tenure is now so comical that even Neil Parish, forced to quit as a Tory MP two months ago for “accidentally” stumbling across pornography on his mobile phone in the House of Commons while supposedly searching for tractors, appeared on radio to give Johnson a lecture on moral standards.
The dramatic resignation letters on Tuesday evening of two of the top men who sit alongside Johnson in cabinet were telling.
Sunak cited economic differences, suggesting that Johnson was no longer prepared to take hard decisions essential to combat inflation.
But both he and the health secretary primarily stressed the collapse of fundamental values.
Javid, widely viewed as a potential successor, wrote that “the British people also rightly expect integrity from their government”.
The Tories, he wrote, need to be competent and acting in the national interest, but “the public are concluding that we are now neither”.
Sunak added that standards are “worth fighting for”. Following on from Oliver Dowden’s resignation as party chair with the words “somebody must take responsibility”, the resignations suggest the mainstream of the party has had enough.
Finally, and rather dramatically, it is all falling apart. After the ongoing scandal of the so-called partygate affair, where life inside Downing Street during COVID was revealed to include drunken gatherings, fisticuffs, vomiting and red wine stains left on the walls, it appeared his days were numbered.
Things were so warped that even the senior figure responsible for ethics and propriety provided a karaoke machine for a party.
Johnson has survived scandal time and time again – in politics and in high office – but he has now lost the confidence of at least half the Tory backbenchers and many ministers.
It is clear that Johnson’s instinct will be to hold on. He has scrambled to replace his two senior colleagues, reportedly yielding to ultimatums and demands of others who threaten to follow them out the door.
And without a change to the leadership election rules, there is no formal lever to force Johnson out. His political death might take a while. Under existing party rules he technically has 11 months to turn it round.
But it is not clear what he can offer his MPs as a reason for keeping him.
Others in cabinet have pledged their loyalty publicly – perhaps knowing they mightn’t survive a change of leadership. But if more follow in days to come he has no choice but to step aside.
Johnson’s constant lies have finally caught up with him and left him with nowhere to go.
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