‘Go with some dignity or be forced out like Donald’: Tories compare Boris Johnson’s refusal to leave office to Trump’s attempt to cling to power that ended with Capitol riot
- Boris is increasingly being compared to the disgraced former US President for his refusal to leave office
- Johnson’s approval rating has dipped to a meagre 23 per cent – lower than Mr Trump’s at the end of his term
- Tory grandee Sir Bernard Jenkin said the PM must resign with dignity or be forced out like Mr Trump
- It comes as some in Cabinet fear that Boris will go ‘nuclear’ and attempt to call an early general election
Boris Johnson is being increasingly compared to Donald Trump by senior Conservative colleagues today – as his tactics to cling onto power become more desperate despite reports that he is due to resign today.
Tory grandee Sir Bernard Jenkin says he told the PM yesterday: ‘You can go with some dignity or you can be forced out like Donald Trump’.
The intervention from Sir Bernard comes as the Prime Minister has refused to resign despite a staggering 53 Governmental resignations in just over two days – triggered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quitting on Tuesday night.
Veteran Tory MP Sir Bernard even urged Carrie Johnson to step in a convince her husband that he should throw in the towel.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today) is being bombarded with more resignations but has refused to quit
Mr Johnson’s personal approval rating has even dipped below Mr Trump’s low point around the time of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2022
According to YouGov, just 23 per cent of voters approve of Mr Johnson – with the figure likely to fall further still after a chaotic week in No.10 –
Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, who chairs the Commons Liaison Committee, spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.
‘There’s no question it’s over for Boris Johnson as Prime Minster and I went to tell him that at lunchtime yesterday after Prime Minister’s Questions.
‘There are three ways a prime minister can be removed; one is his government falls apart – and that’s happening, but it’s astonishing he hasn’t got the message from that.
‘Second; the bigger vote of confidence in the Conservative Party to remove him as leader and he would have to go.’
‘And ultimately, there could be a vote of confidence in the House of Commons and I don’t think he would want to bring it to that.
‘I just said to him, look, it’s just when you go now and it’s how you go. You can go with some dignity or you can be forced out like Donald Trump clinging to power and pretending he’s won the election when he’s lost.
‘I hope he’ll go today – he really must go today. I mean the reason why – I wasn’t at the 1922 executive yesterday – but the reason why I think they decided not to change the rules… first of all, we’re due a re-election; but the second reason is well surely he’s just going to go. Surely he sees the writing on the wall. I mean it’s got a kind of Macbeth-like quality at the moment. Birnam wood will never come to Dunsinane, and I am not of woman born.’
Former Cabinet minister Julian Smith also warned that the premier had seen how Donald Trump behaved in relation to the Capitol riots after the US election, and was looking to have a ‘mini version in the UK’.
Mr Johnson’s personal approval rating has even dipped below Mr Trump’s low point around the time of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2022.
According to YouGov, just 23 per cent of voters approve of Mr Johnson – with the figure likely to fall further still after a chaotic week in No.10.
Mr Trump’s personal approval rating hit a low as he left office after the January 6 Capitol riot – languishing at a meagre 34 per cent, according to Gallup.
Mr Trump refused to admit that he lost the 2020 Presidential election to Joe Biden in months of delusional ramblings which culminated in his supporters storming the US Capitol building as Congress were trying to certify the Electoral College result.
Mr Johnson bizarrely sacked Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove yesterday – after a delegation of Cabinet colleagues had entered No.10 in order to try and convince the Prime Minister to resign.
The PM has vowed defiance on multiple occasions yesterday – a stand which shows no signs of abating despite more Government resignations today.
Mr Trump refused to admit that he lost the 2020 Presidential election to Joe Biden in months of delusional ramblings which culminated in his supporters storming the US Capitol building
Mr Trump sensationally claimed he won the 2020 election and made baseless claims of voter fraud in a speech on Election Night from the White House
Deputy PM Dominic Raab is thought to have told the Prime Minister that he risked putting the monarch in an intolerable position if he tried to call a snap election, The Sun reports.
The Queen, 96, was yesterday pictured being driven from Wood Farm near Sandringham, Norfolk, to her helicopter which flew her back to Windsor Castle.
She typically holds a weekly meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesdays, which have frequently taken place over the phone since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, but it is not clear whether it occurred yesterday amid the pandemonium surrounding Mr Johnson’s leadership.
Concern among MPs comes following the approval of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act which was brought into law this year, repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act and allowing for the body to be dissolved by the Queen ‘on the request of the prime minister’.
Conservative MPs worry that the Prime Minister could try to use it to save his premiership.
Constitutional experts have branded the ‘nuclear option’ of asking the Queen for a dissolution ‘deluded madness’ which would spark a crisis as the monarch would be obliged to turned down his request.
The Prime Minister rejected calls to quit on Wednesday and dramatically sacked Cabinet rival Michael Gove, but was later hit with the departure of a third Cabinet minister – Welsh Secretary Simon Hart – and further demands to go from the Attorney General
Boris Johnson’s allies have now raised the prospect of taking the ‘nuclear option’ and asking the Queen to dissolve parliament to trigger an election – which he does technically have the power to do – but the monarch could also refuse the request
The exodus of ministers continues
6.47am: Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis – tweeted that he could not longer continue without ‘honesty, integrity and mutual respect’.
6.49am: Treasury minister Helen Whately – said ‘there are only so many times you can apologise and move on’.
7.15am: Security minister Damian Hinds – ‘for our country, and trust in our democracy, we must have a change of leadership’
7.21am: Science minister George Freeman – accused Mr Johnson of ‘insults to the Conservatism I believe in and stand for’.
7.50am: Pensions minister Guy Opperman – ‘it should not take the resignation of 50 colleagues, but sadly the PM has left us no choice’
8.02am: Technology minister Chris Philp – ‘the PM should step down’.
8.09am: Courts minister James Cartlidge – ‘The position is clearly untenable.’
8.59am: Education Secretary Michelle Donelan resigns after just 36 hours
Under the UK’s uncodified constitution and the so-called ‘Lascelles Principles’, the Queen would not be obliged to dissolve Parliament if a Conservative MP is able to command the confidence of a majority of the House of Commons.
Despite the UK being a parliamentary democracy, Mr Johnson claimed to have a presidential-style personal mandate from the last election, apparently saying: ‘If the party wants to overthrow the elected will of the people, they have to dip their hands in blood.’
Supporters are fleeing the PM as the resignation tally now stands at 54 following the resignation of Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis and six others this morning.
At 6.47am, he tweeted that he could not longer continue without ‘honesty, integrity and mutual respect’. Minutes later Treasury minister Helen Whately followed suit saying ‘there are only so many times you can apologise and move on’. Security minister Damian Hinds and science minister George Freeman had followed by 7.30am, and pensions minister Guy Opperman by 7.50am.
Meanwhile, Wales minister David TC Davies publicly announced that he had refused a promotion to take over from Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, who quit last night. The Attorney General, Suella Braverman has called for Mr Johnson to resign and said she is only staying in place to keep the government functioning.
The government has been unable to find a minister willing to go on the airwaves to speak up for the PM this morning – although his critics have been swarming to studios.
The Prime Minister now faces the ignominy of a second vote of no confidence by his own party after the 1922 Committee elections on Monday.
Mr Johnson narrowly won a confidence vote earlier this year and is nominally protected from another under party rules for 12 months – but the next executive of the backbench Tory committee is likely to scrap this rule to remove the Prime Minister.
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