British PM Boris Johnson will QUIT and make ‘statement to the country’ TODAY after mutiny by top ministers
- Boris Johnson flatly rejected calls to quit last night and dramatically sacked Cabinet rival Michael Gove
- A fresh wave of resignations has seen seven more ministers join the exodus from the stricken government
- Mr Johnson met previously-loyal ministers in No10 who told him he had lost the confidence of the Tory party
- PM’s allies raised the prospect of ‘nuclear option’ by asking Queen to dissolve parliament and trigger election
The British leader admitted defeat half-an-hour after a shattering intervention from Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed on Tuesday night in the wake of the departure of Rishi Sunak.
Zahawi told Mr Johnson that his situation is ‘not sustainable’.
Until now, Johnson had rebuffed calls by his Cabinet to step down in the wake of several ethics scandals.
A group of Johnson’s most trusted Cabinet ministers visited him at his office in Downing Street Wednesday, telling him to stand down after losing the trust of his party. But Johnson instead opted to fight for his political career and fired one of the Cabinet officials, Michael Gove.
It is rare for a prime minister to cling on to office in the face of this much pressure from his Cabinet colleagues.
But by Thursday morning the man who has built a reputation for wriggling out of political controversies was forced to admit the reality of his situation.
A Downing Street source said Johnson has spoken to Sir Graham Brady – the chairman of the parliamentary group the 1922 Committee – and agreed to stand down, with a new Conservative leader set to be in place by the party conference in October. A spokeswoman said: ‘The Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today.’
It was not immediately clear Thursday whether Johnson would stay in office while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will automatically replace him as prime minister when selected.
The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour party said Johnson’s expected departure as prime minister was ‘good news’. But Sir Keir Starmer added that just changing the leader of the Conservative party was not enough. ‘We need a proper change of government,’ he said.
Johnson, 58, remained in power despite months of scandal that saw Johnson fined by police and criticized by an investigator’s report for allowing rule-breaking parties in his office while Britain was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson urged his party and country to ‘move on’ and focus on the UK’s economy and the war in Ukraine. But two thumping special election defeats for Johnson’s Conservative Party and allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior party official sealed the fate of a politician whose ability to survive scandals was legendary.
Recent disclosures that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker, before he promoted the man to a senior position turned out to be the last straw.
Last week, Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip after complaints he groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations leveled against Pincher – and shifting explanations from the government about what Johnson knew when he tapped him for a senior job enforcing party discipline.