POL The Boris Johnson Sinking Ship Thread - July 6th, 2022 - UPDATE: Resigns July 7, 2022.

[Melodi]

I am starting this thread because in the last 24 hours, in fact mostly in the last about 7 or 8 hours, 36 of Boris Johnson's "government" (Parliament members holding offices) have resigned including his Chancelor. Just now, his NEW chancellor appointed YESTERDAY has also called for his resignation. It is about 6 pm UK Summer Time and BoJo is held up at Downing street with a bunch of his Party "Big Names" all telling him to quit, which he keeps saying he won't do. I waited to post because BoJo's time as Prime Minster has seemed doomed before, but he's always managed somehow to cling on. I am not sure this time it will work.

There is a constantly updating thread at Sky News and also good coverage in the UK Daily Mail.

Politics latest: PM says deal with India not a 'given' at G20 summit; Truss and Kwarteng haven't spoken about firing since it happened

Rishi Sunak will urge Narendra Modi to use his influence to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine, as he embarks on his first visit to India as the UK's premier for the G20 summit.

news.sky.com

Politics live: Cabinet ministers to meet with Boris Johnson to call for him to go - chief whip now inside Number 10
Politics Hub brings you the latest political news, insight and analysis from the Sky News team in Westminster. Boris Johnson's premiership is in turmoil after Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resign - with speculation a new confidence vote in PM could be allowed.
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[start of a very long, constantly updating article]

Boris faces endgame with 'Quit Squad' of ministers telling him to GO

Behind the famous black door of No10, Boris Johnson is embroiled in a final struggle with senior figures including chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris telling him that the 'game is up'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Is Boris about to be shown the door? 'Quit Squad' of last loyal ministers including Chief Whip and Nadhim Zahawi wait in No10 to confront PM after brutal committee grilling - as he defiantly REFUSES to walk away

• Boris Johnson is facing a showdown with a delegation of ministers calling for him to resign as Tory leader
• Sajid Javid has made a shattering resignation statement in Commons after Mr Johnson faced brutal PMQs
• Mr Johnson faces a desperate battle to cling on after Rishi Sunak and Mr Javid quit the Cabinet yesterday
• Despite massive pressure on him to resign, Mr Johnson insists he has no intention of leaving Downing Street
• Follow all the latest dramatic developments in Westminster here as the Tories teeter on the brink of civil war

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 14:42, 6 July 2022 | UPDATED: 17:57, 6 July 2022

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Boris Johnson is facing a titanic showdown with a delegation of top ministers demanding he quits tonight as his premiership hangs by a thread.
Behind the famous black door of No10, the PM is embroiled in a final struggle with senior figures including chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris, who are telling him that the 'game is up' after a tidal wave of Tory resignations.
Newly-appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps are among the group, while Home Secretary Priti Patel and Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan are in the building.

 

[CaryC]

Read an article over at ......zerohedge (?) where he said he wouldn't go.

How do you get rid of a head of state that won't go? Americans want to know.

 

[WalknTrot]

Seems crazy...he just survived a vote of "(no)confidence" a couple weeks ago. Why are the rats leaving now? Also chuckling because far as I can see, there's nobody better to replace him.

Is there a new kerfuffle besides the rather inane party-gate thing (and the usual Irish problem/Scotland problem/Brexit problem) that I missed?? Or is it just an earlier than usual Silly Season in Brit-land?

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Boris Johnson Refuses To Step Down Amid Ministerial Exodus, Soaring Odds Of Early Exit

BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, JUL 06, 2022 - 12:49 PM
Boris Johnson's week is getting worse... much worse.
Following the high profile resignations of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, five more junior ministers resigned at once early on Wednesday afternoon, in what appeared to be a coordinated attempt to inflict maximum pressure on Johnson.

Their letter of resignation said it had “become increasingly clear that the government cannot function given the issues that have come to light and the way in which they have been handled."



As Bloomberg reports, the prime minister has now lost more than 25 people from his government.

Gary Sambrook, a Tory MP on the executive of the 1922 Committee - which organizes confidence votes in the party leader - told Johnson in the House of Commons on Wednesday that he must “take responsibility and resign.”

Meanwhile rank-and-file Conservatives are reportedly preparing to meet to discuss a rule change that would allow another leadership challenge to Johnson, after the prime minister narrowly survived a confidence vote last month.

One Tory official said that the ministers “believe the situation is now untenable and they intend to tell the PM he must now resign”.

The 'market' is now pricing in a 95% chance that BoJo will leave office by the end of 2022...




Source: smarket.com

And worse still, there is a more than 70% chance that he will be gone by the end of August...



Source: PredictIt

MorningPorridge's Bill Blain offered his thoughts this morning - the outlook for the UK looks grim. Recession is a high probability. A cost-of-living crisis is upon us. Inflation is rampant and into double figures soon. The Bank of England has run out of policy tools and ideas. Workers are increasingly militant in their demands for pay rises. The national debt is 96% of GDP. The nations piggy bank feels empty, but Boris wants to spend his way back into popularity, even as the NHS, Defence and Education are all floundering.

Yada, yada, yada… that the UK looks grim has pretty much been the story of the last 7 years, so let’s not over-react. The sun will still come up tomorrow… Will it come up on Boris? Regrettably.. yes.

Yet, the tortuous politics of dispensing with Boris do matter. Any nation depends on the credibility of its political process to support the stability of its currency and bond markets – they key elements of a modern political economy, or the Virtuous Sovereign Trinity, as I call it. Last night it was almost a buy-the-fact moment when Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid resigned. The markets reacted like it was good news – finally the end of the flailing Boris presidency. (Deliberate use of presidency – Boris’ only goal is the preservation of Boris.)

The TV yesterday was fascinating. I watched the lunchtime news and the shots of the Cabinet meeting. Everyone looked miserable. Sunak was not making eye contact. Javid had his head down. Something is up I thought. Sure enough. When the two big dogs said sod it, Johnston spent the rest of the evening making desperate promises to keep others in line – and its unclear exactly what they demanded and got from him.

In his hayday Boris was a popular politician as a rabble rouser, populist and charmer. He got Brexit done, and sure enough it’s the people that were. But, the details of government always seemed to elude him. Scandal and embarrassment from the Get-go. Never has a government so squandered a solid 80 seat parliamentary majority – and while that is embarrassing for us all, its also bad news for the UK.

A period of chaotic deconstruction may now be good for us. The complete shocking collapse of the Boris regime could open the political environment to a reset – where new government comes in, the old guard are swept away, allowing the nation can take stock and reinvent itself – and rebuild our relationship with Europe in particular. Out, but close. Etonians should be banned from politics for at least a generation.

If he quits within a month, BoJo's term would be the 4th shortest tenure of any British Prime Minister...




You will find more infographics at Statista

"I am not going to step down and the last thing this country needs, frankly, is an election," he told a parliamentary committee, when asked to confirm he would not seek to call an election rather than resign if he lost a vote of confidence.

We shall see Mr.Johnson.

 

[Melodi]

To answer a couple of questions:

The no-confidence vote was carefully rigged to happen BEFORE an important special election in which the Tory Party lost both seats up by a huge margin. There were thoughts at the time that Boris helped engineer the vote knowing there were not quite enough votes to unseat him and under the current party rules it would be a year before he could be voted out again.

Except, the party can change the rules and they are expected to do so by next week.

Technically Boris can try to cling on by his fingers for a few days or even weeks yet, but if even his NEW chancellor is telling him "it is time to quit" he won't be able to govern under the parliamentary system because he won't have enough party supporters left to fill the required government positions.

He could also be forced to resign if enough members of his party simply refuse to vote along party lines - they can be kicked out of the party, he did that early on to a bunch of rather famous faces. But to try that now might just split the part and he would still be out of office.

A British Prime Minister hanging on like this is virtually unheard of, unlike American Presidents they can and do step down, but sometimes come back in another election. Though more often they come back after losing an election but are still popular enough to stay at the head of their party and they become the Leader of the Minority.

Hope that helps...

 

[Red Baron]

Other than just liberal media bias in the UK, (Sky, BBC) what horrible thing has Boris Johnson actually done?

All I see is the UK media whipped into a frenzy but with few real facts or issues are being communicated.

 

[bluelady]

Melodi, can you give a brief summary of the prime minister's role & the general setup there compared to the U.S.? We've talked a lot about the Queen lately, and while I know she's not in charge at all it does say that she can "dissolve Parliament & call for new elections".

 

[CaryC]

Other than just liberal media bias in the UK, (Sky, BBC) what horrible thing has Boris Johnson actually done?

All I see is the UK media whipped into a frenzy but with few real facts or issues are being communicated.

From the article I read over at zerohedge here I'll put up a link to it:

Ooops my bad it was brietbart:

'F*** That' -- Boris Refuses to Step Down as Resignations Continue (breitbart.com)

He appointed a guy as an MP who had a sexual misconduct allegation on his record, and won't take it back and even promoted the guy.

Something like that.

The no-confidence vote was over Party Gate.

 

[TheSearcher]

He has shown weakness, and has lost the respect of the people and his colleagues. He made great hay of trying to look like the "British Trump", then abandoned that bit of theater when Trump was forced out.

He has a squishy center, and everyone knows it.

 

[WalknTrot]

Other than just liberal media bias in the UK, (Sky, BBC) what horrible thing has Boris Johnson actually done?

All I see is the UK media whipped into a frenzy but with few real facts or issues are being communicated.

Yup. I haven't seen much of a reason besides disgruntled peeps - the economy getting worse, inflation, fuel is going to be a huge problem, etc. But that's a global problem.

Change for the sake of change and a convenient goat to slay?

 

[Red Baron]

Yup. I haven't seen much of a reason besides disgruntled peeps - the economy getting worse, inflation, fuel is going to be a huge problem, etc. But that's a global problem.

Change for the sake of change and a convenient goat to slay?

Looks to me a lot like the hysteria surrounding Trump. Allegations, innuendo, and flat out media lies.

So what Tory or Liberal in the UK is going to be able to do better and why?

I haven't heard that discussion yet. . . .

 

[Melodi]

Boris has consistently done things that were either technically illegal or questionable in terms of conduct and then lying about it until the truth keeps coming out.

The two really big ones were lying about being at parties at number 10 (his home but also a government building) where booze was served during lockdown when regular Brits couldn't see their dying parents or were arrested for meeting with more than three people.

But the final straw was appointing someone with allegations of sexual misconduct (getting drunk and seriously harassing men in a gay bar) to a position of moral authority, then saying he was "never informed" of the allegations. Then when reminded that he had been informed he said "he forgot."

Those are just the two most recent events in a string of similar ones with BoJo, it isn't so much what he does, it is was he allows (or sometimes what he does), and then he either outright lies or just ignores it and keeps on going.

The public is finally sick of it, I also think the Tory party is tired of a Prime Minister who can't get anything done (since BREXIT) because he is always so busy denying this, that, or the other scandal, actions, comment or another dramatic issue.

During good times, people can handle "exciting politicians" and their foibles, but in bad times they want answers and actions, both of which BoJo is pretty poor at providing.

His basic JOB - is that of making sure laws are passed and that the government functions, not providing an endless parade of entertainment. The Brits have the royal family for that, the Prime Minister is excepted to be the one who does the dirty work of governing and running the country.

 

[Melodi]

Looks to me a lot like the hysteria surrounding Trump. Allegations, innuendo, and flat out media lies.

So what Tory or Liberal in the UK is going to be able to do better and why?

I haven't heard that discussion yet. . . .

Sadly, a lot of it is real, especially Party Gate, it took photos of BoJo at the parties beer in hand to prove it - and then it turned out to be more than once. Ditto the "not being informed" and then "Oh maybe I was but I forgot" with appointing and then promoting the sex pest to high office.

But really it is "Party Gate" that got the most anger, and it wasn't just that he did it, it was that he kept lying about it until forced to kind of admit it, but he didn't really, not exactly...

 

[WalknTrot]

Boris has consistently done things that were either technically illegal or questionable in terms of conduct and then lying about it until the truth keeps coming out.

The two really big ones were lying about being at parties at number 10 (his home but also a government building) where booze was served during lockdown when regular Brits couldn't see their dying parents or were arrested for meeting with more than three people.

But the final straw was appointing someone with allegations of sexual misconduct (getting drunk and seriously harassing men in a gay bar) to a position of moral authority, then saying he was "never informed" of the allegations. Then when reminded that he had been informed he said "he forgot."

Those are just the two most recent events in a string of similar ones with BoJo, it isn't so much what he does, it is was he allows (or sometimes what he does), and then he either outright lies or just ignores it and keeps on going.

The public is finally sick of it, I also think the Tory party is tired of a Prime Minister who can't get anything done (since BREXIT) because he is always so busy denying this, that, or the other scandal, actions, comment or another dramatic issue.

During good times, people can handle "exciting politicians" and their foibles, but in bad times they want answers and actions, both of which BoJo is pretty poor at providing.

His basic JOB - is that of making sure laws are passed and that the government functions, not providing an endless parade of entertainment. The Brits have the royal family for that, the Prime Minister is excepted to be the one who does the dirty work of governing and running the country.

Trade ya for Biden. At least Boris knows his own name and what day it is.

 

[Melodi]

Looks to me a lot like the hysteria surrounding Trump. Allegations, innuendo, and flat out media lies.

So what Tory or Liberal in the UK is going to be able to do better and why?

I haven't heard that discussion yet. . . .

Well, anyone from either party that actually could keep from having to deal with allegations of things they really did do, but are busy denying they did (or their wife did in the case of Wallpaper Gate and the funding for number 10) long enough to actually do the business of government?

 

[Melodi]

Trade ya for Biden.

You don't want BoJo either, both are problems and both have no reason to be in their positions - the difference is it is a lot easier to get rid of a Prime Minister than a President. If done correctly, the same party stays in power but with someone else trying to implement the program. If they get rid of BoJo, there will be a Party Election, which isn't as good as the people voting, but it doesn't mean they are stuck with someone like Kamala. They might be, but it isn't automatic.

 

[Melodi]

Boris Johnson suffers more ministerial resignations than any PM in modern history

We have entered a third day of cabinet resignations, as Northern Ireland minister Brandon Lewis became one of several to leave their posts on Thursday morning, following a record day for resignations on Wednesday and the sensational exits of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid on Tuesday.

news.sky.com

Boris Johnson suffers more ministerial resignations in one day than any PM in history
After cabinet ministers Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resigned on Tuesday evening, several of their junior ministerial colleagues have followed suit today, leading to growing pressure on the prime minister.

By Kieran Devine, Daniel Dunford and Ganesh Rao

Wednesday 6 July 2022 18:28, UK

Boris Johnson Graphic
Why you can trust Sky News
More ministers have resigned today from government than have ever done before in a single day, higher than the previous record of 11 ministers quitting in September 1932.

Fourteen have left Boris Johnson's government today, and since 6pm yesterday evening when then Chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid resigned, seventeen ministers have left in total.

More junior, non-ministerial Conservative MPs have also quit, meaning several dozen members of the government have now gone.


It means more ministers have resigned in the past 24 hours from Boris Johnson's government than quit in the entire tenure of David Cameron and Gordon Brown's premierships, according to data from the Institute for Government.

Thirteen ministers quit during Gordon Brown's nearly three years in charge, with the same number resigning during Cameron's more than six years in power.

Boris Johnson's premiership has been marked by ministerial resignations at a faster rate than all but one other prime minister since 1979.


Only Theresa May's time in charge of a Brexit-split Conservative Party saw more ministers quitting in shorter time over the first three years of governing.

As well as the resignations from within Mr Johnson's cabinet, several international trade envoys and parliamentary private secretaries have left their posts, while other backbench Conservative colleagues have publicly stated their lack of confidence in the prime minister.

Boris Johnson needs to remain in power for around a month more if he is to surpass Theresa May's time in office. Should he fail to do so he would become the fourth shortest serving PM since the Second World War.


Mr Johnson won a vote of no confidence from his parliamentary party in early June, but it resulted in 41.2% of his Conservative MPs voting against him. A number of MPs who said they voted for the PM at the time have since announced they would vote differently if the ballot were held again.

Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, who lost the support of a smaller percentage of MPs than Boris Johnson did in votes of no confidence in 1990 and 2019, lasted less than six months in power after these votes.


At Prime Minister's Questions this afternoon Boris Johnson vowed to "keep going", despite the growing calls from his colleagues for him to step down.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

Why data journalism matters to Sky News

 

[BadMedicine]

He appointed a guy as an MP who had a sexual misconduct allegation on his record, and won't take it back and even promoted the guy.

Key word here: ALLEGATION.

You know who else had ALLEGATIONS. Trump. Kavannaugh. SCOTUS Justice Clearance Thomas. The Pope. The list goes on. ANYONE who achieves power will have allegations and detractors. Was there an investigation? Did it go anywhere? Because the guy is still a minister and still part of government.. so now he's "unpromotable"? Seems to me there is pre-judicial punishments, ripples caused by non-prejudicial punishment, and attempts at 'cancelling' because they're part of a govt they don't like (conservative, nationalist.) If they guy has merits that otherwise made him the right hire, then F* the detractors.. when THEY are elected to the highest positions, THEY can choose their ministers...
He should FIRE and replace any detractors currently within his ranks. A house divided cannot stand. Fire the losers.

For those who dont know, Boris Johnson is the populist, nationalist Brittish 'counter part' of Donald Trump. Anyone in his sphere is a legitimate target to wokists atempting to weaken his govt/ position and get HIM. And just like Donald Trump, they don't want HIM, they want YOU...he is jsut in the way. All cancel culture is cancer. Kill the carrier.

 

[Melodi]

Sorry, BoJo ran as a populist but he is in reality an Old Oxford Boy, trained to be part of the elite club of which most of us are not members. I actually know someone that went to Oxford with him and he has always been like this - feeling that the rules are for "other people," certainly not him.

He found acting as a populist to be a convenient way to get votes, but most populists don't "allow" their supporters to help buy gold-crusted wallpaper for the Number 10, and that isn't an "allegation" that was true. The only thing never decided was if it actually broke the rule or just the spirit of the rules when it came to personally accept "gifts" or "loans."

Thankfully I don't live in the UK, and he isn't my problem, the current leader of the Labour Party is sort of a corporate, boring, Tony Blair clone and I'm not fond of him either. The UK government only matters to me because we share an Island with Northern Ireland which is still part of the UK, so decisions they make, can matter to my life.

 

[Red Baron]

Key word here: ALLEGATION.

You know who else had ALLEGATIONS. Trump. Kavannaugh. SCOTUS Justice Clearance Thomas. The Pope. The list goes on. ANYONE who achieves power will have allegations and detractors. Was there an investigation? Did it go anywhere? Because the guy is still a minister and still part of government.. so now he's "unpromotable"? Seems to me there is pre-judicial punishments, ripples caused by non-prejudicial punishment, and attempts at 'cancelling' because they're part of a govt they don't like (conservative, nationalist.) If they guy has merits that otherwise made him the right hire, then F* the detractors.. when THEY are elected to the highest positions, THEY can choose their ministers...
He should FIRE and replace any detractors currently within his ranks. A house divided cannot stand. Fire the losers.

For those who dont know, Boris Johnson is the populist, nationalist Brittish 'counter part' of Donald Trump. Anyone in his sphere is a legitimate target to wokists atempting to weaken his govt/ position and get HIM. And just like Donald Trump, they don't want HIM, they want YOU...he is jsut in the way. All cancel culture is cancer. Kill the carrier.

From this side of the pond, that is what I am seeing.

So Boris Johnson had a few booze parties during the Wuhan Flu lockdown and he nominated some poofster who is alleged to have engaged in some poofster activity.

Methinks there are a significant number of hypocrites in the UK?

 

[Melodi]

To be fair, Boris probably doesn't do what many other politicians don't, it is just he tends to ignore everything and even lie about it, then he gets caught and his way of dealing with it is to ignore it. That may work for Bill Clinton, but it isn't working very well for BoJo.

Per RTE Irish National Broadcaster the number of people who have "resigned from government" just hit 40, this is just unheard of. Most Prime Ministers resign (by tradition) if several major cabinet figures walk as happened yesterday.

 

[The Hammer]

Sounds like a true dumpster fire for Boris...

 

[Melodi]

Now his really "Hard Lady" cabinet minister, the one who is in charge of immigration and was trying to deport migrants to Rwanda (she is no liberal) is reported to have just told him to quit. That's huge, I never thought she would defect and I am starting to wonder if there was some other "smoking gun" going on behind the scenes that were about to come out if he stays on?

It wouldn't be the first time, but so far he's managed to barely skate by most of them, except for party gate which he had to apologize for (people in the US may not realize how locked down the UK and Europe were, one member of Parliament was refused permission to be with a dying parent on the same night one of the parties).

I think the Wallpaper gate thing was quietly dropped at least until he is out of office, but it is possible that several laws were broken and something may have come up on that one (it was a classic rich "friend" pays for something with a "donation" type thing, a grey area).

Or it may be something else, he was alleged (and possible did, she says he did) give a previous American Girlfried special government contracts for her company but it was before he was Prime Minister. Again a grey area, but one more distraction that could come back to bite him if more information has come out.

It is possible, that the Party is simply tired of an endless parade of distractions from government; and while some of them probably are just allegations, there is enough actual damage there to start to stick.

 

[Melodi]

Update from the UK Daily Mail:

Boris faces endgame with 'Quit Squad' of ministers telling him to GO

Behind the famous black door of No10, Boris Johnson is embroiled in a final struggle with senior figures including chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris telling him that the 'game is up'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Enter the executioner: Powerful Tory backbench chief Graham Brady is in Downing Street to deliver final blow to Boris Johnson as 'Quit Squad' of top ministers including Priti Patel warn his time is up - but PM still defiantly vows he WON'T walk away

• Boris Johnson is facing a showdown with a delegation of ministers calling for him to resign as Tory leader
• 1922 committee chair Sir Graham Brady has also been in Downing Street as pressure ramps up on Mr Johnson
• Sajid Javid has made a shattering resignation statement in Commons after Mr Johnson faced brutal PMQs
• Mr Johnson faces a desperate battle to cling on after Rishi Sunak and Mr Javid quit the Cabinet yesterday
• Despite massive pressure on him to resign, Mr Johnson insists he has no intention of leaving Downing Street

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 14:42, 6 July 2022 | UPDATED: 19:48, 6 July 2022


Boris Johnson is facing a titanic showdown with Tory backbench chief Graham Brady and a delegation of top ministers demanding he quits tonight.

Behind the famous black door of No10, the PM is embroiled in a final struggle with Sir Graham and senior figures including chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris - who are telling him that the 'game is up' after a tidal wave of Tory resignations crippled the government.

Newly-appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps are among the group, while Home Secretary Priti Patel and Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan are in the building.

 

[Melodi]

I think that technically he can refuse to resign until there is a no-confidence vote. That committee will meet Monday to vote on changing the rules so they can vote a second time in one year. The Political Parties in the UK make their own rules on how they select their leaders, so the party can throw them out. But honestly, hanging on like this is unheard of, his career will almost certainly be over once the dust settles. He has had some amazing comebacks so anything is possible, but this is really breaking with tradition in a huge way, in a country where traditions still matter; at least in politics.

Sky's version:

Politics latest: PM says deal with India not a 'given' at G20 summit; Truss and Kwarteng haven't spoken about firing since it happened

Rishi Sunak will urge Narendra Modi to use his influence to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine, as he embarks on his first visit to India as the UK's premier for the G20 summit.

news.sky.com

Politics live: Cabinet 'delegation' inside Downing Street as Boris Johnson on brink - but PM refusing to resign
Politics Hub brings you the latest political news, insight and analysis from the Sky News team in Westminster. Boris Johnson is on the brink of losing power after dozens of resignations and a cabinet call for him to resign.

 

[Melodi]

This article answers some questions, even some Brits are confused at this point...

What happens if Boris Johnson resigns and how could he be removed if he doesn't?

Under current rules, Mr Johnson is immune from another leadership challenge for 12 months - but the 1922 Committee Executive are expected to meet in private on Wednesday to discuss a potential change which could see the PM able to face another much sooner.

news.sky.com

Explainer
What happens if Boris Johnson resigns and how could he be removed if he doesn't?
Under current rules, Mr Johnson is immune from another leadership challenge for 12 months - but the 1922 Committee Executive are expected to meet in private on Wednesday to discuss a potential change which could see the PM able to face another much sooner.


Sophie Morris
Political reporter @itssophiemorris

Wednesday 6 July 2022 19:24, UK

How can a Conservative leader be removed, and how does a leadership election work?
Image:
Will the Conservative Party be looking for a new leader?
Why you can trust Sky News
Boris Johnson's landslide general election victory in 2019 secured his position in Number 10, but he can only stay in post with the backing of Conservative backbench MPs.

The prime minister narrowly survived a vote of confidence among Tory MPs last month - but suffered a rebellion bigger than Theresa May.

Some 211 MPs voted for the prime minister, compared to 148 votes against - a majority of 63.

He needed a simple majority - 180 votes or more - to continue in office.

However the result meant 59% of Conservative MPs backed Mr Johnson, with 41% voting against him.

Javid delivers damning speech after quitting - Politics Hub

Under current rules, the prime minister is now immune from another leadership challenge for 12 months.

MORE ON BORIS JOHNSON
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Boris Johnson 'absolutely defiant' and 'does not intend to resign', Sky News understands - as cabinet ministers call on him to quit

Boris Johnson during a media briefing in Downing Street
Will Boris Johnson resign as prime minister? Sky News politics team tell us what they're hearing

Boris Johnson at the meeting
Boris Johnson says 'of course' he will be prime minister tomorrow at committee probe amid avalanche of resignations

Related Topics:
Boris Johnson
Conservatives
Chris Pincher

But now, less than a month on from surviving the leadership challenge, the PM's leadership looks in peril as a flurry of ministers quit the government in protest at Downing Street's handling of a series of recent scandals.

The latest of these being Mr Johnson promoting Chris Pincher to the role of deputy chief whip in February despite being told of a sexual misconduct complaint against the Tamworth MP in 2019.

On Tuesday, the PM apologised for allowing this job move to take place - but this did not stop the resignations of both his health secretary Sajid Javid and chancellor Rishi Sunak minutes later.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, more than 30 Conservative MPs have now resigned from their government roles.

But what could happen now and how would a potential leadership challenge work?

Will the cabinet want to see the back of Boris Johnson?2:09
Play Video - PM insists he has a mandate to fulfil
The cabinet look on as Boris Johnson staves off criticism and calls to resign.
Boris Johnson resigns

Despite insisting at PMQs that he will not leave Number 10 even though he is facing a mounting revolt against his leadership, Mr Johnson could still decide to resign if more of his ministerial team quit.

If this was to happen, a leadership contest will be held to decide his replacement.

The 1922 Committee would set the timetable for the contest.

To take part in the race, a Tory MP has to be nominated by eight colleagues.

If more than two MPs put themselves forward and secure enough nominations to run for leader, a series of secret ballots will be held to whittle them down.

The individual who receives the fewest number of votes will be eliminated after every round until two candidates remain.

When just two MPs are left in the race, party members get to make their final choice before a deadline set by the 1922 Committee.

The winner will become Conservative Party leader and PM.

Assuming the new leader was able to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they would not be required to call a general election.

However, a new leader could choose to call an election if they wanted to secure their own mandate.

Because the process could take several weeks and the Conservative Party still have a majority government, the cabinet could nominate an interim PM before the party holds a proper leadership contest to choose a permanent successor to Mr Johnson.

Current Deputy PM Dominic Raab or new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi could be among those in the frame.

Mr Johnson could also stay in post until a new leader of the Conservative Party is elected.

Another confidence vote

As mentioned before, under the current rules the PM cannot face another confidence vote for 12 months if they survive one.

This means Mr Johnson is effectively immune from being ousted by his own MPs until June 2023.

However, the 1922 Committee Executive - the heads of the group of Conservative backbench MPs - met in private at 4pm to discuss a potential rule change which could see a prime minister able to face more than one leadership challenge a year.

They decided that elections to the committee's ruling executive, for which there are 18 places, will take place on Monday.

Discussions on whether the rule change should take place will then begin.

It could therefore mean that Mr Johnson's fate may ultimately lie with backbench MPs if the Tory 1922 Committee's rules are altered to allow another confidence vote in the near future.

If it were to be decided that confidence votes should be able to occur more frequently, then the process to trigger another one can begin again.

How Conservatives elect a leader
How do confidence votes work?

This involves MPs disgruntled with their party's current leadership can submitting no confidence letters to the committee's chairman, registering their disapproval.

The Conservative Party rules state that at least 15% of Tory MPs must write a no confidence letter to make a leadership challenge possible.

This currently equates to 54 Tory MPs needing to submit letters to chairman Sir Graham Brady - a target which, given the number of public announcements calling for the PM to resign in recent days, would be likely to be met in the near future.

Letters are handed in confidentially, so no accurate total of how many have been submitted to Sir Graham is publicly available. He is therefore likely the only person who knows the real tally.

Those who submitted letters of no confidence prior to the vote in June would have to submit them again for them to be counted once more.

Once the threshold is reached, a vote will take place in the form of a secret ballot where all Conservative MPs will have to decide if they back the current leader or not.

Mr Johnson would have to secure the backing of half of his MPs plus one to survive - currently 180.

If he were to lose, there would be a leadership contest and he would be barred from entering.

 

[PrairieMoon]

Neil McCoy-Ward on the subject:

View: https://youtu.be/CG6Tno94Pbk

 

[The Hammer]

Since no-confidence and snap elections are triggered by MPs, does that usually go hand in hand with public sentiment?

Are PMs in this situation usually also unpopular with the people, or have popular PMs been forced out as well?

 

[Melodi]

Who is popular in the UK right now depends on who you ask, but I suspect the polls are showing the majority of the public, including Conservatives are fed up with Boris Johnson's constant sleaze and comedy hour. The Torry Party itself (with BoJo as the leader) did win a large election victory but that was partly because the then leader of the Labour Party was a really strange "Birdie Weirdie" REAL and self-proclaimed socialist.

He was just too far out for most people, even liberal people, to vote for; he has since been kicked out of his party, something that is almost never done even after a loss like that. Usually, such a person just becomes a "back bencher" until their term as MP is up and they might not be asked to run again for their seat.

Anyway, Labour went from really strange, Berdie Weirdo to an extremely boring corporate suit for a leader (typical of humans, swinging from one extreme to the other). Think of it as going from AOC to the most Business Friendly moderate Democrat that may still be around.

Keir Salmon is not popular, but he isn't feared either; Labour is somewhat worried about having an election with such a bland and uninteresting leader but probably not to the point of replacing him though it has been talked about.

In general, the parties tend to change leaders fairly often by US standards, though an extremely popular one may stay in leadership both "in" and "out" of government (or as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Loyal Opposition) for years.

 

[Walrus Whisperer]

To answer a couple of questions:

The no-confidence vote was carefully rigged to happen BEFORE an important special election in which the Tory Party lost both seats up by a huge margin. There were thoughts at the time that Boris helped engineer the vote knowing there were not quite enough votes to unseat him and under the current party rules it would be a year before he could be voted out again.

Except, the party can change the rules and they are expected to do so by next week.

Technically Boris can try to cling on by his fingers for a few days or even weeks yet, but if even his NEW chancellor is telling him "it is time to quit" he won't be able to govern under the parliamentary system because he won't have enough party supporters left to fill the required government positions.

He could also be forced to resign if enough members of his party simply refuse to vote along party lines - they can be kicked out of the party, he did that early on to a bunch of rather famous faces. But to try that now might just split the part and he would still be out of office.

A British Prime Minister hanging on like this is virtually unheard of, unlike American Presidents they can and do step down, but sometimes come back in another election. Though more often they come back after losing an election but are still popular enough to stay at the head of their party and they become the Leader of the Minority.

Hope that helps...

Thank you, Melodi!

 

[Melodi]

Daily Mail New Headline:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

Boris REFUSES to leave Downing Street: Stream of desperate Cabinet colleagues beg the PM to admit defeat and QUIT - but PM tells his few remaining allies 'if you are going to die, go down fighting'

 

[Melodi]

Breaking on the BBC, another resignation:

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-62048657

Summary

1. Boris Johnson is refusing to resign, despite calls from his cabinet ministers for him to go
2. Nadhim Zahawi, only yesterday appointed as chancellor, and Home Secretary Priti Patel are believed to be among a group who visited him to urge him to resign
3. Another group - including Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg - are thought to have been at No 10 to show support for Johnson
4. Earlier Michael Gove and Kwasi Kwarteng, both senior members of the cabinet, also told him to step down
5. At least 38 ministers and aides have quit since yesterday when Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak said they were resigning
6. MPs are angry at Johnson's handling of sexual misconduct claims against former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher
7. The 1922 committee of Tory MPs won't be changing its rules to allow another confidence vote in Johnson - though elections to the committee next week could change that

• Live Reporting
• Related Stories

Live Reporting
Edited by Nathan Williams

1. Posted at 21:0421:04
   Red wall MP Jacob Young resigns as PPS
   Jacob Young, the MP for Redcar - and the first Conservative to ever hold that seat which he won in the 2019 general election - has just resigned as housing and local government parliamentary private secretary.
   He says: "I have agonised throughout today - I have supported the prime minister through thick and thin. It’s because of my loyalty to him, that I urge him to now step aside and allow the country to move forward."

 

[TheSearcher]

The Iranians just took a British deputy ambassador into custody. A blowtorch is now being applied to Boris' ass.

 

[Red Baron]

Watch Sky News live

View: https://youtu.be/9Auq9mYxFEE

 

[The Hammer]

BREAKING: Boris Johnson fires Cabinet Minister Michael Gove

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1544777924003389440

View: https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1544777924003389440?t=3C00fEM5jmtpZ3eUZNqrHQ&s=19

 

[The Hammer]

The Iranians just took a British deputy ambassador into custody. A blowtorch is now being applied to Boris' ass.

BREAKING: Iranian security forces arrested several foreign nationals among them the British deputy ambassador, Iranian Television reports

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1544748398154219520

View: https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1544748398154219520?t=8wcZhFCk1wBOjjnE9OWVuA&s=19


BIG: Iran arrests British Deputy ambassador and the wife of Austrian embassy representative on charges of espionage. Shares drone videos claiming it to be proof of spying. https://t.co/iIxfS6sdm4

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1544756282229288961

View: https://twitter.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1544756282229288961?t=BKk6JqUpitFWods8CbNKOw&s=19

 

[Housecarl]

The Iranians just took a British deputy ambassador into custody. A blowtorch is now being applied to Boris' ass.

Merde....

 

[von Koehler]

Boris is WEF so I have little sympathy for him.

Unfortunately, any likely replacement will also be a front for Schwab. I have to give credit to him, this Great Reset was well planned out.

 

[Melodi]

The number of resignations is now 42, as noted already Boris just fired one of his most important cabinet members (a likely replacement for BoJo) after he told Boris to resign. Not a big surprise but it lowers even further the number of well-known "names" in his government.

 

[Hawkgirl_70]

These politicians DO seem to have incredible egos, when they're the last standing by themselves and refuse to budge.