The pressure on Boris Johnson has become too great, the British Prime Minister has announced a statement. His conservative party wants to clarify his successor by October. For some, that’s not fast enough.
The recent affair over the promotion of a Tory MP despite allegations of harassment once morest him was apparently the straw that finally broke the camel’s back of allegations and scandals. A few hours following the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has publicly declared that he will not resign, but the time has come on Thursday morning: Johnson is expected to attend a press conference in front of his office in London’s Downing Street later in the day – he is to announce his resignation, British media reports unanimously.
The Prime Minister will remain in office until the autumn. Until then, the conservative party wants to clarify who should succeed him. Candidates should be able to enter an election campaign. The British newspaper reports that who will then become the next prime minister should then be clarified at the party conference in October BBC.
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opposition chief Keir Starmer from the Labor Party welcomed Johnson’s resignation in a first statement on Twitter. He accuses the government of twelve years of economic stagnation and empty promises. “We need a fresh start for Britain”.
The head of the Scottish governing party SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, was also “relieved” that the chaos of the past few days and weeks was now coming to an end, wrote Nicola Sturgeon on twitter. She is critical of the Conservatives’ decision to keep Johnson in office until the fall.
Sturgeon is not alone in her opinion, Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings has already criticized the fact that Johnson wants to remain in office for the time being. He pleads for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dominic Raab as interim Prime Minister.
One affair too many
Immediate trigger of the government crisis: Johnson has one ToryMP promoted despite knowing he was being accused of sexual assault. Johnson initially denied everything, but had to admit on Tuesday that he had made a mistake.
But this was just the latest setback for the government. In particular, the Corona Party affair, which has been dragging on since December, has caused deep frustration among Johnson’s colleagues. Two heavy electoral defeats followed at the end of June, in which the Tories lost seats in the House of Commons to Labor and the Liberal Democrats – another sign that the party under Johnson is struggling with a permanent image problem.
wave of resignations
It had become almost impossible to keep track of the current composition of the British cabinet as of Thursday morning, with hardly any members wanting to commit themselves to Prime Minister Johnson in the long term. Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis is the fourth cabinet member to resign. Johnson fired another minister.
More than 50 cabinet members left government in less than 48 hours, saying Johnson was unfit to take office following a series of scandals, while dozens in his Conservative party are in open revolt.
The number of resignations may have put Johnson further in trouble, observers say. Filling these gaps has become more and more difficult. If Johnson remains in office for the time being, filling the gaps quickly will be a challenge.
Zahawi called for Johnson’s resignation
Even incoming finance minister Nadhim Zahawi called on Johnson to resign on Thursday, less than 48 hours following the prime minister promoted him to the post. He said the crisis the government is in is only going to get worse.
The wave of resignations following recent scandal surrounding the cast of Christopher Pincher Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid resigned, shortly followingwards Simon Hart also left as Minister for Wales. General Counsel Suella Braverman suggested Johnson’s resignation on live television on Wednesday evening and introduced herself as his successor.
(APA/dpa/klepa)
