British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s position has been shaken further in recent hours. There is an exodus of his cabinet. Crisis talks are currently taking place on Downing Street between Johnson and a number of prominent ministers, who are asking him to honor himself and leave, British media reported.
It is even more painful that the new finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has joined that group. He was appointed by Johnson on Tuesday evening and replaced Rishi Sunak, who actually gave the starting signal for the exodus earlier in the day. Home Secretary Priti Patel is also on Downing Street.
According to BBC News Johnson, in turn, fired Secretary of State for Housing and Local Affairs, Michael Gove. He allegedly did so because of “a lack of loyalty to the party”. He worked closely with Johnson on the ‘Vote Leave’ campaign in favor of Brexit. The Deputy Health Minister and the Minister for Wales resigned at the end of the evening.
The now fired Gove has been a leading figure in the Conservative Party for decades, having held senior positions within Johnson’s party since his appointment as Education Secretary in 2010. For example, he was ‘Chief Whip’ in parliament, an important leadership position. He was also Minister of Justice and Minister of the Environment.
Johnson has repeatedly reiterated on Wednesday that he is not considering resigning, but that decision may not be his.
For example, his Conservative Party’s internal 1922 committee is reportedly planning to amend crucial rules to speed up a new confidence vote. Johnson narrowly survived a confidence vote in early June and under current rules, such a vote cannot be held again the following year.
The somewhat good news for Johnson is that the committee first wants to hold internal elections on Monday to appoint a new board. However, British media are taking into account that the rules could subsequently be adjusted on Tuesday to allow a new confidence vote more quickly.
The chances of Johnson surviving that eventual vote seem to be getting smaller by the hour. In the previous vote he had ‘only’ the support of less than six out of ten party members. The news that 36 cabinet members have lost confidence in him in the past day is dwindling the chance of another victory.
This concerns more than a quarter of the total 120 people who work for the government. A record number has also stepped up in one day, writes BBC News†