In Britain, a heated political battle is taking place again, with the former prime minister at the center Boris Johnson.
Johnson resigned from the lower house of parliament last week, but in the analysis of the British media, the dramatic resignation announcement is only considered a well-planned step towards returning to power.
Even before the resignation announcement and especially after, Johnson and his loyal supporters have focused on digging up the ground for the prime minister Rishi Sun too from below.
British commentaries even talk about a new civil war in the conservative party. The party has had similar tearing internal battles several times during its history.
One sign of the party’s divisive battle is seen by commentators as two MPs who loyally support Johnson, by Nigel Adams and by Nadine Dorries, immediate resignation from parliament. The resignation of Johnson and the supporting duo from parliament leads to by-elections in three constituencies, which creates more headaches for Sunak.
Johnson decided to resign from the parliament himself, but has still claimed after his resignation, accompanied by some of his supporters, that he was smoked out of the parliament in revenge for Britain’s exit from the EU. This claim has been repeated by MPs who support Johnson, for example on the BBC’s Newsnight programme.
Like Trump, Johnson has ardent supporters
Johnson divides his own party and its supporters.
Johnson has such extremely loyal supporters among politicians, conservative media and voters that Boris-mania is comparable to that of the former US president Donald Trump’s to passionate support.
According to Johnson’s critics, the selfish and power-hungry ex-prime minister is even ready to destroy the Conservative Party to get what he wants.
There have already been calls from conservative MPs that it is high time to get rid of Johnson and his supporters.
– Johnson should shut his mouth, back off and let us continue to lead the country, snorted the conservative MP Tim Loughton For Times Radio of The Guardian by.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood again described In an interview with Sky Newsthat many in the party are disappointed, frustrated and angry about Johnson’s actions.
Johnson is estimated to have taken a model from Trump when he has attacked his critics by accusing them of a witch hunt.
For example, the former Minister of Justice representing the Conservative Party David Gauke sees “Trumpian tactics” in Johnson’s actions.
Like Trump, “whataboutism”, i.e. shifting attention from one’s own problems to the alleged actions of others, can also be found in Johnson’s toolbox.
The most recent example of “Trumpian methods” is Johnson’s reaction to the British Parliament committee’s investigation into the ex-prime minister’s activities.
Inquiry: Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament
According to the report, which lasted more than a year and was announced today, Johnson deliberately misled the parliament several times when he commented on parties in his official residence that violated the gathering restrictions of the corona time.
In addition, the committee, whose task is to investigate and, if necessary, present punishments for violations of the rules of the representatives of the House of Commons, considers Johnson to have disparaged the parliament and to have committed threatening behavior.
During the so-called partygate uproar, which was revealed at the end of 2021 and continued to grow since then, Johnson first assured the parliament that he did not know about the parties that violated the corona rules and then that he was not lying when he said that he was unaware of the parties.
This is how Johnson assured the Parliament hearing that he had not lied:
According to the committee, the punishment for Johnson’s actions would be exclusion from the MP’s work for 90 days, but Johnson canceled the punishment in advance by resigning from the parliament. The committee recommends that Johnson be denied the right of old MPs to move around the premises of Parliament.
The House of Commons is due to consider the committee’s report and its recommendations next Monday, when Johnson celebrates his 59th birthday.
Johnson has called the report containing harsh criticism trash and lies and accused the authors of the report of revenge. Johnson has labeled the committee as a summary judgment.
Even earlier, the ex-prime minister described the investigation as a politically motivated attack, despite the fact that of the committee four of the seven members are from the conservative party.
– [Valiokunnan raportti] is the last stab in a prolonged political assassination, Johnson commented today.
Johnson and his supporters have targeted a conservative politician sitting on the committee in particular to Bernard Jenkinwho according to them raised a drink in honor of his wife’s birthday in a suspicious event in the parliament building.
Among other things, a conservative evening newspaper The Sun reported that Johnson thinks Jenkin should resign.
Sources: Reuters, AP, AFP