Background: The party scandal
In late November, British media began reporting on parties at 10 Downing Street and other government properties. First, it was about a suspicious Christmas party that Johnson’s employees arranged the year before – when large parts of the country were forced to stay away from their loved ones in a strict lockdown.
The government initially insisted that no parties had taken place at all and that all covid rules had been followed in all situations. Then picture after picture began to leak from various parties.
At one point earlier during the pandemic, in May 2020, it turned out that more than 100 people had attended an event in the garden at 10 Downing Street, where guests were asked to bring their own alcohol.
During the pandemic, regular “wine Fridays” were also held at the Government Offices, where the Prime Minister is often said to have participated.
In April last year, farewell parties were held for two of Johnson’s employees at the Government Offices, including on the same day as Prince Philip was buried. The contrast to pictures of the queen who was forced to sit alone at her husband’s funeral caused great outrage among the British. However, the Prime Minister himself was not present at these parties.
The police have investigated several of the parties. To date, at least 83 people – including Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak – have been fined for violating infection control rules.
The independent official Sue Gray was commissioned to review the whole thing and then went through a total of 16 different events. In a 37-page report, for example, there were pictures of the Prime Minister toasting with colleagues, as well as information about party participants who vomited and who rocked the Prime Minister’s son’s swing in the garden.
“Excessive alcohol consumption is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any given time,” she wrote in the report, emphasizing that the events show a lack of both leadership and judgment.
Minister of Housing and Local Government Gove had earlier on Wednesday called on Johnson to resign as Prime Minister. Johnson responded on Wednesday night by dismissing Gove, Sky News reports.
– He has a train, he is ready to fight on, says James Duddridge, the Prime Minister’s Secretary, about Boris Johnson.
Several government ministers gathered at the Government Offices on Wednesday night to demand Johnson’s resignation, British media reported. But Johnson continues to refuse to leave his post.
During a previous House hearing, Johnson said he had no plans to resign.
Over 40 dropouts
The defections around the British Prime Minister have been brewing for the past 24 hours. On Tuesday evening, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid resigned, and on Wednesday, several MPs and high-ranking politicians announced that they were leaving their posts after the recent scandals.
British media count on over 40 dropouts.
That Boris Johnson kicks Michael Gove has several bottoms. Gove was Johnson’s right-hand man in the Brexit campaign and he has been loyal to the Prime Minister in his role as Minister.
But they have a tumultuous past, reports the BBC. When Johnson competed for the party leadership position in the Tories in 2016, Gove initially supported Johnson, only to change and run for office himself. Instead, Theresa May won.
James Duddridge tells Sky News that new ministers will be appointed soon.
– There are plenty of people who are anxious, willing and ready to serve, he says to the channel.
Fired Housing Minister Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have a stormy past. Stock Photography. Do not intend to resign
During the usual Wednesday hearing in the lower house, Johnson assured that he does not intend to leave his post.
“The job of a prime minister with a colossal mandate is to continue in difficult circumstances and that is what I will do,” he told MEPs.
During the hearing, several party comrades called on Johnson to resign.
“Today I ask him to do the only thing worthy: to put the nation’s interest before his own,” said Conservative David Davis.
Former Health Minister Sajid Javid said that “the problems start at the top and it will not change”.
“That’s enough,” he said.
Scandal upon scandal
The heavy defections follow the latest scandal in which the high-ranking member of parliament Chris Pincher was forced to resign after accusations that he had drunk paws on two men.
The Pincher scandal comes in the wake of the scandal known in the British press as “partygate”, and a subsequent vote of no confidence in Johnson’s party Tories.
Johnson survived the vote in early June, but 148 of the party’s 359 MPs (41 percent) who voted did not trust him.
There is speculation about a new no-confidence vote in the Tories. According to current party rules, Boris Johnson can not be subjected to a new no-confidence vote in one year. But whether such a thing is possible after all is decided by the party’s parliamentary group, the so-called 1922 committee.