With two of his political allies, the Boris Johnson the top ministers who resigned on Tuesday night in sharp rebuke to the British Prime Minister, raising fresh doubts about his future at Number 10 Downing Street.
Former Education Secretary Nadeem Zahawi has been appointed to replace Rishi Shunak at the Treasury, and the Health Ministry left by Sajid Javid is being taken over by former Downing Street Chief of Staff and former Brexit Secretary Steve Barkley.
With these appointments it is believed that Boris Johnson wanted to send an immediate message that despite two traumatic resignations, exhortations from some of his MPs and calls from the opposition for him to step down, he intends to continue.
It is noted that in addition to the two ministers, the deputy attorney general, four parliamentary private secretaries, i.e. close associates of ministers, a Conservative Party deputy leader and two trade envoys - a total of eight more MPs with government and party posts - submitted their resignations on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted by YouGov in the hours after the resignations showed that 54% of Conservative voters think Boris Johnson should resign, compared to 33% who want him to stay in office. Also, 47% of Tory voters think Mr Shunak's resignation is the right thing to do, compared to 27% who think it is the wrong move.
The Times also took a stand against Boris Johnson in an editorial that was unusually posted on its website this evening. The article is titled "Game over" and argues that having now lost the confidence of the party and the country, the Prime Minister must resign now if the Conservatives are to have any chance of winning the next election.
Conservative MPs who want Boris Johnson removed told the media on Tuesday night that his resignation under mounting pressure is "a matter of days". However, the Prime Minister's allies countered that he recently won an internal party vote of confidence, and according to a report Mr Johnson himself ruled out the possibility of resigning in glib language while speaking to a political ally.
Political analysts now point to next week's crucial vote on the new composition of the 18-member "1922 Committee", the party body responsible for implementing the party's constitution. Several "rebel" MPs have stood for election with the stated aim of gaining a majority to change the constitution and pave the way for a new vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson immediately rather than 12 months after the last vote in early June, as the constitution now stipulates.
The reason for the resignations of Mr Shunak and Mr Javid was the handling of the Chris Pincher case by the Prime Minister.
The 52-year-old MP resigned last week from the government post of party discipline officer after he inappropriately touched two men while drunk.
When it was revealed that this was not the first such misconduct by this MP and allegations were made that Mr. Johnson had been warned about the existence of previous allegations against Mr Pincher before he appointed him to the Cabinet last February, Downing Street responded that the Prime Minister was not aware of "specific" allegations.
This initial line has been changed. It was said that the allegation that the Prime Minister was aware of had turned out to be unfounded, which a Foreign Office official denied in an official letter. It was then claimed that Mr Johnson had "forgotten" the discussion regarding Mr Pincher's conduct until finally, 20 minutes before ministers resigned, Boris Johnson apologised for the "mistake" of the government appointment.
And according to late-night Times reports, the Prime Minister had in fact been briefed five times previously on the allegations against Chris Pincher. The prevailing assessment is that Boris Johnson ignored the warnings and brought the Tamworth constituency MP back into government in return for his leading role in rallying Tory MPs against the partygate criticisms in the so-called "Operation Save the Big Dog."
Pincher has been removed from the Tory parliamentary team pending a parliamentary inquiry into the latest allegations, but with a 24-hour delay, which is also being blamed on Boris Johnson.
Source: skai.gr
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