But he wants to continue as prime minister until a successor is elected. / Boris Johnson resigns as party leader
Boris Johnson takes his hat off – and looks back on a three-year term full of scandals and political failures. Now he’s going to fall for good.
Actually, he should have been gone long ago, as often as analysts on both sides of the English Channel have predicted his political end. But the British prime minister is a political survivor, a stand-up man who has defied the many scandals that have plagued his career. Demands for his resignation were almost part of everyday life – but this time it really seems to be over for the 58-year-old.
“The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances, when he’s been entrusted with a colossal mandate, is to keep going, and I will do that,” Johnson said. But on Thursday the 180-degree turnaround: According to British media reports, Johnson wants to announce his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party later today and resign as prime minister in the fall.
A number of his ministers or ex-ministers – most of whom had already resigned – had urged him to take this step. Until recently, it remained unclear whether Johnson would survive this crisis again. But a well-known scandal caught up with him in the end.
Johnson and his fellow party member, the “Kneifer”
The London administrative district of Westminster is also mockingly called “Pestminster”. There are always new cases of sexual abuse and harassment in the Tories. Currently in focus: Johnson’s party friend Chris Pincher. In February, Johnson placed him in the important post of Vice-Whip, as a roustabout to ensure faction discipline. He resigned last week.
According to media reports, Pincher is said to have groped two men under the influence of alcohol. “I’ve been drinking way too much,” Pincher wrote to the Prime Minister. He was suspended by the conservative faction, initially for the duration of the investigation. The media reported older, similar allegations – which Johnson is said to have known about. Johnson’s spokesman denied.
The piquant: An ex-secretary of state confirms the accusation against the prime minister. Johnson was personally informed of the allegations of harassment, Simon McDonald said in a letter to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. McDonald told the BBC he knew what he had seen and read in the days before was wrong.
Johnson’s ex-adviser and now biggest enemy, Dominic Cummings, also tweeted at the weekend that Johnson was lying again. Long before Pincher was appointed, he joked that he was “a pincher by name and a pincher by nature.” “Pincher” means “pincher” in German.
Johnson spokesman Michael Ellis admitted on Tuesday that the prime minister had heard about the allegations in 2019, but had forgotten them. Johnson apologized – but the damage had already been done.
“The team is always as good as its captain” / Boris Johnson resigns
Minutes after Johnson’s apology, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid announced their resignations. For the latter, it is his second resignation under Johnson – he was Sunak’s predecessor as finance minister when there was a dispute with the prime minister over who should fill his ministry.
In Parliament on Wednesday, Javid continued to hand out. “Doing nothing is an active choice,” he said. The problem is at the top. “The team is always as good as its captain.” And: “Those of us who are in a position to do so have a responsibility to change something.” An appeal to his former colleagues in Johnson’s cabinet.
With success: Since Wednesday evening, most of the government has been pushing for Johnson’s resignation, and more and more ministers and employees have resigned. For them, the Pincher case seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Because the three years that Boris Johnson has been at the head of the British government have been filled with one scandal after the other.
Scandal surrounding Javid’s predecessor
The predecessor of the now resigned Javids, Matt Hancock, resigned in June 2021 because of several scandals. An affair by the married minister with a close associate, an interest in his sister’s company which won an NHS contract, nepotism in the pandemic. He is also said to have sunk billions of pounds in an unsuitable corona testing program.
At the time, there was criticism of Johnson mainly because Johnson did not fire Hancock. But even the prime minister himself had to face allegations of corruption and nepotism at the time. In April 2021, the organization Transparency International criticized 73 contracts worth a total of £3.7 billion (about 4.3 billion euros) from February to November 2020, saying there was a “systemic bias in favor of people with ties to the ruling party”.
Nevertheless, tests and ventilators were missing, and also because of Johnson’s easing course, Great Britain became one of the worst affected countries in Europe by the pandemic. In April 2021 he was forced to deny reports that he said in autumn 2020 that he would rather accept that “the bodies pile up by the thousands” than introduce another lockdown.
Around the same time, it was revealed that Johnson texted vacuum cleaner entrepreneur James Dyson to promise tax breaks for his company if he made ventilators. The prime minister didn’t see his mistake: “I make no apologies at all for having moved heaven and earth to do everything that any prime minister should have done under the circumstances, which is to secure ventilators for the people of this country .”
The fact that the news got out to the public at all made waves. Apparently there was a mole in Downing Street. Ex-consultant Cummings quickly became the focus – but he rejected the allegations.
Expensive wallpaper scandal / Boris Johnson resigns
A second scandal overtook Johnson as a result of published news: last year, the extensive and expensive renovation of his official apartment at Number 10 Downing Street became known under the name “Wallpapergate”. This cost around £112,000 (around €134,000) – well above the £30,000 (€35,000) earmarked for renovations each year.
WhatsApp messages between Johnson and wealthy party donor David Brownlow, who represents the Conservatives in the second British parliament, the Upper House, showed: Johnson wanted to be paid for the renovation of Brownlow – in return Johnson promised to do Brownlow a favor.
The British Electoral Commission fined the Conservatives £20,000 (€23,400) for an improperly declared party donation by Brownlow. Only when the financing made headlines did Johnson subsequently pay for the conversion himself. The affair was called “Wallpapergate” because the newly installed, gilded wallpaper is said to have soon fallen off the walls of Downing Street again.
Financial services scandal
At the same time, the insolvency of the financial service provider Greensill shook the British government. With permission from Downing Street, a senior civil servant had worked part-time for Greensill while in government. The head of the procurement apparatus, responsible for billions in taxpayers’ money, is said to have initiated projects in Greensill’s interest. The Times revealed that his dual role was not unusual – the civil servant ended up moving full-time to the company.
In addition, former Prime Minister David Cameron lobbied for Greensill in the Johnson government. The prime minister reacted by commissioning an independent audit – according to criticism from the opposition, however, the lawyer employed is said to have had lobbying involvement himself. “You can’t make that up,” said Labor leader Keir Starmer.
Johnson’s personal corona crisis
But Johnson’s personal corona crisis was far from over. The Prime Minister was seriously ill with Corona in March 2020 and had to be treated in the intensive care unit. According to a report in the “Times”, he is said to have isolated himself only after days with a violent cough. He therefore ignored warnings from his employees. The government denied the report.
According to the “Mirror”, a similar situation occurred at the end of 2020. The cameraman with whom Johnson filmed his New Year’s speech then tested positive. According to the Corona rules, the prime minister should have quarantined himself – but he didn’t. The reasoning from Downing Street: the contact was not close and shorter than 15 minutes. According to the “Mirror”, however, photos from the shooting suggested otherwise.
In January 2021, the rule in London applied that you were only allowed to move around in the local area of your place of residence. However, Boris Johnson was spotted on his bike more than seven miles from his official home in Westminister – again drawing massive criticism for the Prime Minister.
Then came “Partygate”: The London police investigated a total of twelve celebrations at the seat of government during corona lockdowns, including several Christmas parties in December 2021, a birthday party for Johnson and drinking the night before the funeral of Queen’s husband Prince Philip in April 2021 The investigation report shows: Downing Street was a veritable drinking culture. A wave of resignations ensued among his staff, including the need to fill the positions of chief of staff and director of communications. Johnson appointed Guto Harri to the latter.
Shortly thereafter, he reported to the news portal Golwg360 that his first question to the head of government was: “Are you going to survive, Boris?” (“Will you survive this, Boris?”). He then intoned Gloria Gaynor’s famous song: “I will surive.” (“I will survive.”).
A first for Great Britain
After all, Johnson has become the first sitting British Prime Minister to have been proven to have broken the law. He had to pay a fine for taking part in his own birthday party – his former finance minister, Rishi Sunak, who has now resigned, was also fined for the same party.
Johnson defended that he hadn’t realized he was breaking the rules. He didn’t want to resign – on the contrary, he even changed the code of conduct for his employees so that they can get away with an apology in the event of violations. Here, too, he narrowly avoided resignation.
In the end, it was the sheer volume of scandals that cost Johnson the job. Even a political survivor eventually reaches his limits. Johnson leaves a country in a historic crisis and with many construction sites arguably numbering with its many scandals.
