Boris Johnson 'up for a fight' as clamor to quit grows

AFP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defied pressure to quit on Wednesday from senior ministers and a mounting rebellion within his ruling Conservative Party, saying he will fight off any attempts to oust him over a series of scandals.

After more than 40 resignations from within the government and with many Conservative lawmakers in open revolt, some Cabinet ministers went to Downing Street to tell Johnson he needed to go, a source said.

One encouraged him to make a dignified exit by setting his own timetable rather than face a confidence vote. Many lawmakers said it was now a question of when, not if, he has to go.

On Wednesday night, the attorney general for England and Wales, Suella Braverman, called on Johnson to resign and became the first cabinet minister to say they would run to replace him in any Conservative Party leadership contest.

"I do think the time has come for the prime minister to step down," Braverman said on ITV. She said she did not want to resign from her post. "If there is a leadership contest I will put my name into the ring."

Dozens have publicly criticized Johnson's integrity after he was forced to apologize for appointing a lawmaker to a role involved in pastoral care, and had not recalled being briefed that the minister had been the subject of complaints about sexual misconduct.

It is the latest crisis to hit his administration after months of scandals and missteps, including a damning report into parties at his Downing Street residence and office that broke strict COVID-19 lockdown rules and saw him fined by police.

But despite the clamor for him to resign, James Duddridge, a Conservative lawmaker and close aide of Johnson, told Sky News the British leader "is buoyant, he is up for a fight" after a meeting with members of his top cabinet team.

Duddridge said Johnson and the newly appointed Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi would set out a new joint plan for the economy next week which would include tax cuts.

Johnson sacked Michael Gove, a senior minister who media earlier said had told the British leader he should quit. On Wednesday night, Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart joined those resigning.

Earlier Johnson told a parliamentary committee: "I am not going to step down and the last thing this country needs, frankly, is an election."

Confidence vote

Johnson also refused to say if he would try to stay in the job even if he lost a confidence vote from his own lawmakers. That could come next week if they agree to change the party's rules, which only allow one such challenge a year. He narrowly won a similar vote last month.

"The prime minister is deluded if he feels he can cling on in the face of collapsed parliamentary support," said a senior Conservative lawmaker on condition of anonymity. "He is embarrassing the Conservative Party and showing contempt for the electorate."

But Culture Minister Nadine Dories said she was behind Johnson and, when asked if others also still backed him, she replied: "Yes, definitely."

The dramatic resignations on Tuesday of his health and finance ministers triggered a growing swell of other ministerial departures and many Conservative lawmakers questioned his fitness to govern.

At parliamentary questions on Wednesday, some Conservatives struggled not to laugh when others poked fun at him and he took a pummeling from a committee of senior politicians over his past behavior, his motivation and some of the scandals that have come to define much of his tenure.