Amid reports of senior British cabinet members huddling at Downing Street with some urging him to quit, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely put in his resignation today, reports said.
This major development comes a day after the British Prime Minister said he was not going to resign, and that the last thing the country needed was a national election.
“I am not going to step down and the last thing this country needs, frankly, is an election,” he told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday when asked to confirm he would not seek to call an election rather than resign if he lost a vote of confidence.
Britain’s new finance minister Nadhim Zahawi also on Thursday told Boris Johnson to resign, less than 48 hours after the prime minister promoted him to the job, saying the crisis engulfing the government would only get worse.\
Prime Minister: this is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country. You must do the right thing and go now. pic.twitter.com/F2iKT1PhvC
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) July 7, 2022
The 58-year-old UK PM’s grip on power has been loosening since Tuesday night, when Rishi Sunak resigned as finance minister and Sajid Javid quit as health secretary.
Both said they could no longer tolerate the culture of scandal that has dogged Johnson for months, including lockdown lawbreaking in Downing Street.
By Wednesday evening, 38 ministers had quit in total, mostly from more junior positions outside the cabinet, while others who’re still there urged him to quit.
Hardcore Boris loyalist Switches ranks
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday became the latest senior Cabinet minister to withdraw her support for Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party, after UK media reports said she is part of a contingent of ministers with an ultimatum for the embattled prime minister to step down.
The Indian-origin minister has so far said she has no plans of resigning after Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid made their dramatic exit from the Cabinet, triggering the flurry of ministerial and government aide resignations.
A report in The Times confirmed on Wednesday evening that a hardcore Boris loyalist until now, Patel had switched ranks to join a Cabinet ministerial delegation to 10 Downing Street to let him know that the time is up on his leadership.
Later, the BBC confirmed those reports that she along with Nadhim Zahawi, the newly appointed Chancellor to replace Sunak, were among the group of ministers threatening to resign unless Johnson accepts his time in Downing Street is up.
(With PTI inputs)
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