The soap opera about the scandals involving the prime minister of the United Kingdom had new chapters this Tuesday (18), with statements by ministers, former advisers and colleagues from the Conservative Party advocating the end of the Boris Johnson era. As the Briton struggles to stay in office, supporters are already studying who can occupy the official Downing Street residence.
Boris went to Parliament last week to ask for “sincere apologies” for his participation in an event by his team that broke the rules of confinement in the country. He then addressed the same words to Queen Elizabeth II at cabinet parties on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, when the United Kingdom was in mourning.
On Tuesday, the prime minister once again apologized for the events that could cost him his job. “I deeply and bitterly regret what happened, and I can only renew my apologies to Her Majesty and the country,” he told reporters.
In addition to making a new lament, however, the prime minister took the opportunity to try to deny statements by Dominic Cummings, who was once his main adviser and left office in November 2020, amid a series of internal disputes.
Cummings published a text on his blog on Monday (17) in which he claims that the prime minister not only knew about the Downing Street party to which guests were instructed to bring drinks, but also gave the go-ahead for the event to proceed. He also says he alerted the prime minister’s head of security, by email, that the event broke the rules imposed by the pandemic and should not happen.
The claim contradicts what Boris told Parliament. In his version, he claimed to have thought that the meeting was a work meeting, since the garden of the official residence functions, according to him, as an extension of the office. The prime minister said he stayed there for 25 minutes to thank officials and then returned to his office.
Asked by reporters on Tuesday whether he had in fact lied to the public and parliament, Boris, as expected, denied and repeated his version of the story. “No. Nobody told me what we were doing was, as you say, against the rules. I thought I was attending a work event.”
The journalists also asked if the conservative would resign as prime minister if it was proven that he lied. He distorted and limited himself to saying that he is waiting for the end of an internal investigation that investigates more than 15 accusations of parties that would have been promoted in disagreement with the current rules for the control of the pandemic.
Boris may have been silent about a possible resignation, but at least two of his ministers spoke about this scenario. Justice incumbent Dominic Raab tried to defend the chief saying that accusing the prime minister of lying to Parliament is absurd. But he added to BBC radio: “If he is deliberately lying, in the way he is described, if it is not corrected immediately, normally under ministerial code, it would be a matter of resignation.”
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, tipped as a possible successor, said he believed the prime minister’s version. Asked about a hypothesis in which Boris is proven to have lied, he said: “The ministerial code is clear on these matters. But, as you know, Sue Gray is conducting an investigation into this situation. I think the right thing is that we allow her to conclude this work”.
Gray is the second cabinet secretary and took over the lead of the investigation after Simon Case, who had been assigned responsibility, stepped down when the press pointed out that one of the irregular events had taken place in his office.
The conclusion of the inquiry should be the final incentive for lawmakers to question the prime minister’s leadership, in the opinion of members of Boris’ own party, who are already openly discussing who can replace him. There are doubts, however, about the name capable of occupying the position. Among the main names discussed by conservatives are, in addition to Sunak, finance minister, Liz Truss, the country’s foreign secretary.
The assessment of coreligionists is that the winds have changed dramatically and that even old party leaders have doubts that it will overcome this crisis. “The image of the prime minister and the party is seriously damaged in the eyes of the electorate. To see if it is possible to recover from this situation,” wrote Charles Walker, a traditional leader of the Conservatives.
Parliamentarians do not want, after all, to lose support from the population. A poll by The Independent newspaper finds that 65% of voters do not believe the prime minister’s excuse that the Downing Street party was a “work event” – the number remains high even when the poll considers only Conservative voters, with 54%.
So far, seven members of the party have publicly stated that they sent letters expressing a lack of confidence in Boris’ leadership. He faces rejection mainly among young conservatives elected in 2019, and at least 20 lawmakers from that group are expected to join the demonstrations of lack of confidence, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper. It takes 54 letters of the type to start a process of deposing the prime minister.
The opposition, as might be expected, has taken advantage of the situation. Labor leader Angela Rayner said that if Boris “had any respect for the British public, he would do the decent thing to do and resign”. “He’s the prime minister, he makes the rules, he doesn’t need anyone to tell him the party broke the rules,” he said.
Amid the frying, the British press says that Boris should meet with his ministers to study the relaxation of measures to contain the pandemic imposed in November – in the so-called “Plan B”. He can also speak to Parliament this Wednesday (19). The British government plans to authorize the return of face-to-face work and, gradually, stop presenting the vaccine passport to enter certain places.
The attempt to generate a political novelty to alleviate criticism from the population, however, would take place amid a rise in deaths from Covid, linked to the advancement of the omicron variant. On Tuesday, the United Kingdom recorded the highest number of deaths in one day in almost a year – 438.
CAN BORIS JOHNSON BE DEPOSITED?
Yes, but the process is bureaucratic and demands political articulation behind the scenes. For this to happen, at least 15% of the Conservative Party bench (54 of Boris’ 361 supporters) in Parliament must write letters to the body known as the 1922 Committee. reliable”.
HOW DOES VOTE OF CONFIDENCE WORK?
The letters to the 1922 Committee are confidential, so the only person who knows how many requests for a vote of confidence were sent is the body’s chairman, Graham Brady. It is also he who decides the date of the possible vote, in consultation with the leader of the Conservative Party.
In 2018, when then-Prime Minister Theresa May faced the process, the vote was held on the day the Committee Chair announced that he had received enough letters. Open to consultation, all Conservative MPs can vote for or against Boris. If the prime minister wins, he remains in office and cannot be challenged again for the next 12 months. If he loses, he is forced to resign and barred from running for the next leader.
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