With the many scandals, crises and affairs under his leadership, it was only a matter of time before Boris Johnson would trip over himself. And now it should be so far.
The British prime minister knew that his party colleague Christopher Pincher was prone to sexual assaults and nevertheless promoted him to deputy faction leader in February. That alone calls the British Prime Minister’s judgment into question. However, for Johnson to first deny what he knew and then claim he had forgotten what he knew was one lie too many for two of his top ministers.
The resignation of Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid heralds the end of the Johnson era. He will never recover from this, said Michael Heseltine, who brought down Margaret Thatcher with a coup in 1990, on Tuesday evening. It is quite possible that Johnson will stay in office for a few more months. So far he has not wanted to know anything about resigning and is being supported by Deputy Prime Minister Dominik Raab and Foreign Minister Liz Truss, among others.
Whether it ends in a new no-confidence vote or the enraged faction simply refuses allegiance to their Prime Minister in the House of Commons, Johnson will not escape the fate he deserves. The 58-year-old character actor is easily one of the most entertaining Prime Ministers the UK has ever had.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
But, as the resigning Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak put it, the public rightly expects the government to be “run properly, competently and seriously”. These are three virtues that even many conservative party friends no longer trust their prime minister.
Red alert for UK economy
But the rift between the finance minister and the prime minister goes deeper. In his letter, Sunak speaks of “fundamental” differences of opinion in economic policy. And that doesn’t bode well for the UK economy, which is in the midst of its worst crisis in 50 years.
Johnson has already indicated that he now sees more scope for tax cuts in the near future following the departure of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sunak had always refused, pointing to the dangers for inflation and public finances.
One might be fascinated to view the endgame at 10 Downing Street as the final act in a tragedy of betrayal, power and intrigue such as Shakespeare could not have orchestrated better. The danger is that Johnson, in his political struggle for survival, will drag the battered British economy down with him.
More: Government crisis in London: Two British ministers resign – Johnson in danger