Main content

Boris Johnson vows to keep going despite collapsing support

The UK prime minister refuses to stand down despite more than 50 government resignations.

From beside the Houses of Parliament in London, the seat of political power in the United Kingdom, Newsday reported on Boris Johnson’s desperate fight to survive as Prime Minister - in the space of 36 hours more than 50 of his Conservative party MPs have resigned their government roles.

Mr Johnson has faced scandal after crisis: from his handling of the covid pandemic to partygate - illegal parties in government offices in Downing Street - to the latest issue, the appointment of an MP, Chris Pincher, to a senior role despite serious allegations against him.

In many of these cases, the PM's commitment to the truth has been called into question to a point now where a large portion of his own party have lost confidence in him. And yet he refuses to step down.

Hannah White - the Deputy Director at the Institute for Government, a think tank which aims to improve government effectiveness – explained why Mr Johnson cannot be pushed out.

“He argues he has a personal mandate from the British people that he won at the 2019 election. That’s not constitutionally accurate because it’s actually the Conservative party that has the mandate to govern, having all the individual MPs won the election. If they don’t choose for him to continue as their leader then he will have to stand down.â€

“But he is benefitting from the fact that there was a vote of confidence in him by his party about a month ago which he won. Technically-speaking the rules say there can’t be another vote of confidence for a year. But rebels are looking at how they can change the rules.â€

(Pic: Boris Johnson addresses MPs in the House of Commons; Credit: Reuters)

Release date:

Duration:

3 minutes