What is happening in the inner circle around British Prime Minister Boris Johnson these days is tantamount to a government collapse in Westminister. Two of his closest confidants, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid, resigned at almost the same time because they could no longer stand Johnson’s blatant lies. The wave of resignations continued the following day. The question of all questions is: when will Johnson resign?
Johnson has been Prime Minister for three years. First, the British gave what a narrow majority of the population wanted: Brexit. In the course of the corona pandemic, however, it turned out that the populist Johnson’s competence was not sufficient to steer his country safely through the crisis. The country has so far had worse death rates in the pandemic than Germany, France or Spain. The British economy is shrinking, the cohesion between England and Scotland is more fragile than ever.
Despite this devastating record, Johnson is once again determined to simply sit out the latest government scandal. was what Successors for the two resigned ministers were quickly found. As if nothing had happened, the newly appointed finance minister, Nadhim Zahawi, declared that his main concern would be to fight inflation.
However, the impression that Johnson and his increasingly decimated Praetorian Guard are living in a parallel world is becoming more and more pressing. Not only in the general public, but also in large parts of the conservative governing party, Johnson is now considered intolerable. The latest scandal is about Chris Pincher, a Johnson confidant, who has since resigned. It was long known internally that Pincher’s sexual assaults on men were the subject of investigations. At first, Johnson said he knew nothing about it. Finally he had to admit that he was in the picture.
The pattern of Johnson only partially revealing the truth is familiar from the Partygate affair. This is the scandal that led to a vote of confidence within the faction last month. Johnson barely survived the vote – probably because there is still no viable successor in sight for the office of party chairman. But now there are only two options: either Johnson vacates his post as Tory boss himself – or he will soon have to face a possible new internal vote of no confidence.
