UK Politics

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government faced a new crisis Tuesday after two of his most senior Cabinet ministers resigned within minutes of each other. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit, saying the government under Johnson’s leadership was no longer competent or “acting in the national interest.” The apparently coordinated exits came after Johnson was hit by allegations he lied about how he handled claims of sexual misconduct by a lawmaker who was appointed to a senior position. Both Javid and Sunak are key members of the Cabinet and both are seen as potential successors to Johnson, leaving his position perilous. A look at who Sunak and Javid are: ___RISHI SUNAK, TREASURY CHIEFIn his resignation letter, Sunak told Johnson “it has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different.”“The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning,” he wrote. Sunak was, until recently, widely regarded as the party’s brightest rising star, the best-known of potential leadership contenders — and the bookies’ favorite to succeed Johnson.Sunak, 42, was thrust into the spotlight when he became treasury chief in 2020, tasked with the unenviable job of steering the economy through its worst economic slump on record because of the pandemic. He dished out billions of pounds in emergency spending to help businesses and workers, and his policies have generally been seen in a positive light.But “partygate” changed those fortunes. Like Johnson, he was issued a police fine for attending a lockdown-flouting birthday party at Downing Street in June 2020. He has also come under heavy criticism for being slow to respond to Britain’s severe cost-of-living crisis.Sunak also faced pressure following revelations that his wife, Akshata Murthy, avoided paying U.K. taxes on her overseas income, and that the former investment banker held on to his U.S. green card while serving in government.Born to Indian parents who moved to the U.K. from East Africa, Sunak attended the exclusive Winchester College private school and studied at Oxford.Some see his elite education and past work for the investment bank Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund as a deficit because he seems out of touch with ordinary voters.___SAJID JAVID, HEALTH SECRETARYIn his statement, Javid said he could “no longer, in good conscience, continue serving in this government.”Javid, 52, has been health secretary since June 2021, leading Britain’s COVID-19 response. Before that, he served as treasury chief, but resigned in early 2020 after clashing with Johnson over his order to fire his team of advisers.The fact that Johnson brought him back into the government to handle the coronavirus response reflects his reputation for competence.Javid, a father of four, was first elected in 2010 and has held various positions in government, including serving as home secretary and leading departments for business, culture and housing.He ran in the 2019 Conservative leadership election, but was eliminated in the fourth round and lost to Johnson.The son of Pakistani immigrants, Javid has billed himself as a common-man alternative to his private school-educated rivals — although he had a lucrative career in investment banking before entering politics. More

The Conservative Party’s vice chairman Bim Afolami has resigned from his position live on air, saying Boris Johnson no longer has the support of the country.His comments came just moments after the prime minister suffered a devastating blow with the resignations of the chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary, Sajid Javid.Mr Afolami told Talk TV Mr Johnson should also resign from No 10 and said he “can’t serve under the prime minister” after months of turmoil.He said that after recent allegations regarding the former deputy chief whip, Christopher Pincher, and other damaging scandals, Mr Johnson did not have his support.“I just don’t think the prime minister any longer has, not just my support, but he doesn’t have, I don’t think, the support of the party, or indeed the country any more,” he said.“I think for that reason he should step down.”Confirming he would be resigning, he continued: “I think you have to resign because I can’t serve under the prime minister – but I say that with regret because I think this government has done some great things.”Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, also said Mr Johnson is “unfit to government” and said he would support a general election if one were called.Sir Keir told broadcasters: “He is unfit to be prime minister. He is not fit to govern the country. That is dawning on many people across the Conservative party, but they have to reflect on that, that they have backed him for months and months and months.“Resigning today means nothing against their complicity for all those months when they should have seen him for what he was, they knew who he was. We need a change of government.”Asked if he would support an election if one were called in the next few weeks, Sir Keir said: “Yes. We need a fresh start for Britain. We need a change of government.” More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has backed Boris Johnson to remain prime minister, claiming that he is “a big man who is willing to apologise” for his mistakes.The Brexit opportunities minister took to the airwaves on Tuesday evening describing the prime minister’s actions a “a minor mistake”.It comes after the Cabinet and front bench was hit by a slew of resignations including chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid.The prime minister has faced criticism over his handling of the Chris Pincher affair and whether he lied about what he knew of the MP’s behaviour.Mr Johnson appointed the Mr Pincher to deputy chief whip despite having being briefed about previous allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the MP.A previous Downing Street claim that the PM had no knowledge of the allegations was contradicted by senior officials and Mr Johnson has since admitted he was in fact told.”There was a minor mistake that was made,” Mr Rees-Mogg told Sky News on Tuesday night as his boss fought for his political life.”Doesn’t that show you a big man who’s willing to apologise when he makes a mistake? I’m not pretending the Prime Minister didn’t make a mistake. That’s obvious.”The Brexit opportunities minister added that the prime minister had a majority and mandate from the British people, and that it was “a wonderfully 18th century view” to think the PM had to resign because his ministers had quit.But the PM’s untruth was the final straw for many MPs in Mr Johnson’s party, who said he should quit.Mr Sunak said said the public expected “government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously” as he quit over the Chris Pincher affair.And in an incendiary letter, Mr Javid said the British people “expect integrity from their government” but now believed Mr Johnson was neither competent nor “acting in the national interest”.The Prime Minister’s authority had already been damaged by a confidence vote which saw 41 per cent of his MPs vote against him – but he did not quit.Mr Rees-Mogg was joined by Nadine Dorries and Liz Truss in openly backing the prime minister on Tuesday. More

Dominic Raab, Liz Truss and Priti Patel were among Cabinet ministers standing by Boris Johnson on Tuesday night as the government implodes.The prime minister has been hit by a slew of senior resignations including chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid.Mr Sunak said said the public expected “government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously” as he quit over the Chris Pincher affair.And in an incendiary letter, Mr Javid said the British people “expect integrity from their government” but now believed Mr Johnson was neither competent nor “acting in the national interest”.Other MPs to quit government roles so far include Andrew Murrison, Jonathan Gullis and Saqib Bhatti.As Westminster braced for more resignations, several of the prime minister’s colleagues have indicated that they will be standing by him.Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, who is viewed as a potential leadership candidate, said she was “100% behind the PM”, according to the BBC.The Press Association news agency meanwhile quoted a source close to deputy prime minister Dominic Raab who said he was “loyal” to Mr Johnson.And an ally of Home Secretary Priti Patel told the same news agency: “She’s staying”. A source close to Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, who has been tipped as a potential successor to the PM, also said: “The Defence Secretary is not resigning.” An aide to Michael Gove meanwhile told The Sun newspaper that Michael Gove would not be resigning as levelling-up secretary.And Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, a close ally of the prime minister, said: “I’m not sure anyone actually doubted this, however, I am 100% behind Boris Johnson, the PM who consistently gets all the big decisions right.”Jacob Rees-Mogg took to the airwaves to defend the prime minister, stating that he had made only “a minor mistake”.As of 7pm on Tuesday most of the pledges of loyalty, with the exception of Ms Truss, Mr Rees-Mogg and Ms Dorries, had come through sources close to those MPs rather than emphatic on-the-record statements from them, however.Mr Johnson’s premiership has been rocked by scandal after scandal since the autumn, including the Partygate revelations. But it was the prime minister’s handling of allegations that his deputy chief whip had groped someone in a private members’ club that has put his leadership in danger.Mr Johnson was accused of lying about what he knew about Chris Pincher’s record of allegations before he appointed the Tamworth MP to the senior governemnt role.The Prime Minister’s authority had already been damaged by a confidence vote which saw 41 per cent of his MPs vote against him – but he did not quit. More

Sajid Javid quit as health secretary as the NHS marked its 74th birthday.Just five hours before resigning from the top health job in the country, Mr Javid praised the NHS as the “greatest national institution”.“We all have a reason to be grateful to the health service so, from everyone across the country, happy 74th birthday to the NHS,” he said.Hours later he published his explosive resignation letter, declaring that he had lost confidence in prime minister Boris Johnson.The Bromsgrove MP joined the Department of Health and Social Care in June 2021, after his predecessor Matt Hancock resigned from his Cabinet role for breaking social distancing rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office.Mr Javid faced a baptism of fire, taking the job in the middle of a pandemic.He was appointed on June 26, just days before the UK’s so-called “freedom day”, when remaining Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.Mr Javid stressed that he was keen to help the NHS resume usual activity and tackle the backlog of care while setting out ambitions to modernise the service.But his plans were waylaid in the autumn as the Omicron wave came to the UK and the national focus returned once more to Covid-19.The national booster programme was extended to all adults and the NHS braced for another challenging winter grappling with coronavirus.It was not until March 2022 that Mr Javid finally gave his first major speech as health secretary, when he set out his priorities for the service – “the four Ps”: prevention, personalisation, performance and people.Commenting on Mr Javid’s resignation, Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Trust leaders thank Sajid Javid for his service, particularly in seeing through the biggest health reforms in a decade in the shape of the new Health and Social Care Act and his initiation of the Messenger review of leadership in the NHS.“All eyes will be on how the new health and social care secretary addresses major challenges, including serious workforce shortages right across the NHS, the forthcoming NHS pay award amid the cost of living crisis, and the government’s New Hospitals Programme, which promises to give the NHS much-needed capital investment to benefit patients and the quality of care.“More support for an underfunded and overstretched social care system is also desperately overdue to help to ease mounting pressure in the whole health and care system.”Mr Javid often said that he held a unique perspective on government business, having served in a number of ministerial roles.He left behind a career in finance and became MP for Bromsgrove in 2010.He held roles in the Treasury from 2012 until he was made culture secretary in April 2014, becoming business secretary in May 2015 and housing secretary in July 2016.After being made home secretary in April 2018, Mr Javid talked openly about how he experienced racism at an early age and “could have had a life of crime” after growing up on “Britain’s most dangerous street”.His appointment to the role made him the first British Asian to hold one of the great offices of state.In July 2019 he was appointed to Mr Johnson’s first cabinet as chancellor.But he was just six months into his role, and less than a month away from delivering his first Budget, when he quit, after being told he must sack all his advisers if he wanted to keep his job.Some 16 months later Mr Javid returned to Cabinet as health secretary, making him the 31st person to hold the post since the inception of the NHS on July 5, 1948.He is the son of a bus driver who arrived in England from Pakistan in the 1960s with just a pound in his pocket.To colleagues, he is The Saj.Born in Rochdale and raised in Bristol, he went to a state school and studied economics and politics at Exeter University.Mr Javid made it to the final four in the contest to replace Theresa May as Tory leader in 2019, but dropped out and subsequently endorsed Mr Johnson.Carrie Symonds, the prime minister’s wife, was once a special adviser to Mr Javid during his tenure as communities secretary. More

The resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from Boris Johnson’s Cabinet tonight come just hours ahead of the prime minister reaching a symbolic milestone in his time in Downing Street.Mr Johnson is currently on the 1,077th day of his premiership: almost level with the 1,078 days spent in office by Neville Chamberlain, who was Conservative prime minister between 1937 and 1940.Mr Chamberlain’s tenure in the top job came to an abrupt end in May 1940, nine months into the Second World War, after he lost the support of many of his backbenchers who were critical of his style of leadership and his handling of the conflict.During a debate on the conduct of the war in the House of Commons on May 7 1940, the Tory MP Leo Amery quoted at Chamberlain some words originally spoken by the 17th century politician and general Oliver Cromwell, who led the armies of parliament against the monarchy during the English Civil War: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”The speech hastened Chamberlain’s downfall and three days later, after only narrowly winning a vote of confidence but failing to get support from other parties to lead a new coalition government, he resigned as prime minister.The same quotation was directed at Mr Johnson by Conservative MP David Davis in the Commons on January 19 2022, in response to Mr Johnson’s involvement in the partygate scandal. More

Rishi Sunak has resigned as chancellor in a destablising blow to Boris Johnson’s premiership, just moments after Sajid Javid announced he had also quit the government.Mr Sunak said “the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously”, adding: “I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”The chancellor, who had been preparing a joint speech on the economy with Mr Johnson, said on Tuesday: “It has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different”. He added: “I am sad to be leaving government but I have relcutantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this”.Just minutes before the chancellor posted his resignation letter on social media, Mr Javid, the health secretary, also announced his departure from government.In an incediary letter, the cabinet minister said the British people “expect integrity from their government” but voters now believed Mr Johnson’s administration was neither competent nor “acting in the national interest”.“The tone you set as a leader, and the values you represent, reflect on your colleagues, your party and ultimately the country,” he wrote.The resignations will increase the pressure on Mr Johnson to resign after months of damaging headlines over the Partygate scandal, a double by-election defeat, and narrowly surviving a confidence vote in June.The move also came moments after the prime minister ended his silence on his handling of complaints regarding the former deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher conduct, apologising for the “mistake” of giving him a government role.Speaking on Monday, however, the prime minister, denied lying to aides about his knowledge of allegations against Mr Pincher, who resigned last week after fresh claims emerged about his conduct in the Carlton Club.But other senior ministers, including the foreign secretary Liz Truss, the deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, and the defence secretary Ben Wallace, made clear they were standing by the embattled prime minister.An ally of Ms Truss, viewed as a potential leadership candidate, said she was “100% behind the PM”. A source close to Mr Raab said he was “loyal” to Mr Johnson, while an ally of Priti Patel, the home secretary, said “she’s staying”.Responding to the resignations Sir Keir Starmer has said “it’s clear that this government is now collapsing” and said cabinet ministers who have resigned have been “complicit” as the prime minister “disgraced his office”.The Labour leader said in a statement: “After all the sleaze, the scandals and the failure, it’s clear that this government is now collapsing. Tory cabinet ministers have known all along who this prime minister is.” More