Boris Johnson has announced his resignation but insisted he will stay on as Prime Minister until a new leader is appointed. Speaking on the steps of No. 10 this afternoon, Boris said he was ‘immensely proud’ of his achievements in office’. The PM’s decision to step down came after over 50 of his ministers resigned and Nadhim Zahawi, who was appointed Chancellor on Tuesday, publicly said he should go.
2.15 p.m. – History won’t look kindly on Boris
James Kirkup writes… ‘Them’s the breaks’. Those three words speak volumes about Boris Johnson’s ability, his character and his fears, says James Kirkup. Read the rest of the article here.
1.30 p.m – Is Boris like Trump?
Freddy Gray writes… The urge to compare Boris Johnson to Donald Trump was always irresistible. As Johnson’s government collapsed on top of him yesterday and he appeared to be refusing to resign, some journalists instantly went for the ‘Britain Trump’ allusions. Johnson was desperately ‘clinging on’ to power; ‘unable to face reality’ and ‘refusing to respect the basic conventions of parliamentary democracy.’ Some Twitter blowhards even started bloviating about Johnson’s refusal to resign as comparable to Trump’s behaviour around 6 January. It’s at such moments that the Trump-Boris comparisons break down.
Read the rest of the article here.
1.00 p.m. – The PM’s reluctant goodbye
Katy Balls writes… Boris Johnson’s resignation speech was rather pointed in places. The PM said he had tried to make the point to colleagues that changing leader now would be ‘eccentric’ but had failed despite the fact he had a ‘vast mandate’ and the party is only a handful of points behind in the polls.
12.50 p.m. – Boris Johnson’s speech: the full text:
‘It’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself. But as we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful. And when the herd moves, it moves.’
Read the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech on Coffee House.
12.45 p.m. – Boris’s bitter resignation speech
Isabel Hardman writes…Boris Johnson has just given a bitter resignation speech that makes clear he is not going until a new leader is in place. He has set up a betrayal narrative, pointedly thanking the British public but not his own party for his time in office, and saying it would be ‘eccentric’ to change leader when the Conservative party is only a few points behind in the polls.
He talked about his ‘duty’ to stay on in government and claimed that this was the reason he had tried to stay in place. It was very difficult to see many Conservative MPs agreeing with that line of reasoning before this speech. The way he talked about the party today will have made that even less likely.
12.35 p.m. – Boris resigns
Boris Johnson has announced his resignation but insisted he will stay on as Prime Minister until a new leader is appointed. Speaking on the steps of No. 10, the PM defended his decision to cling on until now, insisting he felt that it was ‘my obligation to do what we promised to do in 2019’. Boris said he was ‘immensely proud’ of his achievements in office’. He said:
‘Being Prime Minister is an education in itself – I’ve travelled to every part of UK and I’ve found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways. Even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.’
Boris added: ‘The process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week’ and ‘our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader’.
12.26 p.m. – Boris should stand down immediately
James Forsyth writes… Boris Johnson should stand down with immediate effect. Yes, he has managed to fill various cabinet posts. But he will find it more difficult to fill the junior ranks of government. The simplest thing to do is for Dominic Raab to become interim PM and say he won’t stand in the leadership contest.
Read James’s full blog here.
12.01 p.m. – Disquiet as Boris appoints an interim cabinet
Katy Balls writes… Boris Johnson may be on the way out – but he’s not quite done yet. The Prime Minister is keen to say in Downing Street over the summer – an idea many of his MPs have already taken umbrage with. In the time her has this morning ahead of his resignation speech, a cabinet reshuffle has begun. The appointments so far:
- Greg Clark MP as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
- Kit Malthouse MP as Chancellor of the Duchy. of Lancaster.
- James Cleverly MP as Secretary of State for Education.
- Robert Buckland QC MP as Secretary of State for Wales.
So, these are figures Johnson wants in his interim cabinet. But it’s not that simple. Already there are murmurs of discontent that this reshuffle could give certain candidates an edge in any leadership contest given it provides a platform for weeks to come – presuming Johnson is allowed to remain in post. Nothing is decided yet.
11.13 a.m. – Why Boris may not become a caretaker PM
James Forsyth writes… The question of whether Boris Johnson stays on as PM or is replaced immediately by interim PM Raab is a key factor in the Tory leadership contest timing. Those ministers who think the party shouldn’t rush this and favour a longer contest think that this is only possible if Johnson goes now and Raab steps in. Compounding this, some of the ministers who quit yesterday will not come back under Johnson. So a fully staffed, as opposed to bare bones, government may well require a change of leader
11.04 a.m – Coffee House Shots: Boris resigns. What next?
This morning the Prime Minister has decided to resign. A statement is expected today. On Coffee House Shots, Katy Balls discusses with Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson whether Boris should have gone sooner (and the implications this will have on the post-politics speaking circuit) and the leadership race that is about to start.
Listen to the episode here.
10.42 a.m. – Who comes next?
Rod Liddle writes… Who will come next? I don’t much care: none of the fancied pack are Conservatives. They are all liberals. And that has been the party’s great failure these last 12 years: it has refused, at almost every juncture, to be properly Conservative.
Read Rod’s full blog here.
10.17 a.m. – The Tories will miss Boris when he’s gone
Freddy Gray writes… Now that Boris Johnson is going, many will delight in his demise. Many will be relieved. Those feelings won’t last. They hate him now. They’ll miss him soon. Nadhim Zahawi? Jeremy Hunt? Liz Truss? Ben Wallace? Tom Tugendhat? Really?
Read his full blog here.
9.53 a.m. – Boris’s downfall in numbers
Michael Simmons writes… Boris is currently the 34th longest serving prime minister, having just today drawn level with Neville Chamberlain. He wants to stay on until party conference season in October – as it stands he’s 30 days behind Theresa May.
The PM’s downfall was brought about after a record number of resignations. Since Tuesday over 100 cabinet secretaries, ministers and PPSs have resigned. On Wednesday alone some 50 MPs resigned from ministerial and party positions – the most in a single day since the 1930s. Read ‘Boris’s premiership in seven graphs’ here.
9.37 a.m. – Tories need to move quickly to replace Boris
Katy Balls writes… With Boris Johnson due to announce his resignation later today, a leadership contest beckons. In order to have a new prime minister in place by the party conference in October they will need to move quickly. There is already talk among MPs of speeding up the parliamentary rounds of the contest so they can whittle the candidates down to the final two to go before the membership before the summer recess.
9.29 a.m. – Will Dominic Raab take over?
James Forsyth writes… There is a growing view among ministers that Dominic Raab should become interim PM and Boris Johnson should leave immediately. The idea is that Raab would simply bring back everyone who had resigned and government could then continue.
9.22 a.m. – Boris will make a statement today
An official line has just come through from No. 10. A spokesperson says: ‘The Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today.’
9.12 a.m. – Boris agrees to resign
Isabel Hardman writes… Boris Johnson has agreed to stand down as Prime Minister, after it became clear that he would not be able to fill the 50-odd holes in his government caused by ministerial resignations and Nadhim Zahawi effectively placed him in checkmate by calling on him to quit without resigning, effectively daring him to sack him and collapse the government.
He plans to continue as party leader until the end of the summer when the Conservatives have selected his replacement
8.56 a.m. – Boris’s new Education Secretary quits
Isabel Hardman writes… And now Michelle Donelan has announced she is quitting – again just 36 hours after she was moved into the post of Education Secretary. She says she is going because ‘the only way that this is only possible is for those of us who remain in Cabinet to force your hand’ and that ‘you have put us in an impossible situation’. We are now clearly at the stage where Boris Johnson does not have a government and will not be able to cobble one together. The chief whip Chris Heaton Harris was warning him of this yesterday evening. Will Johnson listen to him today?
8.51 a.m. – Will Zahawi now be sacked?
James Forsyth writes… Nadhim Zahawi has not resigned but has publicly called on Boris Johnson to stand down. Given that Michael Gove was sacked for telling the PM this privately, presumably the Chancellor will now be sacked. But if he is, who would take the job? And it really is not credible for a government not to have a Chancellor
8.49 a.m. – Nadhim Zahawi publicly calls for Boris to go
Isabel Hardman writes… Nadhim Zahawi has now turned on Boris Johnson in public, publishing an acidic letter in which he says that the Prime Minister ‘hasn’t listened’ to his private advice that he should leave with dignity and is ‘now undermining the incredible achievements of this government at this late hour’.
The Chancellor confirms what has now widely been reported, which is that he went to No. 10 to tell the Prime Minister ‘that there was only one direction where this was going, and that he should leave with dignity’. He claims he kept this private ‘out of respect, and in the hopes that he would listen to an old friend of 30 years’. The old friend line is important given the hope in the wider party that someone might be found who Johnson respects sufficiently to help him reconcile with reality. Zahawi has not resigned, which suggests he is going to wait to see if the Prime Minister sacks him as he did with Gove. It is an impossible bind, because there is no one credible to take on the job, but you can’t keep a Chancellor in place who has told you to quit.
8.27 a.m. – Will ‘Brexit Hardman’ Steve Baker be Bojo’s replacement?
Steerpike writes… These are desperate times in the Conservative party. Ministers are resigning left, right and centre; careerists are despairing at their carefully laid plans coming to nought. The backbenchers are unhappy; the frontbenchers are even worse. So who could pull the Tories out of their current woes? Cometh the hour and cometh the man – for it seems that ‘Brexit Hardman’ Steve Baker could well throw his hat into the ring to replace Boris Johnson.
Baker of course is the mastermind who helped topple both of Johnson’s predecessors when he ran the European Research Group. Fresh from success at the Covid Recovery Group, he’s set to shortly revitalise the moribund Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward movement. But it seems Baker’s aspirations don’t stop there. This morning he appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme, where he told listeners that friends have been ‘imploring’ him to run for party leader. While admitting it was ‘quite improbable’ that he would actually win, Baker claimed he was ‘thinking very seriously’ about standing as ‘people I respect are imploring me to do it.’
First it was Suella Braverman announcing her candidacy, now it’s Steve Baker. Given the enthusiasm among ERG alumni to stand for the leadership, Mr S wonders when Jacob Rees-Mogg will be announcing his bid.
8.12 a.m. – Resignations galore
The resignations are coming in thick and fast now. George Freeman, the science minster, Guy Opperman, the pensions minister, Chris Philp, digital minister, and James Cartlidge, courts minister, have all announced that they are resigning from government in the last few minutes. 53 ministers have now left Boris Johnson’s side since Tuesday.
7.29 a.m. – Three more ministers resign
James Forsyth writes… It is not even 7.30 yet and there have been three ministerial resignations. Brandon Lewis – who flew back from Belfast to see the PM last night – has quit as Northern Ireland Secretary, declaring that things are past ‘the point of no return’. Helen Whately has gone as exchequer secretary and Damian Hinds has gone as security minister.
Johnson has not filled any of the vacancies that were created by resignations yesterday and it is hard to see how he could fill the bulk of them, given how quickly sentiment is moving against him. Tory MPs are horrified by what is going on. But this leaves us in a situation where we barely have a government. You can’t go that long without a Northern Ireland Secretary or a security minister.
6.48 a.m. – Brandon Lewis resigns
Boris Johnson has been presented with yet another cabinet resignation this morning with the announcement that Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has decided to go. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Lewis writes: ‘A decent and responsible Government relies on honesty, integrity and mutual respect – it is a matter of profound personal regret that I must leave Government as I no longer believe those values are being upheld.’
The drama last night:
11.30 p.m. – Suella Braverman announces Tory leadership bid
Katy Balls writes… Boris Johnson has so far had four cabinet ministers resign and sacked one – in the form of Michael Gove. Now, another minister has come out publicly to say they will run to be a successor should there be a leadership contest. Step forward Suella Braverman.
9.30 p.m. – Gove fired by Boris
Fraser Nelson writes… On Wednesday morning, Michael Gove advised Boris Johnson to resign on his own terms rather than be forced out: a difficult, but civil conversation. Then this evening, out of the blue, Johnson called Gove and fired him. It’s a mad end to a mad day. It’s easy to see why Gove didn’t join the exodus today: after having famously stuck the knife into Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership race, Gove perhaps thought could not very well do so again. But his dismay with the direction of the Johnson project had become well-known. In yesterday’s Cabinet, Gove was the main voice of dissent – saying that it was time to be honest about the economic pain that lies ahead. Two of Gove’s Levelling-Up ministers, Neil O’Brien and Kemi Badenoch, resigned earlier today. A No. 10 source has been quoted saying of Gove ‘you can’t have a snake who is not with you on any of the big arguments who then gleefully tells the press the leader has to go.’ But if Johnson intends to fire all those who think that he has to go, that will be quite a lot of jobs to fill on top of the 39 ministers who have already resigned.
8.50 p.m. – Javid warns of Tory ‘1997-style wipeout’
Steerpike writes… After a long day of plots, gossip and rumour, where else to head but a think tank summer party? Thirsty Westminster watchers piled into the Centre for Policy Studies’ shindig tonight to variously drown their sorrows or toast the collapse of Boris Johnson’s government. But the main attraction was Sajid Javid, the former Health Secretary who resigned over the Pincher affair, as opposed to the attendant Matt Hancock, another former Health Secretary who, er, resigned over his own affair.
Welcoming Javid to the stage was Robert Colvile, the CPS director and Sunday Times columnist who joked that: ‘On an extraordinary day in British politics, it’s great to be here with the man who started it all off.’ Remarking drily on the current direction of the government, Colvile remarked that when his think tank was launched in the 1970s ‘it was a time of high inflation and high taxes…it’s so good that things have changed.’ But then it was time for Javid to deliver his speech, watched on by an army of CCHQ’s finest. The onetime Chancellor remarked that he had received a range of messages since his resignation speech earlier today.
Some, he said, had been comparing his speech to that of Geoffrey Howe, whose address in 1990 is credited with triggering the fall of Margaret Thatcher. Javid joked that he didn’t welcome the comparison as on the day that Thatcher resigned, he and a group of friends at Exeter University – former MP David Burrowes, conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie and current MP Robert Halfon – all clubbed together to raise £20 to send the Iron Lady a bouquet of flowers. Another message was from his family group chat about sushi in the house: a reminder, perhaps, of the role family plays in grounding politicians.
But then Javid struck a serious note, demanding a return to ‘real Conservative values.’ He told the crowd: ‘There’s only one solution: we have to go for growth and unfortunately we haven’t been doing enough of that.’ Javid concluded by saying: ‘Unless we do change and we become Conservative again, the genuine risk that we now face is that we could now be facing a 1997-style general election catastrophe, unless we change. We’ve got the opportunity to change now, we’ve got a couple of years before the next election. We can do it and we have to.’
And which leader might be able to sponsor that change, eh Saj?
7.15 p.m. – Nadhim Zahawi’s star has fallen
Katy Balls writes… Who are the winners and losers from today’s Cabinet intervention? Of course, the person who suffers the most from it is Boris Johnson. But there’s also a sense among MPs that Nadhim Zahawi’s star has fallen as a result of the past 24 hours. As I write in this week’s politics column, there were nerves last night that Zahawi could join Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid in resigning. Instead he was promoted to Chancellor. In Downing Street, Johnson asked Zahawi: ‘Do you actually want the job?’ Zahawi replied that it was the most challenging, rewarding and exciting position there was and suggested that he would bring to the Treasury the efficiency and clarity he showed over the vaccine rollout.
No. 10 aides pointed to the appointment as evidence Johnson had support. So why has Zahawi changed his mind less than 24 hours later? He is believed to be in the delegation of ministers telling Johnson to go. The apparent turnaround has led some in the party to question his judgment.
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