Boris Johnson was dealt a bitter blow this morning. Not only did the Prime Minister suffer his first ministerial resignation, a mere 43 days in to his premiership, but it was his own brother Jo who wielded the dagger. The former universities minister, who signed up to Boris’s government in July, dramatically announced his resignation on Twitter, saying that:
‘In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest – it’s an unresolvable tension and time for others to take on my roles as MP and Minister. #overandout’
But was the writing always on the wall? It certainly seems that Boris was tempting fate when he was interviewed by the Telegraph back in 2013. At the time, the future PM was asked if he and Jo would ever treat each other like the Miliband siblings, who infamously competed over the Labour leadership. Boris replied:
‘Absolutely not. We don’t do things that way, that’s a very left-wing thing… only a socialist could do that to his brother, only a socialist could regard familial ties as being so trivial as to shaft his own brother.
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