Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Thursday

7 Jul 2022

Full text: Boris Johnson’s resignation speech

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you. It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister. And I’ve agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week. I’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place. So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting conservative for the first time. Thank you for that

James Forsyth

Boris should leave No. 10 immediately

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. It would clearly be better for the smooth running of government for all the ministers who quit yesterday to return. But that won’t happen with Johnson still there, even if he has resigned as Tory leader. So, the simplest thing to do is for Dominic Raab to become interim PM and say he won’t stand in the leadership contest. He could then steer the ship of state until the start of September by which time the Tories will have

Nigel Jones

Disloyalty is the true Tory secret weapon

It is a very long time since David Maxwell Fyfe, a Tory home secretary in the early 1950s, said that ‘Loyalty Is the Tory party’s secret weapon’. It may not even have been true when he uttered the quote, and as the party messily defenestrates its latest leader, it is certainly not true today. In fact, of Britain’s two major parties, it is Labour which has proved most reluctant to dump a failing leader, while the Tories have frequently been ready to unsheath the daggers and ruthlessly despatch their leaders to oblivion, often at the first sign of political stumbling or unpopularity. Uneasy lie the heads that wear the Tory

Robert Peston

Could Boris Johnson cling on until November?

The prime minister is resigning today, and staying on as caretaker till the autumn, but that leaves very big decisions to be taken not only about who succeeds him but about the process for replacing him. I am told Boris Johnson rang Sir Graham Brady – chair of the 1922 backbench committee and de facto shop steward for Tory MPs – this morning. Yesterday, Brady told him he’d lost the confidence of the party and that he should resign. Johnson refused and said he was determined to battle on. This morning he telephoned Brady and said that, having reflected overnight, he would be quitting after all. Which was simply the

Coffee House

Live: Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister

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

Katy Balls

Boris resigns. What next?

15 min listen

After fighting words briefed out to the papers overnight, this morning, the Prime Minister has finally decided to resign. A statement is expected today. On the episode, Katy Balls discusses with Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson whether he should have gone sooner (and the implications for the post-politics speaking circuit) and the leadership race that is about to start. Produced by Cindy Yu.

Rod Liddle

The real reason Boris has gone

Boris, your leader, hasn’t gone because he handled ineptly the fall-out from deputy chief whip Chris Pincher’s well-lubricated non-consensual bum-fun. Nor even because he lied about all that stuff as well. He has gone because Conservative MPs no longer believe he could win a general election. Who will come next? I don’t much care: none of the fancied pack are Conservatives This may seem a blindingly obvious thing to point out, but when I made the same argument as to why Boris SHOULD go a few weeks ago in this magazine, it was met with a howled, anguished and rude response from many readers, as if they had blue dyed

Freddy Gray

The Tories will miss Boris now he’s gone

Boris Johnson was often talked about as the luckiest politician on earth — and in a sense he was. Outrageous fortune powered his ascent. A child of privilege, he always seemed to get away with it, no matter what it might be. In elections, his timing was almost miraculously perfect, culminating in his big win over the hapless Jeremy Corbyn in 2019. But Lady Luck turned out to be the cruellest mistress Boris ever had. She built him up to tear him down. Now that he’s 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

Kate Andrews

Why Rishi Sunak quit

On Tuesday, the last cabinet meeting with Sajid Javid as health secretary and Rishi Sunak as chancellor passed without any hint that either was about to resign. The ministers did not co-ordinate their resignations, but they had both been tipped over the edge by growing evidence that No. 10 had misled MPs by declaring Boris Johnson had no prior knowledge of Chris Pincher’s behaviour. Sunak had also grown tired of the Prime Minister’s economic ‘cake-ism’ – the fantasy of wanting both high spending and low taxes. The contradictions had become untenable. In that cabinet meeting, Johnson offered more cake. He was his usual ebullient self, promising a morale-raising speech to

James Forsyth

Boris is gone: the leadership contest now begins

In the end, the Prime Minister was damaged irreparably before he resigned on Thursday. The confidence vote wounded him. Then two by-election defeats revealed that people were voting tactically against the Tories. A party that tolerated Boris Johnson because he was a vote-winner now concluded he was an electoral liability: rebellions followed and then (finally) his resignation. But the Conservatives are stuck confronting a basic question: what next? The Tories are caught in a trap. One influential Tory MP who voted for Johnson in the no-confidence ballot told me, with a mixture of exhaustion and despair: ‘Please God, make it stop.’ That sums up the mood. The Tories had been

Charles Moore

Thatcher and Boris: the problems of downfall

Few leaders could be as different in character as Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson, but one can compare their predicaments when colleagues turned on them. Both had large parliamentary majorities and were never defeated in any election they led, yet both faced internal coups. In both cases, there were/are good reasons why colleagues were fed up with their leaders. What was true in Mrs Thatcher’s case, however, and may well apply in Boris’s if he does go, is that her political assassination caused remorse, and immense, lasting division. As John Major understood and Michael Heseltine did not foresee, remorseful MPs tend to turn on the chief assassin and favour, almost

The Spectator

A Tory implosion

What is the purpose of a Conservative government? It’s a reasonable question for voters to ask. In 2019 Boris Johnson gave us a clear answer: he was a different type of politician. He would get Brexit done, then protect the public from the rising costs of government by freezing taxes. The public, he said, had had enough of weasel words and broken politics. He stood as an unconventional prime minister who would sweep away Westminster’s failing conventions. Instead, he is in danger of sweeping away the conventions that actually worked. The country is now being deprived of a functional government: one that is capable of planning longer than a fortnight

Michael Simmons

Boris’s premiership in seven graphs

Boris Johnson has just quit – forced out by the sheer number of resignations, leaving him without a government. He came into office promising to deliver Brexit. He pledged taxes would be frozen and the size of government would shrink. Everything was of course overtaken by Covid. Here’s a look at his premiership in charts and numbers. 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 28 days behind Theresa May. The PM’s downfall was brought about after a record number of resignations. Since Tuesday over

Matthew Parris

The truth about life as a gay Tory MP

Male Tory MPs molesting young men? Buttock-squeezing and groin-fumbling at a private members’ club? A middle-aged politician slipping into a dressing-gown ‘like a pound shop Harvey Weinstein, with his chest and belly hanging out’ to massage the neck of an Olympic rower? Such are the allegations. ‘What,’ you may think, ‘is the world coming to? It was never like this in my day!’ How wrong you’d be. It was very much like this in the 20th century. There is in fact something tragically old-fashioned about the whole story. This is how it used to be for many when I was an MP, and there were dozens of other gay Tories

Coffee House

The 57 Tory ministers who resigned – forcing Boris to go

Boris Johnson has announced that he is resigning as Prime Minister after facing a tide of ministerial resignations. Below is the full list of cabinet ministers, junior ministers and other government employees who resigned, forcing the Prime Minister to act. Cabinet ministers who have resigned from Boris Johnson’s government: 1. Oliver Dowden, party chairman (5.35 a.m. 24 June) 2. Sajid Javid, health secretary (6.02 p.m. 5 July) 3. Rishi Sunak, chancellor (6.10 p.m. 5 July) 4. Simon Hart, Wales Secretary (10.30 p.m. 6 July) 5. Brandon Lewis, Northern Ireland Secretary (6.49 a.m. 7 July) 6. Michelle Donelan, Education Secretary, (8.53 a.m. 7 July) Junior ministers, trade envoys and party officials who have

Katy Balls

Suella Braverman announces Tory leadership bid

Boris Johnson has so far had four cabinet ministers resign and sacked one – in the form of Michael Gove. Now, one minister has come out publicly to say they will run to be a successor should there be a leadership contest. Step forward Suella Braverman. On Wednesday evening, the Attorney General gave an interview to ITV’s Robert Peston in which she voiced her unhappiness over the Prime Minister’s behaviour in recent days. Braverman – who until now was viewed as a staunch Johnson loyalist – said there was an overwhelming sense of despair among MPs so ‘the time has come for the Prime Minister to step down’. Given she is one

Wednesday

6 Jul 2022

Steerpike

Watch: Douglas Murray clashes with Alastair Campbell

As the news rolled in that Michael Gove had been sacked by Boris Johnson, our own Douglas Murray was on Piers Morgan’s show on TalkTV alongside former spin doctor Alastair Campbell. Mr S thought that readers may well enjoy watching the subsequent clash between the pair over propriety in public life, which ended when Campbell stormed off the show…

James Forsyth

Tory MPs are looking on in horror

Tonight it is clear that the only way Tory MPs can remove Boris Johnson is through the new 1922 executive changing the rules on Monday and a new confidence ballot on Tuesday. Johnson has ignored the pleas from several of his Cabinet to take a dignified exit. He is instead, in the words of one secretary state, ‘on the warpath’. He has sacked Michael Gove for having had the temerity to tell him that he should go, as he could no longer command the support of the parliamentary party. Johnson is clearly determined to carry on fighting Johnson is clearly determined to carry on fighting. There’s talk of an economic

Isabel Hardman

Boris refuses to resign – what next?

8 min listen

Despite mass resignations and calls from newly appointed ministers to resign, Boris has dug his heels in and refused to leave. What will be his next moves? And are the rumours of a snap general election really on the cards? Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth.

Coffee House

Live: The Tory MPs calling for Boris Johnson to go

How can Boris Johnson survive this one? That’s the question all of Westminster is asking today after the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid. A number of other colleagues have chosen to follow them out of the door: you can keep track of resignations here. But it’s not just ministers who want Boris gone: more than a dozen backbenchers have now gone public with their frustrations. This follows last month’s no-confidence vote when 148 Tory MPs voted against Johnson’s leadership; a number that has only increased since then. Below is the growing list of those who have gone public with their demands for Johnson to go… MPs who have