Britain’s Boris Johnson defied pressure from senior ministers and a growing rebellion within his party to resign on Wednesday, vowing to remain prime minister and fight any attempt to oust him. After more than 30 resignations from within the government and with many MPs in his Conservative Party in open rebellion, some ministers went to Downing Street to tell Johnson he had to go, a source said. Someone encouraged him to make a dignified exit by setting his own timetable rather than face a vote of confidence. But despite calls for him to quit, Johnson was continuing to focus on the important issues, a government source said after meeting members of the cabinet’s top team. A senior Conservative said the prime minister was digging. How Boris Johnson survives scandal after scandal British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the brink as ministers quit “I’m not going to resign and the last thing this country needs, frankly, is an election,” he told a parliamentary committee earlier, saying he had a mandate from the 2019 national election, which he won with a large majority. Johnson also declined to say whether he would try to stay in office even if he lost a vote of confidence from MPs themselves. That could happen next week if they agree to change the party’s rules, which allow only one such challenge a year. He narrowly won a similar vote last month. “The prime minister is delusional if he feels he can hang on in the face of collapsing parliamentary support,” said a senior Conservative MP who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He embarrasses the Conservative Party and shows contempt for the electorate.” But Culture Secretary Nadine Dories said she was behind Johnson and, when asked if others were backing him, she replied: “Yes, definitely.” The dramatic resignations on Tuesday of his health and finance ministers prompted a growing wave of other cabinet departures, with many conservative lawmakers openly saying they wanted him gone, questioning his ability to govern and his integrity. At parliamentary questions on Wednesday, some Conservatives tried not to laugh as others jeered at him and he was criticized by a panel of senior politicians for his past behaviour, his motives and some of the scandals that have come to define much of his tenure. The flamboyant Johnson came to power almost three years ago, promising to deliver Britain’s exit from the European Union and save it from the bitter row that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum. Since then, some Conservatives have enthusiastically backed the former journalist and London mayor, while others, despite reservations, backed him because he was able to appeal to sections of the electorate that would normally reject their party. This was confirmed in the December 2019 election. But his administration’s combative and often chaotic approach to governance and a series of scandals have sapped the goodwill of many of his lawmakers, while polls show he is no longer popular with the general public. Despite even his supporters once saying the current crisis could only end with his resignation, Johnson has vowed to fight and his spokesman said he was confident he would win another no-confidence motion. “The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances when you’ve been given a colossal mandate is to keep going,” Johnson told parliament. “And that’s what I’ll do.” That could all change next week, when the 1922 Committee that sets the rules for the Conservative Parliamentary Party holds elections for its executive party that could lead to a rule change to allow a second vote of confidence in its leadership. Johnson sought to reassert his authority by quickly appointing Nadhim Zahawi – a Conservative rising star widely praised for successfully launching COVID-19 vaccines – as finance minister. But Zahawi was among the group of ministers in Downing Street who were to be told to leave. Earlier in parliament, senior ministers struggled to contain their laughter as the opposition Labor leader mocked his cabinet for being “in charge of the light brigade”. “At some point, we have to come to the conclusion that enough is enough. I think that point is now,” said Sajid Javid, in his resignation speech as health secretary, with Johnson listening stone-faced. His leadership has been mired in scandals in recent months. He was fined by the police for breaking COVID-19 lockdown laws, while a damning report revealed revealing breaches of those rules by Downing Street officials, and a commission is investigating whether he then lied to parliament about it. There have also been policy reversals, an ill-fated defense of a lawmaker who broke lobbying rules and criticism that it has not done enough to tackle inflation, with many Britons struggling to cope with rising fuel and food prices. The latest scandal saw Johnson apologize for appointing a lawmaker to a role involved in the party’s welfare and discipline after it was reported the politician had been the subject of allegations of sexual misconduct. With no immediate way to force Johnson from office, one conservative lawmaker likened his determination to stick with former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 U.S. election result. “We could end up with a Trump showdown,” the lawmaker said. “This could end up causing enormous embarrassment and damage to the party.” The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
