Zahawi was appointed on Tuesday night after the shock resignation of his predecessor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Sajid Javid and several junior members of the government. There were more resignations on Wednesday morning, including three ministers, bringing the total to 15 in less than 24 hours. With Johnson fighting for his future as prime minister, Downing Street wants the new chancellor to cut taxes – and cancel planned tax increases – in a bid to win back voters, despite the potential consequences for fragile public finances of Britain. On Wednesday morning, Johnson was preparing for a tough Prime Minister’s Questions session at noon. Meanwhile, rebel MPs plan to change Conservative party rules to set up another vote of confidence against him before parliament’s summer recess. Zahawi told Times Radio on Wednesday morning that he could withdraw the corporate tax increase planned for next April. “When boards invest, companies invest, they invest for the long term and compare corporate tax rates,” he said. “So I’ll look at everything.” April’s tax hike is intended to raise £17 billion a year to help restore public finances after the UK government borrowed hundreds of billions of pounds to get the country through the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been partially offset by a new “over-discount” designed to encourage companies to step up capital investment. Sunak feared that the tax cut could fuel inflation, which is already running in double digits. In his resignation letter he said he could not agree an economic strategy with Johnson, who is known to dislike the impending rise in business taxes because their approaches were “fundamentally very different”. A senior government official suggested the new chancellor would pursue a different economic strategy to Sunak: “For the next stage, we need a plan for growth, not just balancing the books.” Markets will be watching whether a looser fiscal regime could force the Bank of England to raise interest rates faster. The resignations of Sunak and Javid follow the multiple scandals that have dogged Johnson. The latest came last week when deputy chief whip Chris Pincher resigned following allegations he wet two men while drunk at a private members’ club. Downing Street insisted for days that Johnson had not been told of “specific allegations” of misconduct by Mr Pincher in the past. On Tuesday, Johnson admitted he had been made aware of the charges in 2019 — but had forgotten.

Many Tory MPs believe the cabinet mutiny marks the beginning of the end for Johnson. John Glenn, the finance minister at the Treasury, and Robin Walker, the schools minister, were the latest to quit. Glenn blamed the handling of Pincher’s appointment as deputy leader and “poor judgement” by Johnson, while Walker said in his resignation letter that the Conservative party had been “distracted from its core missions” by a relentless focus on issues about the leadership. “The loss of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid [sic] this week, two of our brightest talents from the top team, reflect a worrying narrowing of the wider church,” he said. “I have always believed that it is our party’s job to strike the right balance between efficiency and compassion. . . we risk achieving neither.” Will Queens, the children’s secretary, also quit his job on Wednesday morning – while Zahawi was on air defending the government – criticizing Downing Street’s “inaccurate” statements. Laura Trott, the parliamentary private secretary, resigned minutes earlier, saying: “Trust in politics is, and always should be, of the utmost importance, but unfortunately in recent months that has been lost.” However, several senior officials – including deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, foreign secretary Liz Truss, defense secretary Ben Wallace and acting secretary Michael Gove – have said they are staying in Johnson’s cabinet. More than 40 percent of MPs expressed a lack of confidence in Johnson in a confidence vote last month. Under current Conservative party rules, such a vote can only take place once every 12 months. But that could change next week after the party elects a new member of its 1922 backbench committee, which sets the rules for leadership contests. A slate of anti-Johnson candidates is expected to push for a rule change to allow another vote, possibly before parliament dissolves in late July for the summer recess.