The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, resigned his position as leader of the Conservative party on Thursday, July 7th, 2022.
This follows the unprecedented mass resignations involving a number of his ministers and aides over the past 2 days after losing their support and even that of members of parliament.
Johnson, who has lost the trust of many of his allies, has seen his government engulfed in a number of scandals, the latest of which is his handling of the concerns raised over Chris Pincher, deputy chief whip, over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Why Boris Johnson resigned
Drawing from his resignation speech, Boris Johnson disclosed that his decision to resign as party leader was due to the “will of the conservative party” who have demanded his resignation over several scandals. However, findings by Nairametrics reveal his resignation was due to the following;
Party Gate Scandal
Mr. Johnson was caught celebrating his birthday with friends and well-wishers in June 2020, when the rest of the country and the world were in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He was later fined for the so-called “bring your own booze” party. However, most Britons did not forgive him for breaking the rules that he has set.
Corruption Allegations
Boris Johnson also faced allegations of corruption after a WhatsApp message revealed he had solicited donations from a member of his party to fund the refurbishment of his Downing Street residence. The cost of the refurbishment is reported to be around £200,000. UK laws however require that donations and loans exceeding £7,500 be reported to the Electoral Commission.
Economic Challenges
Record high inflation and tax increases have also alienated popular support for Mr. Johnson. With the inflation rate at a record high of 9.1% while select taxes have also been increased. This has not gone down well with a lot of Britons.
Lobbying Scandal
Owen Paterson a Conservative MP was asked to resign after he was accused of trying to benefit companies who had paid him. Mr. Johnson however chose to vote to pause his resignation and in fact started another investigation into the decision of the committee that asked Paterson to resign. Paterson rater resigned after much pressure.
Sex Scandal against a key ally
One of Mr. Johnson’s allies, Chris Pincher was accused of sexual misconduct in 2019 but Mr. Johnson failed to act even though the matter was brought to his attention. Johnson, later appointed Mr. Pincher, as the Conservatives’ deputy chief whip.
The matter came to the fore during the week after Mr. Pincher, faced allegations of groping two guests at a private dinner where he later claimed he had drunk too much. He later resigned and while he did not confess did accept that he may have drank too much. This was the last straw for some of his supporters, sparking a wave of resignations.
Mass Resignation
The defining moment and perhaps the major reason why he finally resigned was when over 60 MPs from his party, including 5 cabinet members resigned en masse on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 6th and 7th, 2022. Some of his close allies then asked him to give up the fight and resign.
Resignation Speech by Boris Johnson
“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 M.P.s, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week. And I’ve today appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until the 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 incredible mandate, the biggest Conservative majority since 1987, the biggest share of the vote since 1979.’
“And the reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was not just because I wanted to do so, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019.
“And of course, I’m immensely proud of the achievements of this government: from getting Brexit done to settling our relations with the continent for over half a century, reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in Parliament, getting us all through the pandemic, delivering the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, the fastest exit from lockdown, and in the last few months, leading the West in standing up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
“And let me say now, to the people of Ukraine, that I know that we in the U.K. will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.
“And at the same time, in this country, we’ve been pushing forward a vast program of investment in infrastructure and skills and technology, the biggest in a century. Because if I have one insight into human beings, it is that genius and talent and enthusiasm and imagination are evenly distributed throughout the population but opportunity is not. And that’s why we must keep leveling up, keep unleashing the potential in every part of the United Kingdom. And if we could do that, in this country, we will be the most prosperous in Europe.
“And in the last few days, I’ve tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate and when we’re actually only a handful of points behind in the polls, even in midterm after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally.
“And I regret not to have been successful in those arguments, and of course 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. And my friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable, and our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader, equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times, not just helping families to get through it but changing and improving the way we do things, cutting burdens on businesses and families and yes, cutting taxes, because that is the way to generate the growth and the income we need to pay for great public services.
“And to that new leader, I say, wherever he or she may be, I say I will give you as much support as I can.
“And to you, the British public, I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.
“I want to thank Carrie and our children, all members of my family who have had to put up with so much, for so long. I want to thank the peerless British civil service for all the help and support that you have given our police, our emergency services, and of course, our fantastic N.H.S. who at a critical moment helped to extend my own period in office, as well as our armed services and our agencies that are so admired around the world, and our indefatigable Conservative Party members and supporters whose selfless campaigning makes our democracy possible.
“I want to thank the wonderful staff here at No. 10 and of course Chequers, and our fantastic prop force detectives, the one group, by the way, who never leak.
“Above all I want to thank you, the British public, for the immense privilege that you have given me. And I want you to know that from now on, until the new prime minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on.
“Being Prime Minister is an education in itself. I’ve traveled to every part of the United Kingdom and in addition to the beauty of our natural world, I found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways that I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.
“Thank you all very much.”
