British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was clinging to power on Wednesday, with support seeping away from him as some ministers resigned from his cabinet.
Johnson’s finance and health secretaries quit on Tuesday following the latest scandal to hit the government, triggering the departure of around 15 lower-ranking politicians and the withdrawal of support of once loyal lawmakers.
With the tide of resignations rising, some questioned whether the prime minister could fill the vacancies.
According to Reuters, Johnson, due to appear in the House of Commons lower house of parliament for his weekly political questions at midday, sought to reassert authority by quickly appointing Nadhim Zahawi as finance minister.
But as former education secretary Zahawi toured broadcast studios on Wednesday morning to set out the government’s priorities, he was confronted with news of fresh resignations.
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Solicitor General Alex Chalk, the government’s second-most senior legal adviser, said the cumulative effect of a series of scandals meant the public no longer believed the government could uphold expected standards of candour.
“I regret that I share that judgment,” he said.
The level of hostility Johnson faces within his party will be laid bare when he appears in parliament for the question session, and before the chairs of select committees for a scheduled two-hour grilling later on Wednesday.
“I suspect we will have to drag him kicking and screaming from Downing Street.
“But if we have to do it that way then we will,”one Conservative lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Boris Johnson, a former journalist and London mayor who became the face of Britain’s departure from the European Union, won a landslide election victory in 2019 before taking a combative and often chaotic approach to governing.
His leadership has been mired in scandals and missteps over the last few months, with the prime minister fined by police for breaking COVID-19 lockdown laws and a damning report published about the behaviour of officials at his Downing Street office who breached their own lockdown rules.
There have also been policy U-turns, an ill-fated defence of a lawmaker who broke lobbying rules, and criticism he has not done enough to tackle a cost-of-living crisis, with many Britons struggling to cope with rising fuel and food prices.
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