UK PM Boris Johnson clings to power as clamour grows for him to quit | Top Points
India Today
Embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rebuffed calls to step down, saying he will fight off any attempts to oust him amid a flurry of resignations from within the government.
An “absolutely defiant” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stared down calls to quit from senior ministers and a mounting rebellion within his ruling Conservative Party, saying he will fight off any attempts to oust him over a series of controversies.
After an extraordinary day that saw 40 resignations from within the government and with many Conservative lawmakers in open revolt, some cabinet ministers went to Downing Street to tell Johnson he needed to go, reported Reuters quoting a source.
Many lawmakers said it was now a question of when, not if, Johnson has to go, after it emerged that he allegedly promoted a lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct, the latest in a two-year-odd tenure marred by scandals.
The latest scandal saw Johnson hit by allegations that he failed to come clean about a lawmaker, Chris Pincher, who was appointed to a senior position despite claims of sexual misconduct surfacing against him in 2019.
On July 1, the UK government claimed that Johnson was unaware of the allegations against Pincher. But a spokesperson later revealed that it was not entirely true and the PM did know about the accusations. On Tuesday, Simon McDonald, the seniormost official at the UK Foreign Office between 2015 and 2020, also accused the Prime Minister of lying.
Soon, Johnson faced pressure to explain what he knew about previous misconduct allegations against lawmaker Chris Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip last week amid complaints that he groped two men at a private club.
Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit the government after Johnson was forced to acknowledge that he changed his story on the way he handled the allegations against Pincher, precipitating the current crisis that has gripped Johnson and the Tory government.