After dozens of British lawmakers resign, Boris Johnson clings to ...

London (CNN) Boris Johnson's scandal-ravaged premiership was dangling by a thread on Thursday as he battled efforts to force him from office even as a growing number of government ministers urged the beleaguered British Prime Minister to resign.

The United Kingdom woke on Thursday morning to more than 50 members of government leaving their posts, including five cabinet ministers.

The previous day, Johnson began by vowing to fight on, despite the shock resignations of his finance minister, health secretary and dozens of other lawmakers furious about the latest saga to engulf Downing Street: the botched handling of a resignation by Johnson's former deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, who was accused of groping two men last week.

Johnson endured a battering at Prime Minister's Questions and a bruising appearance before a parliamentary committee of senior lawmakers in Parliament, before a delegation of cabinet members arrived at Downing Street to ask Johnson to resign.

But Johnson refused to go down without a fight. On Wednesday night, he sacked close ally and senior cabinet minister Michael Gove, who sources told CNN had urged Johnson earlier in the day to accept that his time was up.

Another key ally, Home Secretary Priti Patel, told Johnson that the general view of the Conservative party was that he had to go, a source close to Patel told CNN.

As the news of Gove's firing emerged, a spokesman for Johnson insisted that the Prime Minister was in "really good spirits."

Speaking to CNN, Johnson's parliamentary private secretary James Duddridge said Johnson was "fighting on because he believes he can win."

Asked about Gove, Duddridge said, "I like Michael, Michael has been a great Secretary of State in many ways, he helps the Prime Minister in many ways," adding that "he will be replaced, we will move on."

By Thursday morning, that number had risen to more than 50. But the flood of resignations raised the question of how a prime minister hemorrhaging so much support could fill all the newly-vacated positions. Five ministers resigned in one swoop on Wednesday afternoon, and as the working day came to a close Johnson had lost more than three dozen members of his government.By Thursday morning, that number had risen to more than 50.

Among the latest to resign were Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis and Education Minister Michelle Donelan, who became the fourth and fifth cabinet members to leave their posts.

The dramatic disintegration of Johnson's political career could now be hours from completion; while he has so far refused to buckle, Conservative lawmakers were discussing reformulating their party rules and voting to oust him if needed.

"At some point, we have to conclude that enough is enough," former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, the first of many ministers to resign in the past 24 hours, told Johnson in Parliament earlier Wednesday. "I have concluded that the problem starts at the top, that is not going to change."

An endless series of scandals

Numerous prime ministers have been dumped from office by sudden and deadly rebellions within their own parties, with leaders typically choosing to resign once the writing is on the wall. But the speed with which Johnson's government has tumbled toward the precipice echoes few episodes in British political history.

Less than three years ago, Johnson secured a landslide election win and then enacted Brexit, a political revolution for which many within his party had clamored for decades. Even late last year, Johnson was in a healthy position in opinion polls. While the United Kingdom has the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe , Johnson was buoyed by a popular vaccine rollout.

But then scandal after scandal wrecked his reputation among the public. He sought to overturn the suspension of an ally accused of misconduct; he was fined by police for attending one of many parties that took place in Downing Street during lockdown; he lost two MPs due to sex scandals, and then failed to regain their seats in by-elections; and this week, he admitted that he had been briefed on an allegation against Pincher before he promoted him to deputy chief whip, despite his ministers and aides initially claiming otherwise.

JUST WATCHED Key resignations deal blow to Boris Johnson Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Key resignations deal blow to Boris Johnson 01:40

The Pincher saga was the final straw for many of his allies. Johnson narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in early June, but rebels have threatened to tweak party rules and allow another vote in the near future if Johnson doesn't resign -- and it would now be expected that he would lose.

Duddridge said Johnson understands that the lawmakers rallying against him could change the rules and call for another vote of confidence, but said a majority against him "is not a given."

A sullen-faced Johnson struggled through Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament and then fielded questions from MPs in a parliamentary committee meeting, during which even more of his allies pulled their support.

Johnson's efforts to cling to power were branded "pathetic" by the opposition leader Keir Starmer, who also turned his attack toward the few allies in his Cabinet still propping him up. "In the middle of a crisis doesn't the country deserve better than a Z list cast of nodding dogs?" Starmer asked in Parliament.

Should Johnson resign, a Conservative leadership campaign would begin and the winner would also take over as Prime Minister.

That person would need to navigate domestic issues, such as a cost of living crisis that has hit British households, and inherit a wealth of foreign pressures. Johnson has developed a good relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and been a leading player in Europe's response to Russia's invasion.

UK prime minister's top aides resign after election fiasco

Jill Lawless

Associated Press

LONDON — The two top aides to British Prime Minister Theresa May resigned Saturday, sacrificed in a bid to save their leader from being toppled by a furious Conservative Party after a disastrous election wiped out May’s majority in Parliament.

The ballot-box humiliation has seriously — and possibly mortally — wounded May’s leadership just as Britain is about to begin complex exit talks with the European Union.

Downing St. chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who departed Saturday, formed part of May’s small inner circle and were blamed by many Conservatives for the party’s lackluster campaign and unpopular election platform, which alienated older voters with its plan to take away a winter fuel allowance and make them pay more for long-term care.

In a resignation statement on the Conservative Home website, Timothy conceded that the campaign had failed to communicate “Theresa’s positive plan for the future,” and missed signs of surging support for the opposition Labour Party.

Read more:

Prime Minister Theresa May vows to stay after Conservatives lose majority

Analysis: May's failed election gamble creates chaos

British election: 5 big challenges facing Theresa May

Some senior Tories had made the removal of Hill and Timothy a condition for continuing to support May, who has vowed to remain prime minister. May’s party won 318 seats, 12 fewer than it had before May called a snap election, and eight short of the 326 needed for an outright majority. The main opposition Labour Party surpassed expectations by winning 262.

Conservative legislator Nigel Evans said the departure of the two aides was “a start,” but there needed to be changes to the way the government functioned in the wake of the campaign.

He said the Conservative election manifesto — which Hill and Timothy were key in drafting — was “a full assault on the core Tory voters, who are senior citizens.”

“It was a disaster,” he said. “Our manifesto was full of fear and the Labour Party’s manifesto was full of promises.”

Martin Selmayr, senior aide to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, responded to the resignations by tweeting the word “bauernopfer” — German for the sacrifice of a pawn in chess.

May called the early election when her party was comfortably ahead in the polls, in the hope of increasing her majority and strengthening Britain’s hand in exit talks with the EU.

Instead, the result has sown confusion and division in British ranks, just days before negotiations are due to start on June 19.

May wanted to win explicit backing for her stance on Brexit, which involves leaving the EU’s single market and imposing restrictions on immigration while trying to negotiate free trade deal with the bloc. Some say her failure means the government must now take a more flexible approach to the divorce.

The Times of London said in an editorial that “the election appears to have been, among other things, a rejection of the vague but harshly worded prospectus for Brexit for which Mrs. May sought a mandate.”

It added that “the logic leading to Mrs. May’s departure from Downing St. is remorseless.”

The Downing St. resignations came as May worked to fill jobs in her minority government and replace ministers who lost their seats on Thursday. Her weakened position in the party rules out big changes, and May’s office has said that the most senior Cabinet members — including Treasury chief Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd — will keep their jobs, but she is expected to shuffle the lower ranks of ministers.

May announced the party would try strike a deal with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, an alliance that is fraught with difficulties. May’s office said Conservative Chief Whip Gavin Williamson was in Belfast Saturday for talks with the DUP “on how best they can provide support to the government.”

The DUP, whose 10 seats would allow the government to get measures through Parliament, is a socially conservative pro-British Protestant group that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and once appointed an environment minister who believes human-driven climate change is a myth.

The DUP was founded in the 1970s by the late firebrand preacher Ian Paisley, and in the 1980s was a key player in the “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign, which unsuccessfully fought against the legalization of gay sex.

Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, said she had asked May for assurances that there would be no attack on gay rights after a deal with the DUP.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K. in which same-sex marriage is illegal.

“It’s an issue very close to my heart and one that I wanted categoric assurances from the prime minister on, and I received (them),” said Davidson, who is engaged to be married to her female partner.

DUP Leader Arlene Foster recently denied the party was homophobic.

“I could not care less what people get up to in terms of their sexuality. That’s not a matter for me,” she said. “When it becomes a matter for me is when people try to redefine marriage.”

A deal between the government and the DUP could also unsettle the precarious balance between Northern Ireland’s British loyalist and Irish nationalist parties.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, riding a wave of acclaim for his party’s unexpectedly strong showing, called on May to resign.

Newspaper headlines saw her as just clinging on. “May fights to remain PM,” said the front page of the Daily Telegraph, while the Times of London said: “May stares into the abyss.”

But she seems secure for the immediate future, because senior Conservatives don’t want to plunge the party into a damaging leadership contest.

“I don’t think throwing us into a leadership battle at this moment in time, when we are about to launch into these difficult negotiations, would be in the best interests of the country,” Evans said.

Why Boris Johnson clung on so long – and what finally made him ...

Boris Johnson has been described as Britain’s “Teflon leader” for his unmatched ability to withstand crises but even he has proved unable to withstand the recent avalanche of Tory scandals.

The prime minister finally announced his resignation as Tory leader this afternoon, weeks after surviving a confidence vote in the wake of the Partygate scandal. Right up until the last minute, Johnson was refusing to step down, despite facing more ministerial resignations than any PM in history.

The Times reported earlier today that Johnson had told ministers pushing for his resignation that he was “absolutely determined” and “100% ready” to fight a second confidence vote.

Bunker mentality

The “sheer bloody-mindedness” displayed by the PM in recent days is further evidence of the “bunker mentality” that has prevailed throughout his premiership, said Politico’s London Playbook.

The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth has argued that Johnson has overseen a “new, super-defensive mode of government where survival is seen as victory”.

The PM demonstrated his determination to survive calls for his resignation, from both outside and within his party, during a “marathon, nine-day overseas” trip last month, said The Guardian’s political correspondent Peter Walker. Throughout his various public appearances, Johnson repeatedly rebuffed “serious questions about his authority and if voters trusted him”, insisting that his “golden rule” was that “politicians should not talk about themselves, just their policies”.

Downing Street insiders have also accused their boss of having a “bunker mentality”, a mindset said to have helped create the culture exposed by the Partygate revelations. An unnamed No. 10 adviser told The Times earlier this year that “there was a sense that we had lashed ourselves to the mast while the rest of the civil service had gone home”.

But in recent days, Johnson’s “bunker mentality” has gone from “bad” to “1944 bunker bad”, a former aide to the PM told London Playbook, in a reference to Adolf Hitler’s retreat underground in the final months of the Second World War. And a “normally reserved MP described the prime minister as appearing ‘detached from reality’”, according to the site.

Non-conformist streak

Another likely factor behind Johnson’s determination to cling to power is his non-conformist streak – a trait that undoubtedly contributed to his winning a sizeable majority in the 2019 general election. “Part of Johnson’s political appeal has always been a public perception that he is not a normal politician who operates by the expected standards,” wrote Politico’s Tim Ross and Eleni Courea following the confidence vote last month.

Promotions and sackings: what next for Tory rebels and loyalists ...

Boris Johnson has distanced himself from plans for a formal cabinet reshuffle after rumours of rewards and punishments swept Whitehall in the run-up to Monday’s vote of no confidence.

The PM is not “currently” planning a reshuffle, Downing Street has said, despite a report in The Telegraph that his closest supporters had urged him to promote more 2019-intake MPs and sack ministers who did not make public statements of support in advance of the vote.

‘Reasserting discipline’

Yesterday morning, Johnson was widely rumoured to be preparing to reorganise his top team. The Times reported that cabinet ministers expected him to “carry out a reshuffle within days to reassert discipline” and the Daily Mail said “plans for a summer reshuffle could be fast-tracked to take place in the coming days.”

The Financial Times (FT) said that “wavering Tory MPs were promised ministerial jobs in an early reshuffle if they stuck with Johnson”, while an ally of the PM said those who had offered “only tepid support”, including trade minister Penny Mordaunt, could expect to be fired.

Dozens of backbenchers had publicly called on the prime minister to resign. But the scale of the rebellion – with 41% of Tory MPs voting Johnson out – “means some government ministers and aides must have voted against Johnson in the secret ballot, while remaining publicly supportive”, said The Guardian.

‘Politically stupid’

A minister told the FT’s Stephen Bush that Downing Street has been “talking up” a reshuffle and “the prospect of a job is why some colleagues backed him”.

However, Bush noted that sacking ministers increases “the number of people with nothing to lose on the backbenches” and therefore Johnson “will never actually embark on a big reshuffle, because that would be politically stupid and far too risky”.

Yet failing to follow through on any promised promotions would “make it difficult for Johnson to win over rebels by pledging them jobs if his leadership faces another challenge next year”, he added.

Promotion for key critic?

Meanwhile, in an unexpected development, Johnson is being urged by allies to offer Jeremy Hunt the job of chancellor, despite the backbencher’s criticisms of the PM earlier this week.

Loyalists have reportedly concluded that the PM is better at winning elections than governing the country, and “vice-versa for Mr Hunt”, said The Telegraph.

The proposal has been compared to Gordon Brown’s decision to bring Peter Mandelson, a Tony Blair ally with whom he had clashed, into government to shore up his premiership. However, Hunt might not accept such an offer. In 2019 he rejected the chance to become Johnson’s defence secretary after losing to him in the leadership race.

The Times said Hunt “effectively put himself as the head of the anti-Johnson faction” before the confidence vote by urging Tory MPs to “change their leader or lose the next election”. Therefore, if Johnson did persuade him to join the cabinet, it would be a major blow for the rebels.

Boris Johnson: No one knows what to do about UK prime minister ...

London (CNN) What will it take to finish him off? That's the question that close observers of Boris Johnson's premiership have been asking for weeks.

On Monday, a much-anticipated report by a senior civil servant into a series of lockdown-breaching gatherings held at Downing Street in 2020 and 2021, some allegedly attended by Johnson himself, delivered a verdict so damning that any other national leader might have been expected to resign. There were "failures of leadership and judgment," Sue Gray concluded, with a "serious failure" to uphold the standards expected of members of government.

The evidence gathered by Gray was sufficiently serious that London's Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation. Johnson could even end up being questioned over the allegations that Downing Street staffers held boozy gatherings with little connection to their workplace activities while citizens dutifully followed the rules and said goodbye to terminally ill loved-ones over Zoom.

After the report's publication, Johnson decided to hit back at criticism by falsely accusing the opposition Labour leader, Keir Starmer, a former chief prosecutor for England, of "failing to prosecute" a notorious British pedophile , Jimmy Savile. The claim -- which circulates in rightwing conspiracy theory circles -- has been debunked multiples times (a decision not to prosecute Savile was taken by a regional division of the prosecution service).

Johnson's failure to withdraw it fully prompted his policy chief -- a longtime aide and confidante -- to quit in disgust on Thursday evening, issuing a blistering statement that reverberated around UK government circles.

Four more senior officials resigned in the following hours -- some for different reasons, but it gave the impression that Downing Street was in freefall.

At the time of publication, Johnson clings on. And predictions of his demise have been made prematurely many times before. But it might now be the case that Johnson's days in Downing Street are drawing to a close.

Once seen as a politician with a near-mythical ability to win over opponents with a natural charm, Johnson's personal approval ratings and his Conservative party's poll ratings have been steadily falling since the so-called Partygate scandal exploded last year. No one around Johnson or in his party is pretending that the situation isn't very bad, possibly terminal.

Nonetheless, the sad reality for the numerous Conservatives who would like to see back of Johnson is that they have no idea if they are strong enough to remove him from power. And this might be what keeps Johnson in office, despite everything.

There is certainly the political will to commit regicide, but there is no clear alternative -- either in personnel or ideology -- to challenge the king.

To depose a Conservative leader, 15% of the parliamentary party must submit letters of no-confidence. Despite much dark talk of plots, that threshold has not yet been met. That isn't because of any overwhelming support or loyalty to Johnson. It's more that his most vocal critics are not factional leaders within the party. The vast majority of Conservatives that talked to CNN think that if a vote were triggered it would be by accident rather than design. Indeed, most are resigned to months of things getting worse before they get better and, for now, don't think there's much to be done about it.

Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to make a statement in Parliament on January 31, 2022, after receiving a version of the Sue Gray report.

Why? Multiple Conservative members of parliament from across different wings of the party spoke of being exhausted, confused, angry and depressed. Those who spoke to CNN did so on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation and so they could be as honest as possible.

"It's all terrible, but no one's sure what to do," says a senior Conservative lawmaker. "I am not even sure removing him is the best idea (because) all alternatives are a huge, untested risk," the lawmaker adds, referencing not just the individuals who might replace Johnson, but also the ideology they would bring to government.

Even those who do believe Johnson needs to be removed from office before the next general election cannot agree on when it should happen.

A semi-loyal government minister who didn't wish to embarrass Johnson, but accepted his departure this year was both necessary and inevitable, said that "most in this camp want to keep (Johnson) in place until either the full Gray or police report are published, or until after May's local elections."

Efforts to remove Johnson will likely gather pace if the police or the full Gray report -- which will emerge once detectives' investigation is complete -- come to the conclusion that the Prime Minister either broke the law, misled parliament or engaged in some other kind of indefensible behavior. However, no-one knows when the that date will come, and it might not be before the next electoral test for Johnson's Conservative Party, local elections in early May.

If Conservatives suffer major losses in those polls, it will be very hard not to pin them on Johnson. There is no doubt that the opposition parties' election campaigns will be almost entirely focussed on the Prime Minister, his trustworthiness and his personal conduct.

Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on January 12, 2022. Johnson apologized for attending a garden party during Britain's first coronavirus lockdown, but brushed aside opposition demands that he resign for breaching his government's rules.

In either event, it seems that the preferred window for replacing Johnson, among those who oppose him, is the summer parliamentary recess, when Westminster largely shuts down. This affords the time for a proper leadership contest as well as time for a new leader to build their platform ahead of the next scheduled general election in May 2024.

However simple that sounds, there is one small snag for those seeking a smooth transition of power: Johnson and his allies do not want to quit and believe they can hang on, whatever happens.

Multiple advisers and ministerial allies in Johnson's inner circle told CNN that they had considered calling the plotters' bluff and calling a confidence vote in the PM with an ultimatum: Back me or sack me.

Historically, this has been an effective means by which embattled politicians have shored up strength. However, Johnson's allies are confident that his internal opposition is so weak that such drastic action is unnecessary.

"Put it this way, if Royal Mail were relying on MPs to buy stamps to send in letters they would go out of business very quickly," said one key ally.

A cabinet source told CNN that "back me or sack me implies he's fighting from a position of weakness, which we just don't believe he is."

Even those most critical of Johnson agree, at least in part, with this analysis. One former minister said that "the summer might be too late, they are missing the window to get rid of him right now," citing frustration among voters that government has become paralyzed by the scandal.

Boris Johnson meets medical staff during a visit to Hexham General Hospital on November 8, 2021 in northern England.

A senior Conservative critic of the Prime Minister said that the best hope of removing Johnson sooner rather than later would be an "organic, uncoordinated" submission of MPs' letters that accidentally built momentum where "things would go south quickly." The critic admitted this was wishful thinking, however.

After weeks of Partygate -- and numerous missteps by Johnson himself -- Conservatives find themselves trapped.

They know that Johnson is harming the party. They know that trying to remove him will be a bloody, public war that they could ultimately lose. They know that there are no guarantees that sacking him will make anything better: Johnson, after all, is probably the only politician in the country who defies gravity so regularly that it's not impossible he could ride the scandal out and carry on winning elections. And a new leader could be less effective and hand the keys to 10 Downing Street to another party at the next election.

Everything is so unclear and confusing that few in the upper ranks of the Conservative party seem to have a clue as to what to do.

The longer this goes on, the more MPs will find themselves tarred by whatever public position they take -- for Johnson, against Johnson, or conspicuously silent. And all the while their leader staggers on, protesting that his battering amounts to little more a flesh wound.

Boris Johnson's 'no-deal' Brexit appears defeated. Now he's pushing ...

LONDON – Another day of high political drama was expected in Britain on Wednesday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a potential fight to call a general election after rebel lawmakers took a decisive step toward taking control of the Brexit process.

The battle over Britain's efforts to leave the European Union intensified Tuesday as opposition and rebel lawmakers from Johnson's ruling Conservative Party effectively began wresting control of Brexit from him on a day when Britain's leader suffered key defections and was deprived of his parliamentary majority.

In a vote, parliamentarians successfully challenged Johnson’s insistence that the nation will leave the E.U. on Oct. 31 with or without a formal withdrawal agreement.

Lawmakers tentatively approved proposed legislation that would force Johnson to request that the E.U. delay Brexit until Jan. 31 unless a new exit deal is approved by the Halloween deadline – or unless Parliament votes in favor of a "no-deal" Brexit.

The outcome, which needs to be confirmed in a series of further votes on Wednesday and later this week, means that Johnson likely won't be permitted to take Britain out of the E.U. without an exit deal. It also means Johnson will try to call a general election, deepening Britain's political crisis three years after it voted to leave the political bloc.

Johnson lost the vote 328 to 301, with a total of 21 lawmakers, including several ex-cabinet members, siding with opposition parties to defeat Johnson's government. Among the rebels was Sir Nicholas Soames, Winston Churchill's grandson.

"Let there be no doubt about the consequences of this vote tonight," Johnson said in Parliament, visibly annoyed at the result. "Parliament is on the brink of wrecking any deal we might reach with Brussels. This will mean more dither and more delay."

Johnson said his only remaining option was to call an October election.

"The people of this country will have to choose," he said.

More:Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is like Trump. Only he isn't.

If an election takes place, it will be Britain's third general election in four years. A general election can only be called every five years unless a prime minister gets approval from two-thirds of lawmakers. Johnson can choose the vote's date. It's not immediately clear if he will be able to achieve the sufficient parliamentary math for that.

Oct. 15. has been suggested as one possible date for the vote.

The situation remains fluid and subject to change but lawmakers may vote on whether to have a new election around 8:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. EST).

Ahead of Tuesday's vote, Johnson's ruling Conservative Party lost its slim working parliamentary majority of just one seat after a Conservative Party politician, Philip Lee, defected to the Liberal Democrats, saying he left because "this Conservative government is aggressively pursuing a damaging Brexit."

Brexit files:Boris Johnson asks Queen Elizabeth to suspend Parliament

Economists believe a "no-deal" Brexit is a potentially dangerous move because it will overnight do away with decades of seamless trade and cooperation of the E.U. bloc's single market of 500 million people. It could lead to disruption of travel and supplies and lead to a "hard" border between E.U. member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Johnson is adamant that the potential for leaving without a deal must remain as a bargaining chip in E.U. negotiations, but the E.U. has repeatedly made it clear that it is not willing to renegotiate the agreement struck with former Prime Minister Theresa May, which led to her downfall.

"Leaving without a deal will have significant negative consequences for the U.K. economy. Nor will it mark the end of Brexit, merely herald in the start of negotiations that promise to be significantly more difficult than those we have witnessed to date," said Anand Menon, a professor of politics at King's College London and the author of a report published Tuesday by think tank The UK in a Changing Europe.

Johnson's decision to attempt to hold any new vote two weeks ahead of Britain's official Brexit date has led analysts and political commentators to speculate that it may be a move designed to shore up "no-deal" support from his own Conservative Party.

"We are finding ourselves in the middle of a full-throttle confrontation between a Parliament that does not want to allow the country to leave the EU without a deal and a prime minister who secured his place in power promising he would always keep that option," wrote Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC's chief political commentator, in a blog post.

Sir Keir Starmer, Brexit Secretary for the main opposition Labour Party, told BBC radio Wednesday that his party was in favor of an election, but that he did not "trust" Johnson to hold the election before the Brexit deadline. "We are not shy of a general election but we are not going to be trapped into abandoning control of Parliament or be taken in what Boris Johnson says because we don't trust him," he said.

The prime minister has already controversially shortened the time lawmakers have to debate Brexit by suspending Parliament for five weeks from the start of next week. He has also threatened to ban from standing at the next election any Conservative Party politicians who voted with the rebels to prevent a "no-deal" Brexit.

Traveling with pets in Europe:No-deal Brexit would make crossing borders much tougher

Ahead of the vote on Tuesday, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, accused Johnson of "riding roughshod" over the constitution in order to crash Britain out of the EU without a deal.

"He isn’t winning friends in Europe. He’s losing friends at home. His is a government with no mandate, no morals and, as of today, no majority," Corbyn said.

As Brexit has faced delays, international investors have showed concern.

The British pound fell as low as $1.1960 on Tuesday, down a cent on the day before, before stabilizing around $1.1990, where it remains Wednesday near historic lows.

Confused about Brexit? Here's a brief primer

June 2016: British public vote to leave the European Union. "Leave" side wins by a narrow majority.

March 2017: British government formally triggers Article 50, legislation backed by Parliament that gives the E.U. notice it will leave the bloc in two years.

November 2018: British Parliament and E.U. leaders agree to tentative withdrawal agreement over the objection of many British lawmakers who worry about how the deal treats the status of the free-trade border between E.U.-member Ireland and North Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) after Brexit.

November 2018-March 2019: British Prime Minister Theresa May fails three times over several months to get parliamentary approval for deal agreed with E.U.

March 29: Initial Brexit deadline passes. May requests new June 30 deadline. The E.U. grants a longer extension, until Oct. 31.

May 24: After months of pressure, May announces she will resign as prime minister effective June 7, but will stay on in a caretaker capacity until a successor is found.

May 23-26: Britain participates in E.U. parliamentary elections even though it is still expecting to leave the E.U.

July 24: Boris Johnson is appointed prime minister after an internal Conservative Party vote. In Britain, a party, not a specific leader is elected. Johnson vows to deliver Brexit with or without a formal withdrawal agreement with the E.U.

Aug. 28: Johnson asks Queen Elizabeth to "prorogue" or suspend Parliament from Sept. 10, boosting his chances of delivering Brexit with or without an E.U. exit deal.

Sept. 3: Parliament to return from recess. Lawmakers tentatively approve proposed legislation aimed at preventing a "no-deal" Brexit.

Sept. 10: Parliament expected to be "prorogued" or suspended per Johnson's request.

Oct 14: Potential British election.

Oct. 17-18: Last scheduled E.U. summit where Brexit will be discussed.

Oct. 31: Britain expected to formally leave the E.U.

What does Nadhim Zahawi's appointment as chancellor mean for ...

Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed chancellor after Rishi Sunak’s dramatic resignation from government last night.

Rishi Sunak published a letter of resignation on Twitter yesterday evening, in which he said that “standards are worth fighting for” just minutes after then Health Secretary Sajid Javid also resigned from his post. Both said they had lost confidence in the prime minister’s leadership. The resignations come amid a row over Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, which has engulfed the government in recent days.

Johnson hands Zahawi keys to No. 11

With two of his top ministers gone – followed by a wave of resignations from junior ministers and aides – Johnson set about shoring up his top team by quickly appointing Zahawi as his new chancellor, while one-time Downing Street chief of staff Steve Barclay was appointed to the role of health secretary.

Speaking to Sky News after his appointment last night, Zahawi denied he had threatened to quit the government unless he was given the keys to No. 11, telling Kay Burley he “didn't threaten to resign at all”. He said: “This is a team game, and you play for the team, and you deliver for the team.”

And in a pointed reference to his predecessor, he said that it was “easy to walk away” from government, but “much tougher to deliver for the country”.

What does Zahawi face as chancellor?

Zahawi has taken on the Treasury’s top job as Britain faces “its worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation” and the former vaccines minister is now set to contend with an “increasingly fragile economy, with the OECD already predicting growth will stagnate next year and lag behind every member of the Group of 20 aside from Russia”, said Bloomberg.

There are fears that the mounting cost-of-living crisis could soon tip the UK into a recession, as rising inflation knocks consumer confidence and reins in household spending. Inflation has already reached a 40-year-high of 9.1% and is set to rise past 11% in the autumn.

In an interview with Sky News soon after his appointment, Zahawi said he was “determined to do more” to cut taxes in order to boost the UK’s struggling economy. When asked if he intends to reverse an imminent increase in corporation tax, he said that “nothing is off the table”.

Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will replace Theresa May as Britain's ...

LONDON – Britain's next leader will either be Boris Johnson, regarded as an eccentric, gaffe-prone populist who draws comparisons to President Donald Trump, or Jeremy Hunt, who has a reputation as a steady pair of hands, but whose commitment to delivering the country's exit from the European Union – Brexit – has been questioned.

The winner – chosen by an internal Conservative Party vote because Britain elects a party not a prime minster – is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, current Prime Minister Theresa May will formally submit her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. May is stepping down over her failed Brexit plan. She will remain a member of Parliament for now.

Here's what you need to know about the candidates, what the new leader could mean for Brexit and Britain's relationship with its closest ally: the United States.

Johnson: self-described 'three-toed sloth'

New York-born Johnson, 55, is the front runner to become Britain's next prime minister.

He is a direct descendant of King George II – his full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. Johnson has passed through many of the hallowed corridors of the British establishment, including Eton College and Oxford University.

Johnson gave up his U.S. citizenship in 2016 amid a tax probe.

In 2008, he became the second elected mayor of London, a role he used to advance a pro-business, pro-development agenda. Before that, he was a member of Parliament and later served as foreign secretary in May's Cabinet, a position he resigned from, he said at the time, because Brexit's "dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt."

Prior to getting into politics, Johnson was a journalist. He started as a reporter for the Times (of London) but was fired for fabricating a quote. He later edited The Spectator, a longstanding political magazine. His speeches are often laced with allusions to classical civilizations, ribald innuendo and are never far from controversy.

"She's got dyed blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital," he said of Hilary Clinton in 2007.

As part of his campaign to become London's mayor, Johnson said that "voting (for his Conservative Party) will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3."

Johnson has been accused of making racist and Islamophobic remarks and of a general lack of seriousness, whether in terms of the risks of Brexit or in saying the wrong thing, at the wrong time, such as when he falsely claimed that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian national jailed in Iran since 2016 on spying charges, was "teaching people journalism." His remarks were used against the mother-of-one in her trial, which the British government regards as a sham.

Johnson is infatuated with Winston Churchill, the cigar-chomping British politician. He wrote a book about him, published in 2014. In "The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History," Johnson writes: "No normal family man produces more published words than Shakespeare and Dickens, combined, wins the Nobel Prize for literature, kills umpteen people in armed conflict on four continents, serves in every great office of state including Prime Minister (twice), is indispensable to victory in two world wars and then posthumously sells his paintings for a million dollars."

One of Johnson's tactics as a politician is quintessentially British: self-deprecating humor. In an interview with USA TODAY around the time of the publication of his Churchill book, Johnson played down his similarities to Churchill: both started their careers as journalists, both have U.S. roots, writers both, political mavericks both.

"I am not worthy to lose the latchet of his shoes. I have more in common with a three-toed sloth or a one-eyed pterodactyl or a Kalamata olive than I have with Winston Churchill," he said. Johnson also said in that same interview that his chance of one day becoming, like his hero Churchill, British prime minister was about as good as finding Elvis on Mars or being reincarnated as an olive.

"Boris Johnson is unpredictable," said Richard Whitman, a professor of politics at the University of Kent, in England. "Based on his track record as London's mayor and his campaigning style it's difficult to know beyond Brexit what he might want to achieve as prime minister. It could be a matter of style over substance."

Whitman described Johnson as a "maverick."

Like Hunt, Johnson's Conservative vision for Britain beyond the issue of Brexit is fairly traditional: cut taxes and red tape to stimulate economic growth. Both men are socially liberal on issues from abortion rights to gender discrimination.

Hunt: 'My wife's Japanese.' (She's Chinese)

Hunt, 52, has described himself as a "born-again-Brexiteer" because while he voted for Britain to stay in the EU in the 2016 referendum, given the result, he is now committed to ensuring it takes place on a point of principle: otherwise, he has said, democracy is subverted. It would also be "political suicide" for the Conservative Party to renege on its Brexit promise, Hunt has argued. If Brexit does not happen, he and Johnson both believe, Nigel Farage's single-issue Brexit Party and Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party are waiting in the wings to potentially put the Conservative Party into exile for years.

Like Johnson, Hunt is the product of elite British institutions. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford.

He attended Charterhouse School, a famous boarding school that dates to 1611 and was founded on the grounds of an old Carthusian monastery. Its former pupils are known as Old Carthusians. It only became fully co-ed for boys and girls in 2017.

Hunt has attempted to distinguish his candidacy by highlighting his career in business. Prior to entering politics, he worked first an English teacher in Japan, and then as an entrepreneur who started and sold a public relations consultancy and educational publisher that would later make him one of the wealthiest members of May's Cabinet.

He is often described as "managerial" in his approach to political decisions. Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, said that if Johnson resembles Trump in his outspokenness and ability to court controversy, then Hunt is the "Mitt Romney of British politics," a reference to the U.S. Senator from Utah's solid, professional demeanor that lacks the special political sauce called charisma.

Hunt's rise in politics was partly enabled by former Prime Minister David Cameron, who called the Brexit vote and then abruptly resigned when it went against him. Hunt attended Oxford University at the same time as Cameron and the latter subsequently appointed him culture secretary when he became prime minister in 2010.

But it was as Britain's longest-serving health secretary, presiding over the country's beloved state-run National Health Service (NHS), that Hunt made his name. Hunt oversaw a series of aggressive reforms to the NHS aimed at boosting its budget, improving inefficiencies and lowering waiting times that his critics fear have come at the cost of opening up the taxpayer-funded service to private companies.

Hunt was named foreign secretary by May after Johnson's resignation. He often uses the fact that his wife is Chinese and he has three half-Chinese children with her to burnish his internationalist credentials.

Not as prone to awkward and insensitive remarks as Johnson, Hunt is not entirely gaffe-free. During his debut trip to China last year as Britain’s new foreign minister he accidentally referred to his wife as "Japanese," an attempt, perhaps, to curry favor with his Chinese hosts. "My wife is Japanese – my wife is Chinese. That’s a terrible mistake to make," Hunt told his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

"Hunt is someone who has been promoted very swiftly, and very fortuitously, and he sees an opportunity to be the anti-Boris; not openly charismatic, the steady one," said Matt Beech, a director of the Center for British Politics at the University of Hull, in England. "He's leaving all the froth, charisma and personality to one side because he can't compete with Boris, and nor would he want to. His temperament is too different."

Whither Brexit?

Johnson has pledged that if he becomes prime minister he will ensure that Britain departs the EU by October 31, even if that means leaving the 28-nation bloc without a formal exit arrangement. Yet it remains unclear whether British parliamentarians, who repeatedly voted down May's EU exit deal, will let a so-called no-deal Brexit take place because it could significantly harm Britain's economy; cause major disruptions at airports, sea ports and other borders; and risks disrupting many just-in-time supply-chain processes affecting fresh foods and essential medicines. Johnson has raised the prospect of bypassing Parliament to deliver a "no-deal" Brexit if necessary.

More:Britain's embattled leader Theresa May resigns amid Brexit deadlock

"Boris Johnson's commitment to delivering Brexit by Oct. 31 is absolute. He knows if he doesn't, he will be finished," said Iain Duncan Smith, a Johnson supporter and former leader of the Conservative Party. "Hunt is not committed to that date. He wants more wiggle room. This difference is singular because if Johnson wins, the first 100 days of his leadership will be all about leaving the European Union."

Hunt has published a 10-point Brexit delivery plan that includes ramping up preparations for a "no-deal" Brexit, including a "no deal" Cabinet task force. However, he has avoided the "do or die" stance advocated by Johnson and sees leaving the EU without an exit deal as a measure of extreme last resort. This is, ultimately, one of the reasons why he is likely to lose the race against Johnson.

The majority of the British public oppose a "no deal" Brexit, but the majority of Conservative Party members – the 160,000 people who are deciding between Johnson and Hunt – are solidly in favor of a "no deal" Brexit."

Britain's Parliament has taken steps to try to block any attempt by Johnson to go around lawmakers in a quest for a "no-deal" Brexit. A number of May's Cabinet members, including Philip Hammond, her powerful chancellor of the exchequer – a job akin to treasury secretary – have vowed to resign if Johnson becomes prime minister because of the dangers of leaving the EU without a deal.

Meanwhile, EU leaders say they are not willing to renegotiate the terms of an exit deal already agreed upon with May, and which ultimately led to her ouster. This, too, favors Johnson, who Conservative Party members see as far more likely to deliver on his Brexit promise, even if it means a hardline "no deal" version, according to Bale, the professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London.

What about the Trump factor?

During his state visit to Britain in June, Trump said that Johnson and Hunt would both make good prime ministers to replace May.

"I know Boris, I like him, I've liked him for a long time. I think he would do a very good job," he told a news conference, standing alongside May, and in front of Hunt.

"I know Jeremy, I think he’d do a very good job," he said.

That was before Britain's ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, resigned this month after leaked diplomatic cables he sent back to London described the Trump administration as "inept" and "clumsy." The leak led to a fierce backlash from Trump, who said he was no longer willing to see or work with Darroch.

Johnson has attempted to be equivocal about the diplomatic spat, whereas Hunt has expressed strong disapproval, calling Trump "disrespectful and wrong" over the diplomat's treatment. Trump reiterated his support for Johnson's candidacy over the weekend. "I think we're going to have a great relationship," he said.

Both men have ruled out joining any theoretical Trump push to war with Iran over its nuclear program, although whoever wins will face the immediate problem of how to respond to Iran's seizing in the Strait of Hormuz of a British-flagged oil tanker.

Both men have criticized Trump's attacks on Democratic congresswomen.

Whitman, the politics expert at the University of Kent, said if Johnson wins, the first Trump-Johnson press conference "will be fascinating to watch because they are both showmen." He said in terms of the underlying "special relationship" between the U.S. and Britain – forged over decades of close economic and military ties – neither Johnson nor Hunt would dramatically change the flavor of Britain's U.S. partnership.

That assessment was endorsed by Beech, the director of the Center for British Politics.

He said that while Johnson won't back or support everything Trump says or tweets, and temperamentally both men were politically "idiosyncratic" and "instinctive," it didn't really matter whether it was him or Hunt who occupies No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence and office in central London.

Beech said that when "it all boils down," Johnson, like Hunt, May, Cameron and other senior mainstream British politicians of recent years, "all realize" they need to get on with the world's most powerful nation and leader. They need to get on with Trump.

You can follow USA TODAY international correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard on Twitter

Boris Johnson: What is the 'pork pie plot' and what does it mean for ...

London (CNN) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in trouble. Large chunks of the British public are furious about reports of boozy summer garden evenings , Christmas parties and a birthday party or two for him at his Downing Street office and residence, all taking place at a time when the rest of the country was under strict Covid-19 restrictions.

Two polls in the last two weeks suggest as much as two-thirds of the public wants Johnson to resign as Prime Minister.

And on Tuesday, January 25, the Metropolitan Police announced they were investigating "a number of events" that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in relation to potential breaches of coronavirus regulations in force at the time.

So, is Boris Johnson's time at Number 10 over?

It's too soon to tell.

One factor that may work in his favor is that the process of getting rid of a sitting Conservative British prime minister is fairly complicated.

Prime ministers are not elected directly by the public, of course -- Brits vote for their local member of Parliament, and the leader of the largest party in Parliament becomes prime minister. The United Kingdom doesn't have to hold another parliamentary election before 2024, so there's no way the average voter on the street can boot Johnson out now.

Once upon a time, even the announcement that police were investigating a sitting prime minister would have prompted the head of government to resign. So far, it has not spurred Johnson to do so.

Then why all this talk about him facing a confidence vote?

The general public may not be able to vote Johnson out of office, but Conservative lawmakers can. Rumors are flying around Westminster about backbench Conservatives sending letters of no confidence to Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee.

And on Wednesday, as Johnson prepared for the weekly Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament, one Conservative MP dramatically defected to the opposition Labour party. Christian Wakeford has been openly critical of Johnson in recent days, calling the scandal "embarrassing" in a January 12 tweet. "How do you defend the indefensible? You can't!," Wakeford remarked.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing the most challenge moment of his premiership.

What does that mean? What's the 1922 Committee?

This is the group of Conservative backbenchers -- workaday lawmakers who are not in the government as ministers. Graham Brady is the long-standing chairman of the group.

Under Conservative party rules, if MPs want to get rid of their leader, they submit a confidential letter of no confidence to the chair, who keeps them secret, not even revealing how many letters have been submitted.

Letters can be withdrawn after they have been handed in, so the number may constantly be shifting -- going down as well as up.

When 15% of Conservative lawmakers have submitted letters, it triggers a vote of confidence among all Conservative lawmakers.

There are currently 359 Conservative MPs (after one defected to Labour last week in protest at Johnson's leadership) after Wakeford's defection, which means it takes 54 letters to trigger a no-confidence vote, and then 180 votes against Johnson to remove him from office.

Johnson's predecessor Theresa May went through this agony in 2018 -- MPs submitted enough letters to trigger a confidence vote in her, but when the vote came, she survived it.

On paper, at least, defeating a no-confidence vote strengthens a prime minister, because it means another challenge cannot be launched for 12 months. But in practice, going through the process, even if the prime minister wins, tends to be fatal. May was out of office just a year after beating back her party rebellion.

What is the Sue Gray report, and could it spell the end for Johnson?

Senior civil servant Sue Gray is conducting an inquiry -- at the prime minister's request -- into the reports of various parties at Johnson's Downing Street office and garden in violation of Covid restrictions in 2020 and 2021.

There has been feverish speculation about when the report will come out and what it will say.

On Tuesday, a cabinet minister told CNN that Downing Street is prepped for the report to be in the public domain on Wednesday.

If the report is officially published -- rather than leaked ahead of publication -- Johnson will give a statement following Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

A full report will then be published at a later date when the opposition party has control of parliamentary business in the House of Commons, likely on February 1, according to the cabinet minister who spoke to CNN.

Who becomes Prime Minister if Johnson loses a Conservative party no-confidence vote?

The Conservative party would decide. It would not spark a new national parliamentary election -- all current lawmakers would stay in office.

The current Deputy Prime Minister is Dominic Raab, but that does not mean he would become prime minister if Johnson is voted out.

Instead, the Conservative party would launch its own complicated process for choosing a new leader, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss thought to be among the top contenders.

How many letters have been submitted?

Only Graham Brady knows.

Part of the reason Brady has been chair of the 1922 Committee for so long is his discretion -- he never reveals how many letters he has in his safe.

But the Westminster rumor mill is in overdrive this week. The latest suggestion is that an effort by Johnson loyalists to tamp down rebellion among newer MPs elected in 2019 went disastrously wrong, prompting a new wave of letters to the 1922 Committee.

Is that the 'Pork Pie Plot?'

Yes. The British press is rife with speculation that the MP for Rutland & Melton, Alicia Kearns, hosted a meeting of discontented Conservative backbenchers this week. That constituency is home to the famous Melton Mowbray pork pie. It's probably simply an odd coincidence that "pork pie" is Cockney rhyming slag for "lie" -- just what Boris Johnson is so often accused of doing.

This story has been updated to correct the number of MPs required to vote Johnson out of office.

Richard Allen Greene
Luke Mcgee
Bianca Nobilo

What will Boris Johnson do after leaving Downing Street? | The ...

We will use the details you have shared to manage your registration. You agree to the processing, storage, sharing and use of this information for the purpose of managing your registration as described in our Privacy Policy.

Would you like to receive The WeekDay newsletter ?

The WeekDay newsletter provides you with a daily digest of news and analysis.

We will use the details you have shared to manage your newsletter subscription. You agree to the processing, storage, sharing and use of this information for the purpose of managing your subscription as described in our Privacy Policy.

We will use the information you have shared for carefully considered and specific purposes, where we believe we have a legitimate case to do so, for example to send you communications about similar products and services we offer. You can find out more about our legitimate interest activity in our Privacy Policy.

If you wish to object to the use of your data in this way, please tick here.

'We' includes The Week and other Future Publishing Limited brands as detailed here.


Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 6 July 2022 | The Week UK

Inquiry hears Grenfell stories

Relatives whose loved ones died at Grenfell Tower have gathered to finally hear in public the stories of how each of them perished. The public inquiry heard that one man, Mohamed Neda, 57, who fled the Taliban in 1998, fell to his death, after refusing to escape to stay with four women who were stranded because two of them were disabled. Shortly before he died he sent his brother-in-law a voicemail to say: “I am leaving this world, goodbye.” The latest wave of hearings came five years and 21 days since a fire engulfed the west London tower block, killing 72 people.