Johnson struggles to rally team as pressure on him builds up

[brooklynite]

Source: The Guardian

Boris Johnson’s attempts to rally his dilapidated top team floundered on Friday after a second cabinet minister distanced himself from the prime minister and another Conservative MP called for him to go.

In a bid to shore up support, Johnson wrote to MPs promising them a “direct line to Downing Street”, but his move came as Sajid Javid followed the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in rejecting Johnson’s remarks linking Starmer with the failure to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The health secretary said Starmer had done “a good job” as director of public prosecutions and that “he should be respected for it”. Javid said he was glad Johnson had “clarified” his remarks – though the prime minister has not apologised.

Sunak said of Johnson’s comments on Thursday: “I wouldn’t have said it.” The attempt to smear Starmer led to the departure of Johnson’s longstanding policy chief, Munira Mirza, on Thursday.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/04/boris-johnson-struggles-to-rally-team-as-pressure-on-him-builds-up

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I've heard that 40 of the 45 "no confidence" letters are ready.

[TheRickles]

1. FWIW, they need 54 letters. The story says they may already have 40.

but once the dam bursts....

[TheRickles]

2. 15 have already gone public:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/05/full-list-of-tory-mps-who-have-urged-boris-johnson-to-stand-down|

[Polybius]

3. I'm no fan of Johnson, but getting removed because he attended a party during Covid restrictions?

Sure, it's stupid and careless but it's not an impeachable offense. One of our Governors did it. He just apologized, was called a hypocrite a few times, and that was it.

[brooklynite]

4. Understand, this isn't a legal decision...

There won't be an impeachment and there won't be a new election. The Prime Minister is considered the Party Leader, and the members of the Tory Parliamentary Caucus are worried that he's going to risk future electoral success if he's unable to deal with the growing scandal. (Unlike Newsom, there were FURTHER and more recent incidents that came to light after he half-heartedly dealt with the first ones). The Conservatives lost what was considered a safe Tory district to the Lib Dems by 30 points last year in a by-election. If he's lost political support, the Party members in Parliament will decide to replace him with another Tory MP as Party leader.

[artemisia1]

5. The part that is so damning to the PM is allegations of not being truthful to Parliament. /nt