<\/p>\n
Boris Johnson remains as prime minister despite his two most recent cabinet appointments calling for him to resign.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who was given the job two days ago, said the situation was \u201cnot sustainable and will only get worse\u201d.<\/p>\n
And Education Secretary Michelle Donelan quit, saying Mr Johnson had \u201cput us in an impossible situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Mr Johnson insists he has a \u201ccolossal mandate to keep going\u201d.<\/p>\n
The wave of resignations from the government and party exceeded 50 on Thursday, as Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis became the first cabinet member of the day to quit, quickly followed by seven other ministers.<\/p>\n
Previously loyal supporters \u2013 Priti Patel and Grant Shapps \u2013 urged him to step down on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Attorney General Suella Braverman has said she will stand in any leadership challenge, although she has not resigned.<\/p>\n
In his resignation letter on Thursday, Mr Lewis said: \u201cI have given you, and those around you, the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have gone out and defended this government both publicly and privately. We are, however, now past the point of no return.\u201d<\/p>\n
Treasury minister Helen Whately, security minister Damian Hinds, science minister George Freeman, pensions minister Guy Opperman, technology minister Chris Philp, and courts\u2019 minister James Cartlidge also then resigned in swift succession.<\/p>\n
Taking aim at his critics, the prime minister sacked Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove in a shock move on Wednesday, with a Downing Street source describing Mr Gove as a \u201csnake\u201d who \u201cgleefully briefs the press that he has called for the leader to go\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Gove, a former ally in the Brexit campaign who then derailed Mr Johnson\u2019s first bid for the Tory leadership, had urged the PM to resign earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
Boris Johnson has a long history with Michael Gove \u2013 who he sacked after Mr Gove called for the PM to quit<\/p>\n
More than 40 ministers and aides quit on Wednesday \u2013 a record for a 24-hour period.<\/p>\n
Even late into the night, the resignations continued, with Welsh Secretary Mr Hart standing down just before 23:00 BST.<\/p>\n
He had been among a group of cabinet members who attempted to persuade the prime minister to stand down, which also included Mr Johnson\u2019s former close allies Home Secretary Ms Patel, Transport Secretary Mr Shapps and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.<\/p>\n
Later on Wednesday night, former loyalist Ms Braverman joined the calls for Mr Johnson to quit, telling ITV\u2019s Peston he had handled matters \u201cappallingly\u201d in recent days.<\/p>\n
She said she would not resign as it was her duty to carry on in her current job \u2013 but added: \u201cIf there is a leadership contest, I will put my name into the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock also withdrew his backing for the PM, saying he had \u201csupported him through thick and thin\u201d but he now needed to go.<\/p>\n
Mr Hancock \u2013 who said he would not be running for the leadership \u2013 predicted Mr Johnson would not be leader for much longer, \u201cwhether that\u2019s tomorrow or next week\u201d.<\/p>\n
A standoff between the prime minister and swathes of the Conservative Party, from the cabinet down.<\/p>\n
The last two days have robbed Boris Johnson of much of his authority; but not yet his job.<\/p>\n
He is still there in Downing Street \u2013 determined and defiant, his government pockmarked by unfilled ministerial vacancies after a slew of resignations.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson\u2019s career has been defined by a convention smashing attitude.<\/p>\n
That style now confronts what some fear could soon be a constitutional conundrum: what happens if the prime minister won\u2019t budge.<\/p>\n
The former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said it was a \u201cdisgrace\u201d \u2013 \u201cour system works on confidence, he has lost it,\u201d Mr Smith said, fearing what he called a \u201cmajor constitutional situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Conservative backbenchers who want rid of the prime minister still have another option \u2013 changing the rules, next week, so another vote of confidence in him could be held.<\/p>\n
But some cabinet ministers \u2013 Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg remain loyal to the prime minister.<\/p>\n
And justifying Mr Johnson staying in the role, a No 10 source said: \u201cThe prime minister has a mandate from 14 million people to get a job done\u2026 party wants to stop him they have to take that mandate away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The BBC has also been told Mr Johnson has been stressing that millions voted for him, and questioning whether any of his would-be successors would be able to \u201creplicate his electoral success at the next election\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson appeared in front of the Liaison Committee earlier on Wednesday \u2013 a group of MPs which scrutinises government decisions and policies.<\/p>\n
He ruled out calling a snap general election, saying the earliest date he can see for one is 2024.<\/p>\n
The PM survived a confidence vote last month and under current rules he is immune from another challenge for 12 months.<\/p>\n
But there are elections next week to the top team of the 1922 Committee, which organises the confidence votes. Rebel Tories want to get elected so that they can push through a rule change so that a confidence vote can be held sooner.<\/p>\n
Suella Braverman has put her hat in the ring to be the next leader of the Conservative Party<\/p>\n
The wave of resignations was triggered by revelations about the prime minister\u2019s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against former Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, it emerged that Mr Johnson had been personally briefed about a complaint against Mr Pincher in 2019 when the Tamworth MP was a minister in the Foreign Office.<\/p>\n
It contradicted days of denials from No 10 that the prime minister had known of any formal complaints about Mr Pincher, and prompted resignations that evening by two key cabinet colleagues, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid.<\/p>\n
Mr Javid told the Commons in his resignation speech on Wednesday that \u201cenough was enough\u201d and \u201cthe problem starts at the top and I believe that is not going to change\u201d.<\/p>\n
The row is the latest issue to prompt Conservative MPs to question the prime minister\u2019s leadership and direction of government.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson\u2019s government has been dogged by a series of controversies in recent months, not least by a police investigation into parties in Downing Street during lockdown.<\/p>\n
Some Tory MPs have also expressed dissent over tax rises, the government\u2019s response to rising living costs and its policy direction.<\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
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Boris Johnson remains as prime minister despite his two most recent cabinet appointments calling for him to resign. Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who was given the job two days ago, said the situation was \u201cnot sustainable and will only get worse\u201d. And Education Secretary Michelle Donelan quit, saying Mr Johnson had \u201cput us in an impossible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1144366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[7584,19962,3530,1159,19963,12215],"class_list":["post-1144364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-boris","tag-exceed","tag-johnson","tag-post","tag-resignations","tag-stays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}