UK finance minister Rishi Sunki announced his resignation on Tuesday, as Johnson came under criticism for his handling of a sledge scandal involving a senior aide.
“The public rightly expects that the government will operate correctly, competently and seriously,” Sunak wrote in his resignation letter.
“I agree that this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that’s why I am resigning,” he said.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has also resigned within minutes of each other. Javid said, “I can no longer be in good conscience.”
The UK prime minister has been accused of failing to come clean about an MP who was appointed to a senior position despite claims of sexual misconduct.
on allegations of sexual misconduct
A former top British civil servant said on Tuesday that Boris Johnson’s office was not telling the truth about allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior member of the prime minister’s government.
Johnson faced pressure to explain what he knew about past misconduct allegations against lawmaker Chris Pincher, who served as deputy chief whip on Thursday amid complaints that two men groped at a private club. had resigned.
The government’s clarification was changed time and again in the last five days. Ministers initially said Johnson was not aware of any allegations when he promoted Pincher to the position in February.
On Monday, a spokesman said Johnson was aware of allegations of sexual misconduct that were “either resolved or did not proceed to a formal complaint.”
The account did not go well with Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant in the UK Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020. In a highly unusual move, he said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister’s Office was still not telling the truth.
McDonald said in a letter to the parliamentary commissioner for standards that it received complaints about Pincher’s behavior in the summer of 2019, shortly after Pincher became Foreign Office minister. An investigation upheld the complaint, and Pincher apologized for his actions, McDonald’s said.
McDonald’s disputed that Johnson was unaware of the allegations or dismissed the complaints because they were not resolved or formally addressed.
“The original No. 10 line is not true, and the amendment is still not accurate,” McDonald wrote, referring to the Prime Minister’s Downing Street office. “Mr Johnson was personally briefed about the initiation and outcome of the investigation.
“There was a ‘formal complaint’. The allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was complete; Mr. Pincher was not acquitted. It is therefore wrong to call the allegations ‘baseless’.”
Hours after McDonald’s remarks surfaced, Johnson’s office changed its story again, saying the prime minister forgot he had been told that Pincher was the subject of an official complaint.
The office confirmed that Johnson was informed of the complaint by Foreign Office officials in 2019 for a “number of months”. His office said it took some time to set up the briefing.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis told lawmakers in the House of Commons that when Johnson was made aware of the issue in late 2019, he was told that the permanent secretary had taken the necessary action and was therefore serving as Pincher’s minister. There was no question of staying in.
“Last week, when the new allegations surfaced, the prime minister did not immediately recall a conversation about this incident in late 2019,” Ellis said. “As soon as he was reminded, the No. 10 press office corrected his public lines.”
The latest revelations are fueling discontent within Johnson’s cabinet as ministers were forced to publicly voice the prime minister’s refusals, only for the clarification to move to the next day.
The Times of London published an analysis of the situation on Tuesday under the headline “The lying claim puts Boris Johnson in danger”.
A month earlier, Johnson had escaped a no-confidence motion, in which more than 40% of Conservative Party lawmakers voted to remove him from office. The prime minister’s shifting reactions to months of allegations about lockdown-breaking parties in government offices, including the resulting 126 fines imposed against Johnson, fueled concerns about his leadership.
Two weeks later, Conservative candidates were severely beaten in two special elections to fill vacant seats in parliament, fueling discontent within Johnson’s party.
When Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip last week, a key position in enforcing party discipline, he told the prime minister that he had “drank too much” the previous night and “removed himself and others”. Embarrassed people.”
Johnson initially refused to suspend Pincher from the Conservative Party, but agreed after a formal complaint was filed with parliamentary officials about allegations of groping.
Critics suggested that Johnson was slow to react because he did not want Pincher to resign from his parliament seat and set the Conservatives up for another potential special electoral defeat.
Even before the Pincher scandal, suggestions were swirling that Johnson might soon face another no-confidence vote.
Over the next few weeks, Conservative MPs will elect new members to the committee that sets parliamentary rules for the party. Several candidates have suggested they support changing the rules to allow another vote of no confidence. Current rules require 12 months between such votes.
Senior Conservative MP Roger Gale, a longtime critic of Johnson, said he would support changes to the rules of the Conservative 1922 committee.
“Mr. Johnson has been sending ministers – in one case a cabinet minister – for three days to effectively lie on his behalf, for indefinite defence. This cannot be allowed to continue,” Gayle said. told the BBC. “This prime minister has tarnished the reputation of a proud and respectable party for honesty and decency, and that is not acceptable.”