London: Trouble continues to mount for British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson as four more of his ministers, including Will Quince, Laura Trott, John Glen and Victoria Atkins, resigned from the cabinet on Wednesday.
This comes after UK finance Minister, Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary, Sajid Javid on Tuesday stepped down from the cabinet.
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- In his resignation letter, Quince said he had “no choice but to tender resignation”, after being given an “inaccurate” briefing over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s appointment of a politician who was the subject of complaints.
- Meanwhile, junior transport minister Laura Trott said she was quitting over a loss of “trust” in the government.
- Sunak said he was “sad to be leaving the government”, but has come to the conclusion that he “cannot continue like this”.
- “The public rightly expect the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning,” Rishi Sunak said.
- Javid said he had lost confidence in Boris Johnson’s ability to govern following multiple scandals, saying he could “no longer continue in good conscience”.
- The minister said that many lawmakers and the public had lost confidence in Johnson’s ability to govern in the national interest.
- In his resignation letter, Javid told Johnson that “the values you represent reflect on your colleagues,” and in light of recent scandals, the public had concluded that their party was neither “competent” nor “acting in the national interest.”
- The exit of the top minister comes as Johnson was apologising for keeping the former Conservative party leader Chris Pincher in his post after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him.
- Johnson, a former journalist and London mayor who became the face of Britain’s departure from the European Union, won a landslide election victory in 2019 before taking a combative and often chaotic approach to govern.
- His leadership has been mired in scandals and missteps over the last few months, with the prime minister fined by police for breaking COVID-19 lockdown laws and a damning report published about the behaviour of officials at his Downing Street office who breached their own lockdown rules.
- UK Cabinet chief of staff Steve Barclay has been appointed as the new health secretary and UK education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was named as the new finance minister.