Support ebbs for Boris Johnson, more British ministers quit

Johnson’s finance and health secretaries quit on Tuesday following the latest scandal to hit the government, triggering the departure of around 15 lower-ranking politicians and the withdrawal of support of once loyal lawmakers

Britain’s Boris Johnson was clinging to power on Wednesday, with support seeping away from the increasingly isolated prime minister, badly wounded by the resignation of a stream of senior colleagues who said he was not fit to govern. 

Johnson’s finance and health secretaries quit on Tuesday following the latest scandal to hit the government, triggering the departure of around 15 lower-ranking politicians and the withdrawal of support of once loyal lawmakers. With the tide of resignations rising, some questioned whether the prime minister could fill the vacancies. 

Johnson, due to appear in the House of Commons lower house of parliament for his weekly political questions at midday, sought to reassert authority by quickly appointing Nadhim Zahawi as finance minister. But as former education secretary Zahawi toured broadcast studios on Wednesday morning to set out the government’s priorities, he was confronted with news of fresh resignations. 

Solicitor General Alex Chalk, the government’s second-most senior legal adviser, said the cumulative effect of a series of scandals meant the public no longer believed the government could uphold expected standards of candour. “I regret that I share that judgment,” he said. The level of hostility Johnson faces within his party will be laid bare when he appears in parliament for the question session, and before the chairs of select committees for a scheduled two-hour grilling later on Wednesday. “I suspect we will have to drag him kicking and screaming from Downing Street,” one Conservative lawmaker said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But if we have to do it that way then we will.”

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