Boris urged to quit after poll defeats
BORIS Johnson has been told to resign for the good of the Tory party and the country by former Conservative leader Michael Howard after the double by-election defeat.
The Prime Minister vowed to “keep going” after his authority was dealt a series of blows, including the resignation of Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden on Friday.
Mr Dowden quit as Conservative Party co-chairman, saying he and Tory supporters were “distressed and disappointed by recent events” and telling Mr Johnson that “someone must take responsibility”.
But speaking 4,000 miles away at a Commonwealth summit in Rwanda, Mr Johnson vowed to “listen” to voters after losing the former Tory stronghold of Tiverton and Honiton to the Liberal Democrats and Wakefield to Labour.
Lord Howard urged the Cabinet to consider resigning, as Conservative MPs voiced their fears of losing their seats at the next general election under the Prime Minister’s leadership.
The Conservative peer told BBC Radio 4’s the World At One programme: “The party and even more importantly the country would now be better off under new leadership.
“Members of the Cabinet should very carefully consider their positions.”
He said he “very reluctantly” came to the conclusion after Thursday’s elections show he no longer has the ability to win elections.
Lord Howard, who led the Tories between 2003 and 2005, has not been an outspoken critic of Mr Johnson’s in the past, but did sack him as a shadow minister for lying about an affair.
Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies suggested it was difficult to justify Mr Johnson remaining in office.
“I presume that’s getting far more challenging when the Prime Minister looked in the mirror these days with the messages that are coming from the ballot box such as by-elections we had last night,” he told BBC Wales.
With 324 Tories elected in 2019 with smaller majorities than in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency, MPs including Conservative grandee Sir Geoffrey CliftonBrown raised concerns they could lose their seats at the next general election.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Johnson said he would take responsibility, but insisted the cost-of-living crisis was the most important issue for voters and it was “true that, in mid-term, governments postwar lose by-elections”.
“It’s absolutely true we’ve had some tough by-election results. They’ve been, I think, a reflection of a lot of things, but we’ve got to recognise voters are going through a tough time at the moment,” he said at the conference centre in Kigali.
“I think, as a Government, I’ve got to listen to what people are saying - in particular to the difficulties people are facing over the cost of living, which, I think, for most people is the number one issue.
“We’ve got to recognise there is more we’ve got to do and we certainly will - we will keep going, addressing the concerns of people until we get through this patch.”
The Prime Minister spoke to Chancellor Rishi Sunak by phone for his daily meeting after receiving a warning call from Mr Dowden following an early-morning swim at his hotel.
In an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Johnson added: “I, of course, take responsibility for the electoral performance of the Government.”