THE LONG GOODBYE
With a consoling hug from Carrie and Wilf, Boris is finally cast out as Tory leader. But as he vows to carry on as PM until autumn, leading Scots Tories demand process to replace him is hastened...
THE Prime Minister finally resigned yester- day after days of mass resignations and infighting in the Tory Party.
Following days of pressure from embittered foes and ambitious rivals, Boris Johnson announced that he was standing down as Conservative leader.
His departure fired the starting gun on a two-month race to be the next leader. But the decision to stay on as caretaker Prime Minister received a mixed reaction, with some in the party demanding he go immediately while others accepted his new makeshift Cabinet.
In a heartfelt speech outside 10 Downing Street, Mr Johnson paid tribute to the 14million voters who gave him an ‘incredible mandate’ to deliver on his election pledges.
As his wife Carrie looked on, surrounded by loyal staff and ministers, he only hinted at his frustration.
He added: ‘Of course it’s painful
not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.
‘But as we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful... and when the herd moves, it moves.’
However, privately allies were furious – and warned that the Conservative Party may have jeopardised the next election, paving the way for a chaotic coalition led by Sir Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon and Liberal Democrat chief Ed Davey.
One loyal Cabinet minister described it as: ‘The biggest act of self-harm in recent political times.’
Another ally said that the Conservative Party had been gripped by the same periodic ‘mania’ which led to the betrayal of Margaret Thatcher three decades ago.
The source said: ‘Every now and then a mania takes over. It’s been like a Salem witch hunt.’
There were also fears that Britain could be left with a ‘zombie government’ in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
Mr Johnson was yesterday forced to appoint a ‘compromise Cabinet’ as the price for staying on as caretaker leader.
The Prime Minister told the Cabinet that he would ‘not seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction’ in his remaining weeks in office.
And he said that decisions on tax cuts ‘should be left for the next Prime Minister’, dashing hopes of short-term help for struggling families.
And ministers fear that some key legislation, including measures to fix the post-Brexit problems in Northern Ireland, could now get bogged down for months. The warnings came as:
■ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ‘saddened’ by the departure of Mr Johnson, whom he hailed as a ‘hero’;
■ Foreign Secretary Liz Truss cut short a trip to Indonesia to fly back to the UK, where she is expected to launch a leadership bid pitching herself as a low-tax Tory;
■ New Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi faced a backlash from some Tory MPs after revealing he had privately told the PM to quit just 12 hours after publicly calling for him to stay;
■ In the first of what could be many blue-on-blue attacks this summer, Jacob Rees-Mogg savaged Rishi Sunak, saying he was ‘not a successful Chancellor, he was a high-tax Chancellor’;
■ Russian leader Vladimir Putin celebrated the departure of an implacable opponent, with the Kremlin saying Mr Johnson had been ‘hit by a boomerang launched by himself ’;
■ Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was consulting his family about a leadership challenge after polls named him as the favourite among Tory activists;
■ Former Army officer Tom Tugendhat was emerging as the leading candidate of the Tory Remainers;
■ A poll found that former Chancellor Mr Sunak was best placed to beat Labour as he prepared to launch his own Conservative Party leadership bid;
■ A smirking Sir Keir was spotted at Wimbledon as Labour officials celebrated the Tories’ self-destructive removal of the man who had repeatedly defeated them at the ballot box;
■ Labour threatened to hold a formal vote of no confidence next week, which could trigger a general election;
■ Attorney General Suella Braverman stayed in her Cabinet job despite calling on the PM to quit and announcing her leadership bid before he resigned;
■ Sir John Major launched a bitter attack on the PM, calling on Tory MPs to kick him out of Downing Street immediately;
■ Senior Tories were finalising the rules for a formal Tory leadership contest, which is expected to start next week and produce a new leader by the start of September.
Yesterday started with a string of further ministerial resignations which were designed to force Mr Johnson out of No 10.
His former ally Brandon Lewis quit his post as Northern Ireland Secretary, telling the Prime Minister that the Government required ‘honesty, integrity and mutual respect’ and was ‘now past the point of no return’.
Michelle Donelan resigned as Education Secretary after just 36 hours in the job.
By 8am, seven ministers had quit and Mr Zahawi – who was only appointed on Tuesday night – had told the PM to go.
While his critics made wild claims likening him to Donald Trump, inside No10 the PM and his allies had already concluded that the game was up.
‘In the end the boss was left with no alternative but to fold the tent,’ one ally said.
Mr Johnson then used his resignation speech to underline his achievements in delivering Brexit, tackling Covid and standing up for Ukraine.
He pledged to help his successor deliver on key priorities. But he took a swipe at his colleagues for their ‘eccentric’ decision to oust him halfway through the parliamentary term.
And he hit out at Westminster’s corrosive leaking culture, saying that by the end the only people he could trust not to leak information were his police protection officers.
Mr Johnson’s final downfall fol lowed a furious reaction to his handling of the case of disgraced former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.
Mr Pincher quit last week over allegations that he groped two men during a drunken night out at London’s famous Carlton Club.
The PM apologised this week for appointing Mr Pincher, despite having been warned previously about his ‘predatory’ behaviour.
But the revelations – and Downing Street’s initial claims that the Prime Minister had not been aware of claims about the Tamworth MP’s behaviour – were the final straw for mutinous MPs already angry over Partygate.
Even some allies were dismayed that the man who delivered Brexit and saved Britain from Jeremy Corbyn had fallen victim to so many self-inflicted wounds.
But some MPs warned that the removal of the PM would wreck the Tories’ hopes of winning the next election.
Christchurch MP Sir Christopher Chope said: ‘The country will rue this day.’
Morley MP Andrea Jenkyns, who remonstrated with Left-wing protesters trying to shout down the PM as he made his resignation
‘It’s been like a Salem witch hunt’
‘The country will rue this day’
speech, said of her colleagues: ‘They will regret it like they did with Thatcher. ‘It will be the same.’ Senior Labour figures were jubilant at the prospect of Mr Johnson being forced out, believing it would increase Sir Keir Starmer’s chance of winning the next election.
One member of the shadow cabinet said: ‘I’m amazed to see all these Red Wall MPs coming out against him.
‘Everything we see is that he is their best bet of holding on to those seats.
‘Now it may be a different story in the Lib Dem-facing seats in the south, but Boris going makes the Red Wall easier for us.’
Mr Johnson faced initial calls to quit No 10 immediately.
Some Conservative MPs argued that the Prime Minister should be replaced by a caretaker leader.
Science minister George Freeman, who joined the exodus of ministers yesterday, said: ‘He needs to hand in the seals of office and go. So we can have a caretaker PM tonight, and get ministers back to work.’
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross also questioned whether Boris Johnson should remain at the helm.
And he insisted that leadership candidates should all show Scots what they plan to do to preserve the Union as the SNP plots another divisive referendum.
He added: ‘What is really important is the party unites behind the next prime minister. What I think will be very interesting is what all the candidates say about Scotland and the Union.’
But the mood to immediately oust him calmed down after Mr Johnson succeeded in appointing a Cabinet drawn from all wings of the party.
The 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers will meet on Monday to finalise the rules for the leadership contest. A source said hustings at Westminster could start as soon as Tuesday.
MPs will then hold a series of votes to whittle down what is expected to be a large field to just two candidates before Parliament rises on July 21.
The two names will then go forward for a run-off decided by Tory Party members next month, with a new leader likely to be named by the first week of September.
SO the sun finally sets on Boris Johnson’s premiership. After three years of breathtaking inconsistency – dizzying political success contrasted with catastrophic misjudgment – he at last succumbed to the massed ranks of his enemies within the Westminster machine. Of course, it didn’t have to be this way. Some will wonder how the Tories could have defenestrated their greatest electoral asset. After all, the Prime Minister launched the Conservatives to a whopping 80-seat majority in 2019.
He can also lay clam to a series of significant achievements, short though his time in Downing Street might have been.
When Covid struck, the world-beating vaccine programme and furlough saved countless lives and jobs.
On Ukraine, especially, Mr Johnson has displayed immense strength when other global leaders sought to appease a bloodthirsty Vladimir Putin.
The Prime Minister has also proved brilliantly adept at dealing with a slippery Nicola Sturgeon and her increasingly desperate attempts to swing another independence referendum.
Rebuffing her with a polite, ‘No,’ the Prime Minister has effortlessly thwarted the nationalists’ demands.
His letter rejecting her latest efforts to break up the UK – delivered to Miss Sturgeon on Wednesday as he came under intolerable pressure to quit – may well be his last significant act as PM.
In truth, defending this great country from the separatist threat may prove to be his enduring political legacy.
But even Mr Johnson’s most passionate supporters will have found it difficult to defend his conduct and the litany of scandals in which he found himself embroiled during his time in office.