Turns out it was not just Brandon, Mr Johnson is going too, but not until the autumn…. It will bring to an end one of the shortest lived Prime Ministerships in British history (3 out of 8 from the last 20 years)…
Your guess is as good anyone’s in the Conservative party as to who will follow him. After winning an 80 seat majority with an unlikely pro Brexit coalition, Johnson is now facing the exit.
Phenomenally though, and it’s probably because he’s been not only stubborn, but desperate enough to threaten his own party with a snap election that would have punished many of the new 2019 intake.
Such that this morning his cabinet now has huge gaps in it.
There’s no education secretary, and only one working minister in the Communities department that controls housing and the famous levelling up programme. He’s not simply a lame duck PM, he’s one who cannot command large parts of his own administer.
So, we’ll have to see if the briefings from No 10 that he plans to stay until the autumn hold any water. If people were not going to work under him as PM, why would they risk it when he’s just a caretaker?
His dismissal of his old rival Michael Gove seemed particularly petulant and reckless. His science minister, one of the latest to resign was pretty direct in the last fifteen minutes…
Yes. We need Ministers back at their desks.
Now PM has finally done the decent thing he needs to hand in the seals of office, apologise to Her Majesty, allow her to appoint a Caretaker under whom Ministers can serve, so the Conservative Party can choose a new leader properly. https://t.co/vcOb1pvrx1
— George Freeman MP (@GeorgeFreemanMP) July 7, 2022
What are the implications for Northern Ireland, the Protocol and the future direction of Brexit. Well, that depends on who takes over. I suspect the British electorate are already looking for a new direction.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
