After scandals, Boris Johnson quits as UK prime minister
LONDON, July 7: Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson announced on Thursday he would quit as British prime minister after he was abandoned by ministers and most of his Conservative lawmakers.
Rishi Sunak looked set to become Britain's next prime minister after Boris Johnson withdrew from the contest on Sunday, saying that although he had enough support to make the final ballot he realized the country and the Conservative Party needed unity.
She was the shortest-serving UK prime minister
Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as leader and became PM on 6 September then resigned 45 days later. The previous record was set at 119 days by George Canning who died in office in 1827.
She ran into problems very quickly
With her support, finance minster Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled £45bn of tax cuts in her third week, in what they called a "mini-budget". But it was widely blamed for causing huge economic problems. Despite Truss insisting at the time it was "the right thing to do", almost all of it has now been reversed - and Kwarteng was sacked as chancellor.
Some of her own MPs started openly criticising her
Dozens of Tories called on her to step down and her Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned. She had to hire former rivals Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt to plug the gaps in her top team.
She said she couldn't deliver what she had promised
In her resignation speech outside Downing Street, she said: "I recognise that I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party."
She beat former Chancellor Rishi Sunak to be PM
Only Conservative MPs and party members got to vote to make her leader. Sunak came ahead in the MPs vote but in the final vote from members more than 80,000 picked her instead of Sunak, making her the winner.
We don't know who will replace her
There will be a leadership contest within the next week. She will stay on as leader until her replacement is announced.
She was the last PM appointed by Queen Elizabeth II
The Queen appointed Liz Truss days before she died and her leadership began with a 10-day mourning period.
She used to work as an economist
After university she worked for Shell and Cable & Wireless, and married accountant Hugh O'Leary in 2000. They have two daughters. The family live in Thetford, Norfolk.
LONDON, July 21: Former United Kingdom (UK) Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged as the final two candidates in the country's Tory leadership race on Wednesday.
International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out in the final round of ballot among Conservative lawmakers. Sunak won 137 votes, Truss received 113.
The contest to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister will now go before the Conservative Party's 200,000-odd dues-paying members, who will select the winner later this summer via mail-in ballot. The winner, to be announced on Sept. 5, will automatically become Johnson's successor.
Though Sunak has won each of the five rounds of voting by lawmakers, a YouGov poll published on Tuesday showed that he was less popular with the party's grassroots. He is predicted to lose to Truss, a favorite of the party's right wing, in the head-to-head contest.
Both candidates have made pledges on tax cuts as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. However, Sunak dismissed as "fairytales" his rivals' promises of immediate tax cuts, arguing that inflation must be brought under control first. Inflation in the UK rose by 9.4 percent in June, hitting a fresh 40-year high, official statistics showed on Wednesday.
Truss, on the other hand, promised to start cutting taxes from day one.
The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 by an avalanche of resignations of government officials, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson continues to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.
Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the Partygate scandal and the Chris Pincher scandal involving his appointment of Pincher, a politician accused of sexual misconduct, to a high-level post.
But Johnson defended his record in his last appearance in the Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the ballot results were announced. The lawmakers will start their summer recess on Thursday.
Claiming that "mission largely accomplished - for now," he once again touted his achievements of pulling off the Brexit deal, rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine and helping Ukraine during his three-year premiership.
Johnson signed off his farewell speech by saying "Hasta la vista, baby" (See you later), a famous phrase used by Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film Terminator, sparking speculation that he aims to make a political comeback.
LONDON, July 13: Eight candidates have been nominated to enter the race to be the leader of the Conservative Party and replace outgoing Boris Johnson as prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK), the party's backbench 1922 Committee said on Tuesday.
The eight contenders who successfully enlisted the required backing of at least 20 Conservative lawmakers are: Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak; Foreign Secretary Liz Truss; International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt; backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat; Attorney General Suella Braverman; newly appointed Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi; former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch; and former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The first round of voting among Tory lawmakers will be held on Wednesday and only those contenders who receive at least 30 votes can enter the second ballot, which is to be held on Thursday, according to the rules set by the 1922 Committee, which runs the leadership contest.
The number of contenders will be whittled down to two through more rounds of secret ballot, before British parliamentarians break up for the summer recess on July 21.
The final two contenders will then go through a postal ballot of all the Conservative members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer and the winner will be announced on Sept.5, becoming the new Tory leader and the UK's next prime minister.
The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to bow to the inevitable on Thursday by an avalanche of resignations of cabinet ministers and other junior government officials in protest against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson continues to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.
Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the Partygate scandal and the Chris Pincher scandal related to allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Conservative Party deputy chief whip.
LONDON, July 6: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure to go following the shock resignations of two key cabinet ministers on the same day, political experts told Xinhua on Tuesday.
"This looks like the beginning of the end for Boris Johnson. He's lost two of the ministers, who many would regard as among the most competent in the Cabinet, those who have a quality that would be accepted by other potential leaders," said Professor Iain Begg, a political expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science's (LSE) European Institute.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak resigned on Tuesday in protest against Johnson's leadership. Javid said he "can no longer, in good conscience, continue serving in this government," while Sunak criticized the government's lack of competence.
Though Johnson has scrambled to make a swift cabinet reshuffle by appointing Steve Barclay as the new health secretary and Nadhim Zahawi as the new Chancellor, Begg believes the departure of two high-profile ministers and their scathing attack on Johnson's leadership will add to the pressure on his already precarious premiership.
"The two resignations tonight and a couple of other resignations by lesser figures clearly intensify the pressure on Boris Johnson to go," he told Xinhua, noting a series of scandals engulfing the prime minister.
He called Johnson's survival of a no-confidence vote within his own party weeks ago "a close-run thing."
In the confidence vote over the "Partygate" scandal that saw Johnson and government employees revel in alcohol-fueled parties at Downing Street over the past two years when the country was in COVID-19 lockdown, lawmakers who voted against him amounted to more than 40 percent.
The latest scandal involved Johnson's appointment of lawmaker Christopher Pincher to deputy chief whip despite being informed of formal complaints about his sexual misconduct.
Johnson went on television to apologize for Pincher's appointment minutes before the two cabinet ministers' announcements of resignation.
"Johnson is now extremely weakened. The question for him now is whether others, either in the Cabinet or in his own party, will say, this is too much. We must get rid of this man because he's bringing us all down," Begg said. "The accumulation of forces is pointing in the direction of him going, and going quickly."
"The likelihood is there's going to be a lot soul-searching, both among members of the Cabinet who are not directly beholden to Boris Johnson and others in the party, and the likelihood is that they will find a way to topple him," he added.
Professor Jon Tonge from the political department at the University of Liverpool told Xinhua, "Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on political death row. Any further resignations and it's surely the end. His political credibility is in ruins regardless."
APRIL 22: At a meeting in Delhi, the pair are also set to talk about a trade deal, ahead of a new negotiations next week.
However, the prime minister is likely to face more questions about his leadership and lockdown parties in No 10.
On Thursday, MPs gave the go ahead to an inquiry into whether he misled Parliament over the issue.
The government had tried to delay the vote by MPs, but made a U-turn after opposition from within its own party.
The PM now faces an investigation by the House of Commons Privileges Committee, which will launch once the Metropolitan Police has finished its own probe into the gatherings.
Last week, Mr Johnson was fined for breaking Covid laws at an event in Downing Street. He had previously told MPs laws were not broken in No 10, leading to accusations from opposition parties that the prime minister had misled them.
The meeting between Mr Johnson and Mr Modi in India's capital comes on the final day of Mr Johnson's two-day trip to the country, which has been much delayed by Covid. Mr Johnson will then give a press conference.
Ahead of their meeting, Downing Street announced the UK planned to streamline its licencing rules for exporting military hardware to India.
Mr Johnson said the UK would support India to construct fighter jets, in an attempt to reduce the volume of weapons bought from Russia.
No 10 also said the two countries would be boosting their security co-operation in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Indian Ocean.
And there was a commitment to increase research into lowering the cost of "green" hydrogen power - part of the UK's renewable energy plans.
The two leaders will also discuss the latest in UK-India trade talks - where Mr Johnson has set an autumn target for an agreement to be signed.
Ukraine stance
However, conversations between the leaders on the invasion of Ukraine are likely to prove more difficult.
Mr Johnson has pledged to raise the issue of India's relations with Russia during his trip.
Along with other Western countries, the UK has been trying to persuade India to drop its neutral stance and join in condemning Moscow, which is its biggest arms supplier.
Earlier this month, India condemned killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha - the strongest statement it has made since Russia's invasion. But it stopped short of blaming Russia for the violence, and has not criticised Russia directly since its invasion in February.
Mr Johnson acknowledged on Thursday that India, which has strong ties to Russia, was "not in the same place" as the UK over the conflict.
But he told reporters there was still a "huge amount we can work on together".
Ahead of his meeting with Mr Modi, Mr Johnson said collaboration with India on issues including climate change and security was of "vital importance".
He added: "The world faces growing threats from autocratic states which seek to undermine democracy, choke off free and fair trade and trample on sovereignty.
"The UK's partnership with India is a beacon in these stormy seas."
Boris Johnson's Conservatives on Friday lost control of a parliamentary seat they had dominated for nearly 200 years as voters turned against Britain's prime minister over a series of crises and scandals.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday confirmed that from April 12, non-essential shops will reopen and pubs and restaurants will reopen outdoors as Britain moves to step two of the roadmap out of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Meanwhile, hairdressers, barbers as well as gyms can reopen, along with zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centers.
"The net result of your efforts and of course the vaccine rollout is that I can today confirm that from Monday, April 12, we will move to step two of our road map," said the prime minister.
The statement came as the prime minister was speaking at a virtual Downing Street press conference to give an update on his government's anti-coronavirus plan.
"But we can't be complacent. ... We still don't know how strong the vaccine shield will be," he said.
Johnson said England has managed to meet the "tests" set by the government sufficiently
to go ahead with further easing restrictions on Monday.
The government previously set out four "tests" for easing lockdown: the vaccine program continues successfully; vaccines are effective in reducing hospital admissions and deaths; infection rates do not risk overwhelming the British National Health Service (NHS); the variants of concern do not pose a large risk.
Nearly 31.6 million people have been given the first jab of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the official figures.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
LOS ANGELES: Kenneth Branagh is set to essay the role of Boris Johnson in a new TV drama charting UK prime minister's handling of coronavirus pandemic.According to Variety, the drama will trace the impact COVID-19 crisis on the country, and the response of scientists, nurses, and doctors as they worked round the clock to try and contain the virus.Titled...
