London, July 06, (BBC/GNA) – Boris Johnson’s premiership is in increasing peril, with a group of cabinet ministers calling on him to resign.
Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps are among those gathering in No 10 to call on him to go.
Tory backbench chief Sir Graham Brady is going in to see the PM “to offer wise counsel”, a source told the BBC.
But the PM has told MPs it would not be “responsible” for him to go.
Speaking at the Commons Liaison Committee, he said it would not be right for him to “walk away” amid economic pressures and the war in Ukraine.
Under repeated questioning by the committee, he ruled out calling a snap general election, saying the earliest date he can see for one is 2024.
Welsh Secretary Simon Hart is also among the group preparing to tell Mr Johnson to stand down, the BBC has been told.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove told him to go earlier, and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has told the chief whip the PM should resign.
BBC political editor Chris Mason said the ministers gathering in Downing Street to call on the PM to quit have been joined by another group arguing he should stay.
The BBC has also been told Mr Johnson has been stressing that “millions” voted for him and questioning whether any of his would-be successors would be able to “replicate his electoral success at the next election”.
Meanwhile, Tory party bosses on the executive of the backbench 1922 committee have postponed a decision on whether to change the rules governing a vote of confidence – but elections to replace the committee will take place next week.
Mr Johnson survived such a vote last month, and under the rules as they currently stand he would be immune from another challenge for a year.
The crisis engulfing Mr Johnson’s premiership began on Tuesday, following the dramatic resignations of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
They quit within minutes of each other following a row over Mr Johnson’s decision to appoint Chris Pincher deputy chief whip earlier this year.
Their departures have triggered a wave of further resignations, with a senior ally of the prime minister telling the BBC: “It’s now a question of how he exits,” adding the situation was “not sustainable”.
‘Nodding dogs’
At PMQs, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Conservatives had become a “corrupted party defending the indefensible”.
He took aim at ministers who have resigned in recent days, saying their decision not to quit before now showed they lacked a “shred of integrity”.
And he rounded on those who have stayed in post, mocking them as a “Z list cast of nodding dogs”, keeping the PM in power.
He added they were “only in office because no-one else is prepared to debase themselves any longer”, calling them the “charge of the lightweight brigade”.
Tory backbencher Gary Sambrook accused the PM of blaming other people for his mistakes and was applauded after calling on him to resign.
But Mr Johnson defied calls for him to go, adding he had a right to stay because of the 80-strong majority he won at the 2019 election.
“The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances, when he’s been handed a colossal mandate, is to keep going – and that’s what I’m going to do.”
GNA
Credit: BBC