Political crisis deepens as British PM Johnson's leadership hangs in the balance

For British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this year has been about firefighting one crisis after the next as he once again faces a hostile crowd in the House of Commons on WednesdayIt follows a night of turmoil after his former close ally Rishi Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer without mincing his words about the failing levels of competency within the government He was joined by another senior minister Health Secretary Sajid Javid who stormed out as Chancellor over two years ago under Johnsons leadership but was brought back into the foldThere is no doubt that the latest developments reflect a deepening political crisis for the Conservative Party government and most believe it is a question of when rather than if Johnson 58 will be replaced by a new leader There is a general view that he will have to be taken out kicking and screaming and has no plans to make a quiet exitThe Tory party has already tried once to unseat Johnson as its leader with a vote of noconfidence last month which he survived but only just as it exposed the deep discontentment within party ranks with 41 per cent of his MPs voting against him as a leaderHowever this meant he was safe from another leadership challenge for a year and crucially his Cabinet had stayed steadfast behind him during that narrow winNow with two highprofile Cabinet exits that support system has also collapsed and many are counting down the days if not hours before he is forcibly shown the doorBehind the scenes the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers is also working to amend rules to try and make him face another noconfidence vote sooner than the current oneyear time limitThe buildup of the party mutiny has been a slowburn since the first party gate allegations of Covid lawbreaking parties within Downing Street and other UK government offices first hit the headlines towards the end of last year It blew up into a fullblown crisis earlier this year forcing Johnson to apologise multiple times in the House of Commons after initially insisting no rules were brokenThe internal investigation ordered by him led by top civil servant Sure Gray proved scathing in its criticism of leadership failures at the heart of government and even led to a police inquiry and fines issued to Johnson for a birthday party for him in the Cabinet Room of Downing Street in June 2020While the Opposition piled pressure on the government the murmurings from within his own party grew into a rebellion and ended in the confidence voteThat mutiny though temporarily curtailed was reignited when the Conservatives faced their worst byelection result in history towards the end of last month It was seen as a referendum on Johnsons leadership which his critics believed he had quite definitively lost However Johnson insisted he had no intention of resigning and wanted to get on with the job at handThe proverbial straw that broke the camels back seems to have been a relatively lowkey exit of the partys Deputy Chief Whip ironically in charge of party discipline who resigned last week admitting drunken misbehaviorChris Pincher was later suspended but the changing stories from Downing Street on how much the Prime Minister knew about his past misconduct when he appointed him to a key government post proved fatalLord Simon McDonald former permanent secretary in the UK Foreign Office set off a domino effect when he wrote to the Parliaments standards commissioner saying Downing Street made inaccurate claims about Pincher and that Johnson was personally briefed about his behaviorIt led to Johnson finally admitting on air that he made a mistake in hiring Pincher In hindsight it was the wrong thing to do and I apologise to everyone who has been badly affected by itHowever by then it proved disastrous as ministers were said to be furious about being briefed just hours before that the Prime Minister had no direct knowledge of the misconductAccording to reports while Sunak and Javid did not coordinate their Cabinet exits they are both said to have been rankled by these incorrect briefings from Downing StreetThere is also conjecture over whether it is a move aimed at distancing themselves from a sinking ship in preparation for a leadership bid of their own when the time comes for a Tory leadership contestWhile Sunak has been long considered an heir apparent to the top job of Prime Minister his popularity within the party took some beating with his tax policies in recent months Javid is seen as a possible contender along with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and also the new Chancellor Nadhim ZahawiIt now remains to be seen what political course awaits Johnson who entered Downing Street with a thumping majority in the December 2019 general electionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom 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