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A new confidence motion threat looms over British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Two lawmakers have said they have lost faith in their leadership over the partygate scandal. Johnson could be impeached next week, according to a former party leader, and if he loses this motion he would be removed as prime minister. However, it is necessary that 54 ‘tories’ request the motion for it to be carried out.
Problems continue for Boris Johnson. A new wave of calls arrives in Downing Street for the Prime Minister to step down after new revelations about parties in full lockdown. To the nearly thirty Conservative legislators who have called for his resignation and the at least six who have criticized his actions, criticism from Conservative MP John Stevenson is added this Tuesday, May 31.
This politician says he feels “deeply disappointed” by the parties (known as the ‘partygate’) held in Downing Street during the pandemic and in which Johnson participated. Stevenson asked that the ‘premier’ present himself to a confidence motion as a way of “putting a limit” on the matter.
In a statement, Stevenson lamented that “the prime minister does not appear to be willing to put an end to the situation” and that therefore “the only option is for the Conservative MPs to facilitate a confidence motion. I have already taken the appropriate measures,” he pointed out.
Another of the ‘Tory’ deputies who raised his voice is Elliot Colburn. He confirmed sending letters asking Graham Brady, the chairman of the so-called 1922 Parliamentary Committee – made up of Conservative MPs – for a vote on Johnson.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Wright, former attorney general, joined yesterday, Monday, May 30, the ‘Tory’ parliamentarians who have requested Johnson’s resignation. On his official website, Wright wrote that “for the sake of this and future governments, I have come to the conclusion, with regret, that the Prime Minister must resign.”
For Johnson to be removed from office, it is required that at least 54 ‘Tory’ deputies (15% of the Conservative caucus) formally request a motion of confidence from the chairman of the 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party. However, these requests are confidential and so far it is unknown how many representatives have formalized their request.
The conclusions that could precipitate Johnson’s downfall
Since Sue Gray, the official from Johnson’s own government who investigates the ‘partygate’ (and who has the future of the prime minister in her hands), published her conclusions on the controversial parties last week, up to thirty conservative deputies have publicly called for the prime minister to step aside.
And although the report details that the parties during the confinements went beyond brief encounters between colleagues, Johnson continues to try to minimize his participation. He assures that he did not know that he was breaking the rules created to combat the spread of the coronavirus and emphasizes that he “has learned his lesson”, that he always believed that he attended “work meetings” and that he does not plan to resign. Assertions that have caused a new wave of resignation requests.
Andrea Leadsom, a former Business Minister who campaigned in favor of Brexit, also joined the criticism against Johnson on Tuesday, noting that it is “extremely unlikely that senior leaders were not aware of what was happening.” And she, although she has not asked for Johnson’s resignation, has indicated that legislators would have to decide “what is the best way to restore confidence in the Government.”
Leadsom, who lost to former Prime Minister Theresa May in the race to succeed David Cameron as the Conservatives in 2016, says leadership mistakes at Downing Street “cannot be tolerated” and are “the Prime Minister’s responsibility.” .
The motion of censure that Johnson could face would take place, according to William Hague (who led the Conservative Party from 1997 to 2001) next week at the reopening of Parliament or by the end of June. According to Hague, this scandal is a “slow fuse explosion” that with the increase in criticism “is approaching dynamite.”
Johnson and the code of conduct
This Tuesday, May 31, the British Government’s ethical adviser, Christopher Geidth, (appointed to that position by Johnson last year) considered that it is “legitimate” to question whether the prime minister violated the code of conduct that public officials must comply with when participating at parties during the pandemic.
For the ethical adviser, the code states that “it is the primary duty of ministers to comply with the law”, and that in the convention in Westminster it is stated that those who break it must resign. “The impression has been created that the prime minister might not be willing to have his own conduct judged in relation to the obligations of the code,” Geidth added.
So far, the Police have imposed 126 sanctions on government officials and officials for celebrations prohibited during confinement to contain the advance of Covid-19, including one on the ‘premier’ and his wife, Carrie Johnson.
With AP, EFE and Reuters
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