In the past day or two, a rare scene in British political history has occurred: Since July 5, as of press time, 46 government officials have resigned one after another.

British Health Secretary Javid and Finance Minister Sunak resigned on July 5. This is September 7, 2021. British Prime Minister Johnson (center), Health Secretary Javid (left) and Finance Minister Sunak attended a press conference in London. Photo/Xinhua News Agency (photo courtesy of the British Prime Minister's Office)

In the past day or two, a rare scene in British political history has occurred: Since July 5, as of press time, 46 government officials have resigned one after another.

46 officials have resigned

At 18:00 on July 5, Johnson issued a video apology for his "improper employment". Just two minutes later, "the show began."

18:02, Johnson's video apology has not yet ended, Health Minister Javid issued the first cabinet resignation letter, and 9 minutes later, Finance Minister Sunak announced that he would follow suit.

As of 20:30 that night, the number of cabinet ministers who had resigned was still at 7, but they already included heavyweights such as Javid and Sunak. It seemed that the crisis could still be controlled within a certain range.

But then Johnson’s tough statement that “I have full authorization from the voters”, as well as the appointment of Education Minister Zahavi and three other people to replace the resigned Sunak, angered more cabinet members who were still hesitant to wait and see. As of the 6th, At zero o'clock, the number of resignations has exceeded 10.

According to the latest statistics, a total of 46 officials have left so far, including those who resigned and some who were "fired" by Johnson.

Many people who are still "on the job" seem to be wavering. For example, Zahavi, who has just been entrusted with an important task, squeezed into a group of resigned ministers to visit the distressed Johnson, although he did not agree with these resigned ministers "forcing Johnson to have an abortion". get out of class is dismissed", but implicitly reminded the Prime Minister to "please pay attention to the challenges posed to the governing power by the loss of support within the party." This has to make people think a lot.

On March 23, 2022, British Finance Minister Sunak went to Parliament in London. Photo/Xinhua News Agency (photo courtesy of the British Prime Minister's Office)

One person detonated a "political bomb"

The person who caused big trouble was a "best friend" of Johnson named Pincher - the opening song of "The Longest Day", that is, Johnson Admitting "improper employment" refers to the reuse of this person.

Pincher is a member of the Conservative Party . He began to be reused during the Cameron and Theresa May eras. Johnson especially favored him and appointed him to important positions such as Secretary of State for European and American Affairs and Minister of Housing. In February 2022, he was nominated by Johnson as the deputy whip of the Conservative Party. This is a powerful and prestigious position in the British political arena, which is known as "the oldest representative system of government", and is also a key springboard for further advancement.

However, many people who are familiar with Pincher have long questioned him for being "grave and ruined" and "frivolous and exaggerated". They persuaded Johnson not to use this person too much, but Johnson refused to listen. On June 30, a reporter from " Sun " exclusively broke the news, saying that before Pincher was nominated as deputy whip, someone witnessed him molesting two men in a members' club of the Carlton Private Hotel while drunk. This matter had obviously been reported. to Johnson, who chose to conceal the matter and went ahead with nominating Pincher. The news of

caused a public uproar, and more insiders came forward to accuse Pincher of "making similar mistakes many times", and Johnson had already heard about this. Under tremendous pressure, Pincher announced his resignation, and Johnson admitted "misemployment" after several days of silence. Unexpectedly, he detonated a huge political bomb.

In fact, Pincher just gave Johnson's dissatisfied members of the party another opportunity to overthrow the government. As Javid said after his resignation, the key is not the appointment of Pincher itself, but that Johnson once again showed "blatant political dishonesty" in the process of appointing and covering Pincher, and this kind of "blatant political dishonesty" has been seen many times before. performance.

html On June 6, the "1922 Committee", a group of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons of the British Parliament, launched an impeachment of no confidence against the Prime Minister within the ruling party. Although it was unsuccessful, the impeachers were able to collect the required 54 motions in a short period of time, and the voting time was as many as 148 members voted in favor of impeachment (211 voted against). All this puts Johnson under great pressure.

Due to current rules, no further impeachment can be conducted within one year after the failure of the party's impeachment against the Prime Minister hosted by the "1922 Committee". Therefore, observers originally expected Johnson to survive for a while. Unexpectedly, the "political bomb" was detonated by Pinche at the right time, allowing the congressmen not only to quickly find another opportunity to attack, but also to attract many heavyweight cabinet allies.

British Prime Minister Johnson. Photo / Xinhua News Agency

Nearly 70% of the respondents believe that the Prime Minister should resign

Although some senior cabinet members began to urge Johnson to "accord with nature and accept people" to prevent the entire ruling party from being dragged down by one person's love affair, he still persisted: in one day He made at least three public appearances during the period, using provocative words and actions to demonstrate his determination to "hold on." Not only did he appoint a number of replacements for resigned cabinet members, he also publicly claimed that "I have plenty of replacements," and even fired local development and community development projects. and housing secretary Gove’s squid.

Many people within the Conservative Party are worried about Johnson's persistence, because "political breach of trust" has always been a wound that will never heal. If left unchecked, the ruling party's blood will slowly drain out in the end - July 5 According to a poll conducted by the British Opinion Research Company, as many as 69% of British respondents believe that Johnson should be dismissed, and more than half of them are supporters of the Conservative Party.

Of course, some "front bench members" still support Johnson. If Johnson stands firm, he may be able to survive.

However, backbenchers have begun to consider changing the "1922 Committee" impeachment rules, trying to gain the right to launch another intra-party impeachment within a short period of time. If so, the odds are against Johnson under the current circumstances. After all, many backbenchers who had firmly supported him not long ago have openly defected.

Johnson threatened to "disband the cabinet and hold an early election if this is not possible". However, the current poll support rate is so low. Once an early election is held, the Conservative Party's ruling position may be shaken. Many analysts believe that his words are more intended to intimidate those who want to quit the party, so that they do not dare to defect and risk losing their parliamentary majority.

If more senior cabinet ministers resign or defect in the short term, and Johnson is really "forced out" like his predecessor Theresa May, he may not be able to elect a new "party leader" and prime minister before a lengthy "party leader" by-election. , remaining as caretaker Prime Minister, this will be a relatively decent ending - but Johnson may find it difficult to accept it.

writing/Tao short room (columnist)

editor/Xu Qiuying

proofreading/Zhao Lin