2022 United Kingdom Government Crisis

About

The 2022 United Kingdom Government Crisis refers to a governmental crisis in the United Kingdom that came as a result of controversies and scandals relating to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his administration. The crisis led to the resignation of Boris Johnson as Conservative Party chair as well as the resignation of several members of his cabinet in July 2022, triggering a leadership election for the Conservative Party as well as doubts Johnson could remain as Prime Minister.

Background

Though Johnson resigned in July of 2022, several scandals led to the resignation of some of his top cabinet members and his ultimate resignation as head of the conservative party.

Partygate

See more: Partygate

The Partygate scandal was a factor in the triggering of the crisis when it was revealed that parties took place during the lockdown in the United Kingdom in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Boris Johnson was accused of lying to parliament, claiming that no parties had taken place. Some Conservative MPs had written to the 1922 Committee—the Conservative backbench committee—as a result of the scandal.

Vote of Confidence

A vote of confidence in Boris Johnson's leadership had taken place as a result on June 6th, 2022, when Graham Brady announced that the threshold of 54 letters of no confidence had been met and that a vote of confidence in Johnson would be held in the evening of the same day.

A majority of Conservative MPs voted confidence in Johnson to continue as party leader. More than 40% of Conservative MPs voted no confidence, which The Guardian^[1] described as "a larger than expected rebellion."

Chris Pincher Scandal And First Resignations

The Chris Pincher scandal triggered the government crisis which came as a revelation of Boris Johnson appointing Conservative MP Chris Pincher to a government role when Johnson was aware of sexual allegations made toward Pincher in 2019.^[2] Johnson apologized and said he "bitterly regretted" the hire, but members of his cabinet announced their resignations soon after. On July 5th, 2022, Sajid Javid resigned as Health Secretary. Shortly afterwards, Rishi Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer and stated that the government needed new leadership.

Nadhim Zahawi was appointed as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer and within 24 hours of his appointment, he called on Boris Johnson to resign. Following Javid and Sunak's resignations, many junior government ministers started to resign as a result of the scandals. Throughout the day on July 5th, 2022, ten government ministers resigned from their offices in protest. The next day, the number of resignations increased to 46. By July 7th, 2022, the number of ministers who resigned increased to 62.

Developments

Resignation of Boris Johnson

On July 6th, 2022, as a result of the continued resignations, a delegation of Conservative MPs went to Downing Street where they waited for the Prime Minister to call for him to resign. Not co-operating, Boris Johnson insisted he'd continue in the role. As more resignations came which pressured him further to resign, he announced his resignation as the Conservative Party chair on July 7th, 2022 (see below).

Aftermath

After his resignation speech, Boris Johnson stated that he would remain as a "caretaker" Prime Minister until a new leader of the Conservative Party was elected. This was met with condemnation from the Scottish and Welsh First Ministers and Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs. On July 10th, 2022, it was revealed that Keir Starmer had submitted a motion to call a general election to "start fresh with a new Labour government".

As a result of Boris Johnson's resignation on July 7th, 2022, a leadership election was triggered for the Conservative Party to replace Boris Johnson as both Conservative Party leader and subsequently, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As of July 10th, 2022, ten candidates have declared their intention to replace Boris Johnson. Ex-Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak is seen as one of the frontrunners to replace Johnson.^[3]

Reaction

Following on from the resignations, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer had called for Boris Johnson to resign and call a general election. After Boris Johnson's resignation, Starmer called for him to immediately leave Downing Street, if that weren't to happen, he stated that he would place a motion of no confidence in the government (see below)

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland had said there was "an overwhelming and very widespread sense of relief" in response to Boris Johnson's resignation. Similar to Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon also called for Boris Johnson to leave immediately (see below).

Some Conservative MPs had feared that Boris Johnson was behaving in a Trumpian manner, with comparisons to Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.

Search Interest

External References