Boris Johnson suffers more layoffs in one day than any prime minister in history

Boris Johnson has resigned more in one day than any prime minister in history, after the Chris Pincher scandal sparked a brutal mass exodus compared to ‘rats fleeing a sinking ship’.

Nearly 40 ministers and assistants have run away since Tuesday eveningincluding two cabinet ministers, 15 ministers, 17 private parliamentary secretaries, three trade envoys and a vice-president.

The internet turned into humor to some of the tension around the ‘slow collapse’ of the government.

But it’s no laughing matter for Mr Johnson, whose list of firsts also includes being the only sitting prime minister to ever break the law.

According to data from the Institute for Government, more ministers have resigned from Boris Johnson’s premiership in a single day than during the entire time his predecessors David Cameron and Gordon Brown were in office.

Thirteen ministers resigned in the nearly three years that Gordon Brown was in charge, and the same number resigned during the six years that Cameron was in power.

The government collapse began with the headline-grabbing resignation of Rishi Sunak as chancellor and Sajid Javid as Minister of Health last night.

The feud with Chris Pincher was the last straw for the allies who had stood by him through partygate and other sleaze scandals.

Pincher retired as a deputy head whip last week after allegedly assaulting two men while drunk at London’s Carlton Club.

Number 10 initially said the prime minister had no inside information about concerns about his behavior – but a former official doubt that line in a bombshell statement say the prime minister was aware of an investigation into Mr Pincher in 2019.

The government later admitted that Boris Johnson had been personally informed of the allegations – but claimed he had forgotten them†

A Humiliating apology failed to prevent the departure of Sunak and Javid, two potential rivals in leadershipwith both writing inflammatory resignation letters.

Today they were followed out the door by 14 deputy ministers, including five who resigned in one fell swoop.

Kemi Badenoch, Neil O’Brien, Alex Burghart, Lee Rowley and Julia Lopez signed a joint letter saying they no longer trust the Prime Minister and calling on him to resign.

Employment Secretary Mims Davies, Security Secretary Rachel Maclean and Equal Treatment Secretary Mike Freer announced their departures shortly after.

In their resignation letters:

• Ex-Minister for Children and Families, Mr Quince, said he could not accept being sent out to defend the Prime Minister on television with misinformation about the Chris Pincher altercation.

• Former Attorney General Mrs. Atkins told Johnson, “I can no longer pirouette around our broken values. We can and must do better than this.’

• Ms Churchill stepped down as Environment Minister, saying: ‘Recent events have shown that integrity, competence and judgment are all essential to the role of Prime Minister, while a joking, selfish approach undoubtedly has its limits.’

• Kemi Badenoch, Neil O’Brien, Alex Burghart, Lee Rowley and Julia Lopez signed a joint letter calling on the Prime Minister to resign, saying it is “clear the government cannot function given the problems that have been revealed.” come’.

• Mims Davies said that in recent months I have become increasingly concerned about your premiership, the people around you, the direction of our party and what you stand for.

• Rachel MacLean said she didn’t believe she could improve the ‘sadly low’ sex offense prosecutions with the prime minister in charge of the country.

• Mr Freer said he was stepping down as Equality Minister, complaining about ‘creating an atmosphere of hostility towards LGBT+ people’, adding: ‘I can no longer defend policies I fundamentally disagree with’.

Mr Johnson has sworn by fighting but there is a very real possibility that his reign could be over in days.

A number of Boris JohnsonThe cabinet’s own ministers are reportedly ready to meet to tell the prime minister that his time is up in what could be the final blow to his premiership.

The group is believed to consist of its new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Rishi Sunak in the top role hours ago.

The new Education Secretary Michelle Donelan is also involved, as are the Chief Whip and Transport Minister Grant Shapps and Home Secretary Priti Patel, according to the BBC and Sky News.

Understandably, they will issue the “final ultimatum” to Mr Johnson and say, “You go or we do.”

A separate plot to evict Mr Johnson from the backseat of the rebels also gained momentum on Wednesday night.

Elections to the Tory backbench 1922 Committee Executive are set to take place on Monday, paving the way for a rule change that would allow for a second vote of no confidence (VONC).

Mr Johnson narrowly survived one of these last month, and under current party rules, he won’t face another one until July next year.

The final vote resulted in 41.2% of his Conservative MPs voting against him.

But some MPs who said they voted for the prime minister at the time have since said they would vote differently if the vote were held again.

Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, who lost the support of a smaller percentage of MPs than Boris Johnson in their 1990 and 2019 no-confidence vote, were in power for less than six months.

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