Controversies have badly tarnished British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership credentials. This has led to calls from some of his lawmakers for him to resign (Reuters). Moreover, the Scottish Conservatives are under severe pressure due to the inefficiency of the Johnson administration. The Conservative leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross, recently wrote to Johnson asking him to resign. This could be due to the Scottish Conservatives’ strong dissatisfaction with Johnson’s performance. Johnson’s actions and scandals have caused controversy among conservatives.
Boris Johnson’s scandals
As it says in the Guardian, Boris Johnson has corrupted the Conservative party with rule-breaking parties, scandals and Brexit. Today’s Tories are stepping on the values they once claimed to apprise. Reuters refers to some of the troubles that Johnson has faced as follows:
Oct. 26 – Lawmaker guilty of paid lobbying
Nov. 3 – Government changes rules to save lawmaker
Nov. 4 – U-turn on Paterson
Nov. 22 – Peppa Pig speech
Nov. 30 – Lockdown Christmas party report
Dec. 7 – Video of staff joking about the party
Dec. 8 – Johnson apologises, aide resigns
Dec. 9 – Conservatives fined over apartment refurbishment
Dec. 14 – Conservative lawmakers rebel
Dec. 17 – The Conservatives lose a parliamentary seat
Dec. 17 – Lead investigator steps down
Dec. 18 – Brexit minister resigns
Dec. 19 – Garden party photo published
Jan. 12 – PM says he attended lockdown gathering
Jan. 14 – PM apologises to Buckingham Palace
Jan. 24 – Report of Johnson’s birthday gathering
Jan. 25 – Police investigation
Jan. 31 – Gray publishes initial findings
Jan. 31 – Jimmy Savile’s accusation
Feb. 3 – Johnson clarifies remarks about Savile
Feb. 7 – Starmer hounded by protesters
Oct. 26 – Lawmaker guilty of paid lobbying
Such long lists of Jonson’s scandals show the inefficiency of the Johnson administration.
Johnson must resign
According to the Guardian, Douglas Ross and one of the Conservative party’s most senior backbenchers have publicly called for Boris Johnson to resign. Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, called for Jonson’s resignation over a lockdown-busting party in Downing Street. The call for resignation puts intense political pressure on the prime minister.
Johnson apologised for attending the party in May 2020. He claimed that he believed it was a “work event”. Many Conservative MPs said Jonson’s explanations did not satisfy them. Douglas Ross was the first senior Tory figure to call publicly for the prime minister’s immediate departure. “Regretfully, I have to say that his position is no longer tenable,” he told reporters.
Poll results
The results of a poll reveal the inefficiency of the Johnson administration. As it says in Scotsman, most Scots believe Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister should end. This is due to the ongoing ‘Partygate’ scandal. The growing allegations of rule-breaking and lying damage the case for the union. Almost four in five Scots believe the prime minister should resign. Scotts say Johnson should resign over the allegations that Downing Street officials held multiple parties during the lockdown. One of the parties was on the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral eve.
Do Britons care about the inefficiency of the Johnson administration?
As it says in FRANCE 24, Boris Johnson’s government is mired in corruption scandals. A newspaper investigation found donors to the Conservative Party had received offers for seats in the House of Lords. Fifteen out of 16 Conservative treasurers have donated more than £3 million to the conservative party. According to the report by The Sunday Times, the donations were over the last two decades. Then, the treasurers received offers for seats in parliament’s upper chamber. Do Britons care about the scandals?
Professor Rob Ford said, “It is impossible to predict when public opinion may turn on a governing party”. Ford added, “certainly repeated sleaze scandals like this will hasten the arrival of that point if nothing else”. Professor Rob Ford is a professor of political science at the University of Manchester,
Can the UK prime minister survive?
The inefficiency of the Johnson administration may lead to Jonson’s resignation. According to Euronews, for weeks, Boris Johnson faced calls to resign. Most of the country respected the strict lockdown amid the pandemic. However, the British prime minister and his inner team paid scant regard to the rules they had drawn up.
Several politicians in Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party have called on him to quit. But the prime minister has repeatedly urged critics to wait for official conclusions. “The Prime Minister has said that he did not realise that he was at a party. The Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer says Johson’s explanation is ridiculous and offensive to the British public. He accused Johnson of “lying through his teeth” and called on him to “do the decent thing, and resign”. Ian Blackford accused Boris Johnson of “betraying the nation’s trust” and “treating the public with contempt”. Ian Blackford is the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in parliament.
Conclusion
Even some within Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party have called on him to quit. As it says in Financial Times, Tories disagree with each other as Boris Johnson faces pressure to resign. It says in the Euronews that a split has emerged between the Scottish Conservative Party and the party at Westminster. Douglas Ross, the party leader in Scotland, said Johnson’s position “is no longer tenable”. Other Scottish Tory MPs support Douglas Ross. The question is: with all these scandals, can Johnson survive? Will Scottish Conservatives succeed in forcing him to resign?
