A field of candidates to replace departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson began to take shape Friday, even as some Conservative Party lawmakers pushed to get the scandal-tarnished leader out of office before his replacement is elected in the next couple of months. Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday — a dizzying about-face after months spent insisting he would stay in his job amid mounting ethics scandals and growing Conservative discontent. He quit as party leader with a statement to the nation outside 10 Downing St., but said he would stay in post as prime minister until his successor is chosen by the party. That decision didn’t sit well with some of his Conservative colleagues, who worry Johnson lacks the authority to hang on, or could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister. James Cleverly, appointed as education secretary on Thursday after his predecessor quit during a mass exodus of ministers, defended Johnson’s decision to stay. “It’s right that he has stood down and it’s right that he has put a team in place to continue governing whilst the selection procedure flows for his successor,” Cleverly told Sky News. “And we should do that I think pretty quickly, pretty promptly.” Party officials are due to set out the timetable for a leadership contest on Monday, with the aim of having a winner by the end of the summer. The two-step process involves Tory lawmakers voting to reduce the field of candidates to two, who will go to a ballot of all party members across the country. Lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the House of Commons’ influential Foreign Affairs Committee, became the second candidate to declare he is running, after Attorney General Suella Braverman. Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and ex-Treasury chief Rishi Sunak — whose resignations this week helped topple Johnson — are also likely contenders, along with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. Even as contenders launch their campaigns, Johnson remains in office atop a caretaker administration formed from a dwindling band of loyalists alongside ministers who have agreed to stay in office to keep government running. Read: Boris Johnson reached the top but was felled by his flaws Johnson has promised not to make any major policy decisions in his remaining time, but many Conservatives say a lame-duck leader is the last thing the country needs amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and a worsening cost-of-living crisis triggered by soaring food and energy prices. Some also are wary of Johnson’s intentions after a resignation speech in which he made clear he didn’t want to leave, but had failed “to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate.” George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday, said he worried about a leadership election being held in “a febrile moment of midsummer madness, where we choose the wrong person in a hurry because of the instability.” Some had pushed for Johnson to give way and let Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab step in as temporary leader. But lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the Conservative committee that runs party leadership contests, said “that ship has sailed.” “We must now live with the fact that Boris Johnson will be prime minister until a successor can be voted on,” he said. The main opposition Labour Party said that was unacceptable and vowed to call for a no-confidence vote in Johnson in the House of Commons next week, though prospects of its success were uncertain. “He’s a proven liar who’s engulfed in sleaze and we can’t have another couple of months of this, you know,” Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said. “So they do have to get rid of him, and if they don’t, we will call a no-confidence vote because it’s pretty clear — he hasn’t got the confidence of the House or the British public.” The brash, 58-year-old politician who took Britain out of the European Union and has been at the helm through COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, has repeatedly defied the odds during a rollercoaster political career. Read: British PM Boris Johnson resigns In recent months he managed to remain in power despite accusations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules. He was fined by police for attending one of the parties — the first prime minister ever sanctioned for breaking the law in office — but went on to survive a no-confidence vote last month in Parliament, though 41% of Conservative lawmakers tried to oust him. He was brought down by one scandal too many — this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct. Johnson faced days of questions, and gave days of conflicting answers, over what he knew about past allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker who resigned as party deputy chief whip last week after allegedly groping two men at a private club. Pincher acknowledged he had got drunk and “embarrassed myself.” Johnson offered shifting explanations about what he knew and when he knew it. That just brought concerns the prime minister couldn’t be trusted to boiling point. Javid and Sunak, key Cabinet members who were responsible, respectively, for fighting COVID-19 and inflation, resigned within minutes of each other Tuesday, setting off a wave of departures by their colleagues. Johnson clung to power for days, defiantly telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he had a “colossal mandate” from the voters and intended to get on with the business of governing. His resignation the next day was a humiliating defeat for a politician whose jokey bluster brought a celebrity status unmatched in British politics — but who was accused of behaving as if the rules didn’t apply to him. The party acted once it decided that a leader with a rare ability to connect with voters had turned into a liability. Conservative supporter Ernest William Lee said he “heaved a great sigh of relief” when Johnson announced he would leave. “I’m sorry this country has got into this state,” Lee said. “It’s a mess and it needs someone very strong — male or female, I don’t care — to run it, run it properly and get it back on its feet.   “I hate being the laughing stock of Europe.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday after droves of top government officials quit over the latest scandal to engulf him, marking an end to three tumultuous years in which he tried to brazen out one ethical lapse after another with a combination of charm, bluster and denial. Months of defiance ended almost with a shrug as Johnson stood outside No. 10 Downing St. and conceded that his party wanted him gone. “Them’s the breaks,” he said. The brash, 58-year-old politician who took Britain out of the European Union and steered it through COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine was brought down by one scandal too many — this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct. The messiest of prime ministers did not leave cleanly. Johnson stepped down immediately as Conservative Party leader but said he would remain as prime minister until the party chooses his successor. The timetable for that process will be announced next week. The last leadership contest took six weeks. But many want him to go now, with some Conservative politicians expressing fear he could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister. “It’s very difficult to see how Boris Johnson, given the character that he is, is going to be able to govern for three months in quiet humility and contrition,” said George Freeman, who resigned as science minister on Thursday. Among the possible candidates to succeed Johnson: former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. Read: Boris Johnson reached the top but was felled by his flaws About 50 Cabinet secretaries, ministers and lower-level officials quit the government over the past few days because of the latest scandal, often castigating the prime minister as lacking integrity. The mass resignations stalled the business of some parliamentary committees because there were no ministers available to speak on the government’s behalf. Johnson clung to power for days, defiantly telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he had a “colossal mandate” from the voters and intended to get on with the business of governing. But he was forced to concede defeat Thursday morning after one of his closest allies, newly appointed Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi, publicly told him to resign for the good of the country. “In the last few days, I tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate,” Johnson said. “I regret not to have been successful in those arguments, and of course it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.” He said it is “clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.” Critics said the speech showed Johnson, to the end, refusing to take responsibility for or admit his mistakes. Many Britons reacted to news of his resignation with relief and surprise, given his habit of digging in. “It felt like he can just keep on going and keep on ignoring it, so I was bit surprised this morning when saw it on my phone,” Himmat Dalyway, an investment trader in his 20s, said outside an Underground station in London. “Are you still 100% sure that he is going?″ As Johnson gathered his cobbled-together Cabinet for a meeting after his resignation announcement, he promised not to rock the boat in his remaining weeks. He told members the government would not “seek to implement new policies or make major changes of direction.” It was a humiliating defeat for Johnson, who not only pulled off Brexit but was also credited with rolling out one of the world’s most successful mass vaccination campaigns to combat COVID-19. But the perpetually rumpled, shaggy-haired leader known for answering his critics with bombast and bluster was also dogged by allegations he behaved as if the rules did not apply to him. He managed to remain in power despite accusations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules. When allegations of Downing Street parties emerged, Johnson told lawmakers “there was no party” and no rules were broken. But when photos of the prime minister raising a glass in front of a group of people surfaced, critics, some of them inside the Conservative Party, said Johnson had lied to Parliament — traditionally a resigning matter.

Boris Johnson wanted to be like his hero Winston Churchill: a larger-than-life character who led Britain through a time of crisis. He was felled by crises of his own making, as a trickle of ethics allegations became a flood that engulfed his government and turned his own party against him. Johnson agreed to resign Thursday after the chorus of disapproval from within his own party became too much for him to withstand. The move came after months of scandal that saw Johnson fined by police and criticized by an investigator’s report for allowing rule-breaking parties in his office while Britain was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson urged his party and country to “move on” and focus on the U.K.’s struggling economy and the war in Ukraine. But two thumping special election defeats for Johnson’s Conservative Party and allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior party official sealed the fate of a politician whose ability to survive scandals was legendary. Johnson’s career was always one of extremes. He took Britain out of the European Union and led the nation during a global health crisis that endangered his own life, but was toppled after flouting restrictions he imposed in response to COVID-19. Revelations of parties in Johnson’s Downing Street office while the country was in lockdown in 2020 and 2021 caused outrage and tested the patience of the Conservative Party for its election-winning but erratic leader. An investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray criticized “failures of leadership and judgment” in Johnson’s government for allowing multiple rule-breaking gatherings in 2020 and 2021. Dozens of people were issued police fines, including the prime minister, his wife Carrie Johnson and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak. It was, seemingly, the final blow to the career of one of the most divisive politicians Britain has ever known. A sympathetic biographer, Andrew Gimson, called Johnson “the man who takes on the Establishment and wins.” But for former member of Parliament Rory Stewart, who ran unsuccessfully against Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019, he was “probably the best liar we’ve ever had as prime minister.” Read: Embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agrees to resign Johnson’s selection as Conservative leader and prime minister in July 2019 capped a rollercoaster journey to the top. He had held major offices, including London mayor and U.K. foreign secretary, but also spent periods on the political sidelines after self-inflicted gaffes. Many times, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was written off as a lightweight who lacked the seriousness needed in a leader. He sometimes colluded in that impression, fostering the image of a rumpled, Latin-spouting populist with a mop of blond hair who didn’t take himself too seriously. He once said he had as much chance of becoming prime minister as of finding Elvis on Mars. First elected to Parliament in 2001, he moved for years between journalism and politics, becoming well known as a newspaper columnist and guest on TV comedy quiz shows. He sometimes made offensive remarks — calling Papua New Guineans cannibals and comparing Muslim women who wear face-covering veils to “letter boxes” — that caused furor and that he shrugged off as jokes. His first big political post, as mayor of London between 2008 and 2016, suited his talents. He built a high global profile as cheerful ambassador for the city — an image exemplified when he got stuck on a zip line during the 2012 London Olympics, waving Union Jacks as he dangled in the air. Critics blasted his backing for vanity projects including a little-used cable car and a never-built “garden bridge” over the River Thames, and warned he could not be trusted. As a young journalist, Johnson had been fired by The Times of London for making up a quote. He was once recorded promising to give a friend the address of a journalist that the friend wanted beaten up. He was sacked from a senior Conservative post for lying about an extramarital affair. As Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, he specialized in exaggerated stories of EU waste and ridiculous red tape — tales that helped turn British opinion against the bloc, with far-reaching consequences. Historian Max Hastings, Johnson’s former boss at the Telegraph, later called him “a man of remarkable gifts, flawed by an absence of conscience, principle or scruple.” It was Brexit that gave Johnson his big chance. Johnson’s co-leadership of the campaign to take Britain out of the European Union helped the “leave” side secure a narrow victory in a 2016 referendum. His bullish energy was essential to the victory. So, critics said, were the campaign’s lies — such as the false claim that Britain sent 350 million pounds a week to the EU, money that could instead be spent on the U.K.’s national health service. Read: Britain’s Boris Johnson battles to stay as PM amid revolt The Brexit vote was a triumph for Johnson, but it did not immediately make him prime minister. Theresa May won a Conservative Party leadership contest and took the top job. Johnson had to watch and wait for three years as May struggled to secure a divorce deal acceptable to both the bloc and Britain’s Parliament. When she failed, Johnson’s promise to “Get Brexit done” won him the prime minister’s job. In December 2019 he secured the Conservative Party its biggest parliamentary majority since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. His first months in office were fraught. Lawmakers resisted his Brexit plans and he suspended Parliament — until the U.K. Supreme Court ruled the move illegal. Opponents said it was another example of Johnson’s rule-breaking and disregard for the law. After several delays to the departure date, Johnson achieved his goal of leading Britain out of the EU on Jan. 31, 2020. Yet despite Johnson’s slogan, Brexit was far from “done,” with many issues still to be resolved, including the delicate status of Northern Ireland, an ongoing source of friction between Britain and the bloc. And then the pandemic struck. Johnson initially appeared relaxed about the threat the new coronavirus posed to the U.K., and hesitated to impose restrictions on movement and business activity. He changed course and imposed a lockdown in late March 2020, and days later came down with COVID-19 himself, spending several nights in intensive care in a London hospital. He later said it had been “touch and go” whether he would be put on a ventilator. Johnson’s handling of the pandemic drew decidedly mixed reviews. By nature a laissez-faire politician, he bristled at having to impose restrictions, and early on spoke rashly of the pandemic being over within weeks. The U.K. went on to have one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in Europe, and some of the longest lockdowns. But the government got one big thing right, investing early in vaccine development and purchases and delivering doses to the bulk of the population. The vaccination success brought Johnson a poll boost, but his troubles were growing. He faced allegations over money from a Conservative donor that he’d used to refurbish his official apartment. And he suffered a huge backlash when the government tried to change parliamentary standards rules after a lawmaker was found guilty of illicit lobbying. The final straw came when details emerged of parties held in Johnson’s Downing Street office and home while the country was in lockdown. The details were sometimes comic — staff smuggling booze into Downing Street in a suitcase, a supporter’s claim that Johnson had been “ambushed with a cake” at a surprise birthday party. But the anger they sparked was real. Millions of Britons had followed the rules, unable to visit friends and family or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals. Hannah Bunting, a University of Exeter lecturer who has studied public trust in politicians, said that in the past, voters were “well aware of Johnson’s flaws and this didn’t dim his electoral popularity.” The party claims changed that, because people could “compare their actions to his,” she said. “Most of us complied with government restrictions because we thought it was in everyone’s interests. We made sacrifices to ensure people were safe.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 gave Britain’s politicians and media more urgent things to focus on. It brought a reprieve from domestic woes for Johnson, who won international praise for his military, financial and moral support for Ukraine. He traveled to Kyiv twice to meet President Voldymyr Zelenskyy, a reliable and welcome ally. But the special election defeats of June 2022 — one in a district that had voted Conservative for a century — drove home to Conservatives that anger at “partygate” had not gone away. Soon after, Johnson was caught changing his story on the way he handled allegations of sexual misconduct by a senior member of his government. Ministers who had defended Johnson through thick and thin had finally had enough. They quit the government in droves, leaving Johnson no choice but to resign.   Johnson’s run of miraculous escapes had finally come to an end.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson battled to remain in office Wednesday, brushing off calls for his resignation after three Cabinet ministers and a slew of junior officials said they could no longer serve under his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson rejected demands that he step down during a stormy session of the House of Commons amid a furor over his handling of sexual misconduct allegations against a senior official. Later in the day, a delegation of some of his most trusted allies in the Cabinet paid a visit to the prime minister at 10 Downing Street to urge him to go, but he remained unmoved, Britain’s Press Association reported. The prime minister turned down suggestions he seek a “dignified exit” and opted instead to fight for his political career, citing “hugely important issues facing the country,” according to the news agency. It quoted a source close to Johnson as saying he told colleagues there would be “chaos” if he quit. The 58-year-old leader who pulled Britain out of the European Union and steered it through the COVID-19 outbreak is known for his ability to wiggle out of tight spots, managing to remain in power despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules. Also Read: Political foes revel in Boris Johnson’s woes in Parliament He hung on even when 41% of Conservative lawmakers voted to oust him in a no-confidence vote last month. But recent disclosures that Johnson knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a lawmaker before he promoted the man to a senior position pushed him to the brink. In holding on to his office, Johnson is attempting to defy the mathematics of parliamentary government and the traditions of British politics. It is rare for a prime minister to cling to power in the face of this much pressure from his Cabinet colleagues.  “He is now besmirching our democracy, and if he doesn’t do the right thing and go of his own accord, then he’ll be dragged out,” Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford told the BBC.   Many of Johnson’s fellow Conservatives were concerned that he no longer had the moral authority to govern at a time when difficult decisions are needed to address soaring food and energy prices, rising COVID-19 infections and the war in Ukraine. Others worry that he may now be a liability at the ballot box. On Wednesday, members of the opposition Labour Party showered Johnson with shouts of “Go! Go!” during the weekly ritual of Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer mockingly said of the resignations surrounding Johnson, “Isn’t it the first recorded case of the sinking ship fleeing the rat?” More damningly, members of Johnson’s own Conservative Party — wearied by the many scandals he has faced — also challenged their leader. “Frankly … the job of the prime minister in difficult circumstances, when he’s been handed a colossal mandate, is to keep going,” Johnson replied with the bluster he has used to fend off critics throughout nearly three years in office. “And that’s what I’m going to do.” Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who helped trigger the current crisis when he resigned Tuesday night, captured the mood of many lawmakers when he said Johnson’s actions threaten to undermine the integrity of the Conservative Party and the British government. “At some point we have to conclude that enough is enough,” he told fellow lawmakers. “I believe that point is now.” Under party rules, another no-confidence vote cannot be held for another 11 months, but party members can change the rules. The 1922 Committee, a small but influential group of Conservative lawmakers, could decide as early as Monday whether to do that. Javid and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak resigned within minutes of each other over the latest furor. The two Cabinet heavyweights were responsible for tackling two of the biggest issues facing Britain — the cost-of-living crisis and COVID-19. In a scathing letter, Sunak said: “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. … I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.” The resignations of some 40 junior ministers and ministerial aides followed on Tuesday and Wednesday. A third Cabinet official, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, quit late Wednesday, saying “we have passed the point” where it’s possible to “turn the ship around.” As Johnson dug in, critics accused him of refusing to accept the inevitable and of behaving more like a president than a prime minister by referring to his “mandate.” In Britain, voters elect a party to govern, not the prime minister directly. Former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said late Tuesday that Johnson’s time is finally up. “It’s a bit like the death of Rasputin: He’s been poisoned, stabbed, he’s been shot, his body’s been dumped in a freezing river, and still he lives,” Mitchell told the BBC. “But this is an abnormal prime minister, a brilliantly charismatic, very funny, very amusing, big, big character. But I’m afraid he has neither the character nor the temperament to be our prime minister.” The final straw for Sunak and Javid was the prime minister’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against Conservative lawmaker Chris Pincher. Last week, Pincher resigned as deputy chief whip after complaints he groped two men at a private club. That triggered a series of reports about past allegations leveled against Pincher — and shifting explanations from the government about what Johnson knew when he tapped the man for a senior job enforcing party discipline.

Two of Britain’s most senior Cabinet ministers have quit, a move that could spell the end of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership after months of scandals. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Javid said “I can no longer continue in good conscience.” Johnson has been hit by allegations he failed to come clean about a lawmaker who was appointed to a senior position despite claims of sexual misconduct. Sunak said “the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. ” “I recognize this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.” A former top British civil servant said Tuesday that Boris Johnson’s office wasn’t telling the truth about sexual misconduct allegations against a senior member of the prime minister’s government. Johnson has faced pressure to explain what he knew about previous misconduct allegations against lawmaker Chris Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip Thursday amid complaints that he groped two men at a private club. The government’s explanation shifted repeatedly over the past five days. Ministers initially said Johnson was not aware of any allegations when he promoted Pincher to the post in February. Also Read: Political foes revel in Boris Johnson’s woes in Parliament On Monday, a spokesman said Johnson knew of sexual misconduct allegations that were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint.” That account did not sit well with Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant at the U.K. Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020. In a highly unusual move, he said Tuesday that the prime minister’s office still wasn’t telling the truth. McDonald said in a letter to the parliamentary commissioner for standards that he received complaints about Pincher’s behavior in the summer of 2019, shortly after Pincher became a Foreign Office minister. An investigation upheld the complaint, and Pincher apologized for his actions, McDonald said. McDonald disputed that Johnson was unaware of the allegations or that the complaints were dismissed because they had been resolved or not made formally. “The original No. 10 line is not true, and the modification is still not accurate,” McDonald wrote, referring to the prime minister’s Downing Street office. “Mr. Johnson was briefed in person about the initiation and outcome of the investigation. “There was a ‘formal complaint.’ Allegations were ‘resolved’ only in the sense that the investigation was completed; Mr. Pincher was not exonerated. To characterize the allegations as ‘unsubstantiated’ is therefore wrong.” Hours after McDonald’s comments came out, Johnson’s office changed its story again, saying the prime minister forgot he was told that Pincher was the subject of an official complaint. The office confirmed Johnson was briefed on the complaint by Foreign Office officials in 2019, a “number of months” after it took place. His office said it took some time to establish the briefing took place. Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis told lawmakers in the House of Commons that when Johnson was made aware of the issue in late 2019, he was told that the permanent secretary had taken the necessary action and so there was no question about Pincher remaining as a minister. “Last week, when fresh allegations arose, the prime minister did not immediately recall the conversation in late 2019 about this incident,″ Ellis said. “As soon as he was reminded, the No. 10 press office corrected their public lines.” The latest revelations are fueling discontent within Johnson’s Cabinet after ministers were forced to publicly deliver the prime minister’s denials, only to have the explanation shift the next day. The Times of London on Tuesday published an analysis of the situation under the headline “Claim of lying puts Boris Johnson in peril.” A month ago, Johnson survived a vote of no confidence in which more than 40% of Conservative Party lawmakers voted to remove him from office. The prime minister’s shifting responses to months of allegations about lockdown-breaking parties in government offices that ultimately resulted in 126 fines, including one levied against Johnson, fueled concerns about his leadership. Two weeks later, Conservative candidates were badly beaten in two special elections to fill vacant seats in Parliament, adding to the discontent within Johnson’s party. When Pincher resigned last week as deputy chief whip, a key position in enforcing party discipline, he told the prime minister that he “drank far too much” the previous night and had “embarrassed myself and other people.” Johnson initially refused to suspend Pincher from the Conservative Party, but he relented after a formal complaint about the groping allegations was filed with parliamentary authorities. Critics suggested Johnson was slow to react because he didn’t want to be in the position of forcing Pincher to resign his Parliament seat and setting up the Conservatives for another potential special election defeat. Even before the Pincher scandal, suggestions were swirling that Johnson may soon face another no-confidence vote. In the next few weeks, Conservative lawmakers will elect new members to the committee that sets parliamentary rules for the party. Several candidates have suggested they would support changing the rules to allow for another vote of no confidence. The existing rules require 12 months between such votes. Senior Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale, a long-standing critic of Johnson, said he would support a change of the rules of the Conservative 1922 Committee. “Mr. Johnson has for three days now been sending ministers — in one case a Cabinet minister — out to defend the indefensible, effectively to lie on his behalf. That cannot be allowed to continue,” Gale told the BBC. “This prime minister has trashed the reputation of a proud and honorable party for honesty and decency, and that is not acceptable.″

President Joe Biden and Western allies opened a three-day summit in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday intent on keeping economic fallout from the war in Ukraine from fracturing the global coalition working to punish Russia’s aggression. Britain’s Boris Johnson warned the leaders not to give in to “fatigue” even as Russia lobbed new missiles at Kyiv. The Group of Seven leaders were set to announce new bans on imports of Russian gold, the latest in a series of sanctions the club of democracies hopes will further isolate Russia economically. They also were looking at possible price caps on energy meant to limit Russian oil and gas profits that Moscow can pump into its war effort. And following up on a proposal from last year's G-7 summit, Biden formally launched a global infrastructure partnership designed to counter China’s influence in the developing world. The initiative aims to leverage $600 billion with fellow G-7 countries by 2027 for global infrastructure projects. Some $200 billion would come from the United States, Biden said. U.S. officials have long argued that China's infrastructure initiative traps receiving countries in debt and that the investments benefit China more than their hosts. In a pre-summit show of force, Russia launched its first missile strikes against the Ukrainian capital in three weeks, striking at least two residential buildings, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Read:G-7 to ban Russian gold in response to Ukraine war: Biden Biden condemned Russia’s actions as “more of their barbarism,” and stressed that allies need to remain firm even as the economic reverberations from the war take a toll around the globe in inflation, food shortages and more. “We have to stay together, because Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G-7 would splinter, but we haven’t and we’re not going to,” Biden said during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds the G-7′s rotating presidency and is hosting the gathering. As the G-7 leaders sat down for their opening session, they took a light-hearted jab at Putin. Johnson could be heard asking whether he should keep his jacket on, adding, “We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chimed in: “A bare-chested horseback ride.” Over the years, the Kremlin has released several photos of the Russian leader in which he appears shirtless. Biden and his counterparts were using the gathering to discuss how to secure energy supplies and tackle inflation triggered by the war’s fallout. The leaders also came together on the new global infrastructure partnership meant to provide an alternative to Russian and Chinese investment in the developing world. One by one, the leaders stepped up to the microphone to discuss the partnership and their roles in it — without mentioning China by name. Ukraine cast a shadow over the gathering, but the leaders were determined to project resolve. Scholz told Biden that the allies all managed "to stay united, which obviously Putin never expected.” Biden said of Putin's war: “We can’t let this aggression take the form it has and get away with it." Scholz, who has faced criticism at home and abroad for perceived reluctance to send Ukraine heavy weapons, said, “Germany and the U.S. will always act together when it comes to questions of Ukraine’s security.” Johnson, for his part, urged fellow leaders not to give in to “fatigue.” He has expressed concern that divisions may emerge in the pro-Ukraine alliance as the four-month-old war grinds on. Asked whether he thought France and Germany were doing enough, Johnson praised the “huge strides” made by Germany to arm Ukraine and cut imports of Russian gas. He did not mention France. Read: Russia strikes Kyiv as Western leaders meet in Europe Biden and Scholz, in their pre-summit meeting, agreed on the need for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, but did not get into specifics on how to achieve it, said a senior Biden administration official, who requested anonymity to reveal details of a private conversation. However, they did not have an extensive discussion about oil price caps or inflation, the official said. Other leaders echoed Biden’s praise of coalition unity. The head of the European Union’s council of governments said the 27-member bloc maintains “unwavering unity” in backing Ukraine against Russia’s invasion with money and political support, but that “Ukraine needs more and we are committed to providing more.” European Council President Charles Michel said EU governments were ready to supply “more military support, more financial means, and more political support” to enable Ukraine to defend itself and “curb Russia’s ability to wage war.” The EU has imposed six rounds of sanctions against Russia, the latest one being a ban on 90% of Russian crude oil imports by the end of the year. The measure is aimed at a pillar of the Kremlin’s finances, its oil and gas revenues. Biden and the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, plus the EU, spent Sunday in both formal and informal settings discussing the war’s effects on the global economy, including inflation. Biden said G-7 nations, including the United States, will ban imports of gold from Russia. A formal announcement was expected Tuesday as the leaders wind up their annual summit. Johnson said the ban will “directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine.” “Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this pointless and barbaric war. He is bankrolling his ego at the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people,” Johnson said. “We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding.” Gold, in recent years, has been the top Russian export after energy — reaching almost $19 billion or about 5% of global gold exports, in 2020, according to the White House. Of Russian gold exports, 90% was consigned to G-7 countries. More than 90% of those exports, or nearly $17 billion, was exported to the U.K. The United States imported less than $200 million in gold from Russia in 2019, and under $1 million in 2020 and 2021. As for the idea of price caps on energy, Michel said, “we want to go into the details, we want to fine-tune ... to make sure we have a clear common understanding of what are the direct effects and what could be the collateral consequences” if such a step were to be taken by the group.

A defiant British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted Wednesday that he is getting on with his job, as he faced Parliament for the first time since 41% of his own party’s lawmakers called for him to quit. Johnson has been left teetering after surviving a no-confidence vote by Conservative Party legislators by a narrower-than-expected margin. A total of 148 of the 359 Tory lawmakers voted against him in Monday’s ballot. Johnson says he plans to move on and focus on bread-and-butter issues such as clearing national health care backlogs, tackling crime, easing a cost-of-living crisis and creating high-skilled jobs in a country that has left the European Union. “As for jobs, I’m going to get on with mine,” he told lawmakers during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons. But Johnson’s party opponents say they have not given up on pushing him out. They fear that Johnson, his reputation tarnished by revelations of boozy government parties that breached COVID-19 regulations, will doom the party to defeat in the next national election, which is due to be held by 2024. Still, Conservative lawmakers dutifully cheered Johnson during a noisy Prime Minister’s Questions, while opponents relished the prime minister’s problems. Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said any Conservatives inclined to give Johnson another chance would be disappointed. “They want him to change — but he can’t,” Starmer said. Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford called Johnson “a lame duck prime minister presiding over a divided party in a disunited kingdom.” Also Read: Boris Johnson says sorry after ‘partygate’ report released Blackford compared Johnson to comedy troupe Monty Python’s character the Black Knight, who has his limbs lopped off in battle, all the while proclaiming “It’s only a flesh wound!” And Labour lawmaker Angela Eagle asked: “If 148 of his own backbenchers don’t trust him, why on Earth should the country?” Johnson replied that “in a long political career so far, I have of course picked up political opponents all over the place.” But he said “absolutely nothing and no one … is going to stop us getting on and delivering for the British people.” While Conservative Party rules bar another no-confidence vote for 12 months, those rules can be changed by a handful of lawmakers who run a key Conservative committee. Johnson also faces a parliamentary ethics probe that could conclude he deliberately misled Parliament over “partygate” — which is traditionally a resigning offense. With opinion polls giving Labour a lead nationally, Johnson will face more pressure if the Conservatives lose special elections later this month for two parliamentary districts where incumbent Tory lawmakers were forced out by sex scandals. END/AP/UNB

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrambled to patch up his tattered authority on Tuesday after surviving a no-confidence vote that exposed his shrinking support in a fractured Conservative Party and raised serious doubts about how long he can stay in office. The fact that the vote was held at all highlighted concerns that the famously people-pleasing Johnson has become a liability with voters. The scale of the rebellion — 41% voted against him — would have led some prime ministers to consider resigning. “This is not over,” said Philip Dunne, a Conservative lawmaker who voted against Johnson in Monday’s no-confidence ballot. But with Johnson defiantly vowing to “get on with the job,” the endgame may not be quick. In the meantime, Johnson faces serious questions about his ability to govern at a time of increasing economic and social strain. He nevertheless vowed to focus on “what matters to the British people” — defined by him as the economy, health care and crime. “We are able now to draw a line under the issues that our opponents want to talk about” and “take the country forward,” Johnson told Cabinet colleagues. The no-confidence vote was triggered because at least 54 Tory legislators, 15% of the party’s parliamentary caucus, called for a challenge to Johnson, following outrage over revelations of government parties that broke COVID-19 lockdowns. Lawmakers voted by 211 to 148 to support him as leader — beyond the 180 he needed to stay in power. But although he described the win as “convincing,” the rebellion was larger than some of his supporters had predicted. It was a narrower margin, for instance, than his predecessor, Theresa May, secured in a 2018 no-confidence vote. She was forced to resign six months later. “It will come as a big blow,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “The reality is that these contests have a habit of exposing quite how weak the authority of a prime minister is.” Also Read: Boris Johnson says sorry after ‘partygate’ report released The rebellion was also a sign of deep Conservative divisions, less than three years after Johnson led the party to its biggest election victory in decades — the peak of a rollercoaster political career. Most British newspapers were in little doubt that it was bad news for a leader who has always before shown an uncommon ability to shrug off scandals. The Conservative-supporting Daily Telegraph announced: “Hollow victory tears Tories apart.” The Times called Johnson “a wounded victor,” while the left-leaning Daily Mirror said bluntly: “Party’s over, Boris.” Former Conservative leader William Hague called on Johnson to step down, saying “the damage done to his premiership is severe.” “Words have been said that cannot be retracted, reports published that cannot be erased, and votes have been cast that show a greater level of rejection than any Tory leader has ever endured and survived,” Hague wrote in a Times of London article whose words were splashed across the British media. But some supporters tried to move past the vote on Tuesday. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the party should “draw a line in the sand after this vote.” “It was clearly and decisively won,” he said. The vote followed months of brewing discontent over the prime minister’s ethics and judgment that centered on revelations of alcohol-fueled bashes held by staff in the prime minister’s office in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions prevented U.K. residents from socializing or even visiting dying relatives. In a report last month on the scandal known as “partygate,” civil service investigator Sue Gray said Johnson and senior officials must bear responsibility for “failures of leadership and judgment” that created a culture of rule-breaking in government. Johnson also was fined 50 pounds ($63) by police for attending one party, making him the first prime minister sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. The prime minister said he was “humbled” and took “full responsibility” — but went on to defend his attendance at parties as necessary for staff morale and call some of the criticism unfair. Johnson still faces a parliamentary ethics probe over “partygate,” and his government is also under intense pressure to ease the pain of skyrocketing energy and food bills, while managing the fallout from Britain’s exit from the European Union. Polls give a lead nationally to the left-of-center opposition Labour Party — headed by lawmaker Keir Starmer, a stolid, dutiful foil to the blustering Johnson. The prime minister will face more pressure if the Conservatives lose special elections later this month for two parliamentary districts, called when incumbent Tory lawmakers were forced out by sex scandals. While party rules bar another no-confidence vote for 12 months, those rules can be changed by a handful of lawmakers who run a key committee. But both allies and opponents of Johnson doubt he will step down in the meantime. Bale said Johnson would likely fight back with tax cuts and other policies designed to appeal to his party’s right-leaning base. “The problem with that is that it’s proposing, if you like, policy solutions to a personality problem,” he said. “It looks from opinion polls that the public have turned against Boris Johnson in particular, and that’s in part what’s dragging the Conservative Party down.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a no-confidence vote from his own Conservative Party on Monday that could oust him from power, as discontent with his rule finally threatens to topple a politician who has often seemed invincible despite many scandals. The charismatic leader renowned for his ability to connect with voters has recently struggled to turn the page on revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held boozy parties that flouted the COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on others. Still, with no clear front-runner to succeed Johnson, most political observers think he will defeat the challenge and remain prime minister. But the fact that enough lawmakers are demanding a vote represents a watershed moment for him — and a narrow victory would leave him a hobbled leader whose days are likely numbered. It is also a sign of deep Conservative divisions, less than three years after Johnson led the party to its biggest election victory in decades. Since then, Johnson has led Britain out of the European Union and through a pandemic, both of which have shaken the U.K. socially and economically. The vote comes as Johnson’s government is under intense pressure to ease the pain of skyrocketing energy and food bills Conservative Party official Graham Brady announced Monday that he had received letters calling for a no-confidence vote from at least 54 Tory legislators, enough to trigger the measure under party rules. Hours later, party lawmakers lined up by the dozen in a corridor at Parliament to cast their ballots in a wood-paneled room, handing over their phones as they entered to ensure secrecy. The result was expected later Monday night. To remain in office, Johnson needs to win the backing of a simple majority of the 359 Conservative lawmakers. If he doesn’t, the party will choose a new leader, who will also become prime minister. Johnson’s Downing Street office said the prime minister welcomed the vote as “a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on.” Johnson addressed dozens of Conservative lawmakers in a House of Commons room on Monday as he tried to shore up support, vowing: “I will lead you to victory again.” Discontent that has been building for months erupted after a 10-day parliamentary break that included a long weekend of celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. For many, the four-day holiday was a chance to relax — but there was no respite for Johnson, who was booed by some onlookers as he arrived for a service in the queen’s honor at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday. Brady said some lawmakers who submitted no-confidence letters had asked for them to be held back until after the jubilee weekend — but even so, the threshold was still reached on Sunday. Johnson’s allies insist he will stay in office if he wins by even a single vote. But previous prime ministers who survived no-confidence votes emerged severely weakened. Theresa May, for instance, won one in 2018 but never regained her authority and resigned within months, sparking a leadership contest that was won by Johnson. Also Read: Boris Johnson says sorry after ‘partygate’ report released His selection in July 2019 capped a rollercoaster journey to the top. He had held major offices, including London mayor and U.K. foreign secretary, but also spent periods on the political sidelines after self-inflicted gaffes. He kept bouncing back, showing an uncommon ability to shrug off scandal and connect with voters that, for many Conservatives, overshadowed doubts about his ethics or judgment. But concerns came to a head after an investigator’s report late last month that slammed a culture of rule-breaking inside the prime minister’s office in a scandal known as “partygate.” Civil service investigator Sue Gray described alcohol-fueled bashes held by Downing Street staff members in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions prevented U.K. residents from socializing or even visiting dying relatives. Gray said the “senior leadership team” must bear responsibility for “failures of leadership and judgment.” Johnson also was fined 50 pounds ($63) by police for attending one party, making him the first prime minister sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. The prime minister said he was “humbled” and took “full responsibility” — but insisted he would not resign. He urged Britons to “move on” and focus on righting the battered economy and helping Ukraine defend itself against a Russian invasion. But a growing number of Conservatives feel that Johnson is now a liability who will doom them to defeat at the next election, which must be held by 2024. “Today’s decision is change or lose,” said Jeremy Hunt, who ran against Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019 but has largely refrained from criticizing him since. “I will be voting for change.” Lawmaker Jesse Norman, a longtime Johnson supporter, said the prime minister had “presided over a culture of casual law-breaking” and had left the government “adrift and distracted.” Another Tory legislator, John Penrose, quit Monday as the prime minister’s “anticorruption champion,” saying Johnson had breached the government code of conduct with the behavior revealed by partygate. But senior ministers offered messages of support for Johnson — including some who would be likely to run in the Conservative leadership contest that would be triggered if he is ousted. “The Prime Minister has my 100% backing in today’s vote and I strongly encourage colleagues to support him,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, one of the favorites to succeed Johnson, wrote in a tweet. If he wins Monday’s vote, Johnson is likely to face more pressure. The war in Ukraine, a simmering post-Brexit feud with the EU and soaring inflation are all weighing on the government, and the Conservatives could lose special elections later this month for two parliamentary districts, called when incumbent Tory lawmakers were forced out by sex scandals. Johnson tried to focus on those broader issues, noting that he spoke Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine’s cause, a stance shared by his possible successors. Cabinet minister Steve Barclay, a Johnson ally, said toppling the leader now would be “indefensible.” “The problems we face aren’t easy to solve” but Conservatives have the right plan to tackle them, he wrote on the Conservative Home website. “To disrupt that progress now would be inexcusable to many who lent their vote to us for the first time at the last general election, and who want to see our prime minister deliver the changes promised for their communities.”

British Premier Boris Johnson on Thursday arrived in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat on a two-day India visit, a tour expected to give fresh impetus to the proposed bilateral free-trade agreement. "It’s fantastic to be in India, the world’s largest democracy," Johnson tweeted after his flight landed at the international airport in the city of Ahmedabad this morning. Also read: 10 killed in India road accident "I see vast possibilities for what our great nations can achieve together. Our powerhouse partnership is delivering jobs, growth and opportunity. I look forward to strengthening this partnership in the coming days," he wrote. From the airport, the British PM went to Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and tried his hand at spinning the charkha.  "It is an immense privilege to come to the Ashram of this extraordinary man, and to understand how he mobilised such simple principles of truth and non-violence to change the world for the better," he wrote in the visitor's book at the ashram. On Friday, Johnson is slated to meet PM Modi in Delhi where both the leaders are expected to discuss trade, defence and Indo-Pacific, among other issues. Also read: 14 arrested after communal violence in Indian capital Speaking to reporters on the plane on his way to India, the British PM said, "I have always been in favour of talented people coming to this country."  "We are short to the tune of hundreds of thousands of people in our economy and we need to have a progressive approach and we will," he added.