London: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered two shock departures from his government Tuesday, including his finance minister, as civil war erupted in the high command of the ruling Conservative party.
Rishi Sunak quit as chancellor of the exchequer and Sajid Javid as health secretary, with both saying they could no longer tolerate the culture of scandal that has stalked Johnson for months.
Johnson, meanwhile, named his Iraqi-born education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, as the new finance minister and Downing Street chief of staff Steve Barclay as the new health secretary.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was “clear that this government is now collapsing”.
The resignations were announced minutes after the prime minister apologised for appointing a senior Conservative, who quit last week after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men.
Days of shifting explanations had followed the resignation of deputy chief whip Chris Pincher. Downing Street at first denied Johnson knew of prior allegations against Pincher when appointing him in February.
But by Tuesday, that defence had collapsed after a former top civil servant said Johnson, as foreign minister, was told in 2019 about another incident involving his ally.
“I think it was a mistake and I apologise for it,” the prime minister told reporters. “In hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do.”
Comments are closed.