By: Zohra Rangwala
Boris Johnson submitted his resignation on the 7th of July 2022, after attempting to lead the country through the pandemic, and its many variants, through inflation and economic difficulty as well as through the Russo-Ukrainian war. Alas, his time in office has come to a halt as Parliament and MP’s work to find a replacement. There are numerous events that led to Boris Johnson’s resignation, including the vote of no confidence which he in turn won. However, it is well known that after votes of no confidence, it is almost inevitable that a prime minister refuses to resign considering the vast lack of support from their cabinet ministers, House of Commons and House of Lords.
One of the most controversial affairs of Johnson, was to do with Party-gate, where Johnson was said to have attended and even hosted numerous parties through the pandemic despite enforcing obligations to the public which highlighted exactly what not to do during those tough times. Johnson then proceeded to ignore his own rules, putting not only his co-workers at risk but also disregarding the wrongness of his actions as he attended social gatherings whilst the public argued on the fact that they couldn’t see their loved ones in tough times. In April of 2022, Johnson was fined for his actions considering party-gate after the metropolitan investigation as well as the report released by Sue Gray.
Another event, of many, which may have led to Johnson’s resignation was due to the tax rise and cost of living crisis, where inflation in 2022 has risen to 9.1% in the UK. Some of the reasons for inflation were out of Johnson’s control such as the war between Ukraine and Russia but steps taken to resolve the issue were not sufficient. In aims of helping the public, the government increased the tax of the public which hit everyone even harder.
It was also evident, that all the actions and aims Johnson had in mind, came crashing down due to their unfortunate side effects. For instance, his Brexit deal came with shortages and economic failure. Many events led to Johnson’s resignation and as of currently, there are 5 MP’s in the running to replace him: Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and, Tom Tugendhat.
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