UK plunges into crisis as scandal-ridden PM Johnson steps down
Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London
After days of high political high, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally stepped down. His resignation came after dozens of his ministers and MPs ditched him and launched attacks on his leadership. Saeed Pourreza reports on the legacy of the man fallen from grace.
Johnson led his party to a landslide victory in the 2019 election-little did he know he wouldn't even see through his first term. Undone by multiple scandals and by flaws in his character that critics say made him unfit for office.
The coronavirus pandemic offered Boris Johnson a perfect cocktail of crises and chaos that shifted attention from other problems.
He promised to get Brexit done by the UK is mired in a dispute with the EU over the northern Ireland protocol. The IMF has predicted the UK economy will have the slowest growth among the G7 nations next year. Add to that the cost of living crisis and the faltering health and education systems.
Success with the vaccine program helped mitigate the frustration over Johnson's dithering and delays in following scientific advice that contributed to one of the highest death tolls in the developed world and almost took his life.
His leadership style and character flaws always acted as ammunition to his critics and the opposition.
Then came the party gate scandal…The conservative party was now in crisis.
Johnson received wide support for his support for the Ukrainian government in the ongoing military conflict in the country.
But the party-gate scandal refused to go away. He received a police fine for attending one of multiple lockdown breaching parties in Downing Street, becoming the first sitting British prime minister to break the law.
A civil service report into a string of similar gatherings described a failure of leadership. Eventually, 148 of his own MPs, 40 percent of the parliamentary party, turned against him in a vote of no confidence.
He survived it and staggered on. But then it emerged he had known about this man, Chris Pincher's sexual misconduct, and appointed him to a powerful position still.
Within days, the man nicknamed the great political survivor was forced to throw in the towel.
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