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Prime Minister Boris Johnson in early July: He wants to stay
Photo: John Sibley / REUTERS
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to continue his government work - despite the recent resignations of several ministers and state secretaries and sharp criticism from his own ranks.
In times of crisis, a government should not resign, Johnson said at a question and answer session in the British Parliament.
The job of any prime minister who has been given a strong mandate is to carry on, Johnson said.
"And that's exactly what I'm going to do."
Asked by MPs under what circumstances he would resign, the Conservative politician said: When he felt the government could not go on.
After Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State in the British Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, John Glen, recently made his post available.
Sunak and Javid's resignations came minutes after Johnson apologized for making a Tory politician suspected of sexual harassment Deputy Secretary of Parliament.
Chris Pincher resigned from the post late last week after sexually harassing two men.
Johnson again apologized for hoisting Pincher into a key faction office, despite having known about allegations of sexual harassment against Pincher since 2019.
Meanwhile, former health minister Sajid Javid, who has resigned, has called on other members of the government to resign.
"The tightrope walk between loyalty and integrity has become impossible in recent months," he told parliament.
At a certain point you have to admit that it's enough.
»And this point has now come.« Read all current developments in the live blog.
Johnson's Conservative ruling party has been rocked by a string of sex scandals in recent months.
Because of the affair about alcohol-fueled parties at the seat of government during the corona lockdown, Johnson had to face an internal party vote of no confidence in early June.
He survived, but at least 148 of the 359 Conservative MPs voted against him.
According to internal party rules, no further no-confidence vote against Johnson may be attempted for a year.
An influential committee made up of non-ministerial Tory MPs called the 1922 Committee reportedly wants to change this rule.
mgo/AFP/dpa/Reuters