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| Johnson will address parliament on Wednesday after his Cabinet is expected to approve plans to end the recent restrictions imposed to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in England. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at Parliament in London, Britain on Jan 5, 2022. (File photo by= Reuters TV via REUTERS) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on Wednesday (Jan 19) fighting to shore up his premiership after a revolt by his own lawmakers who are angry over a series of lockdown parties in Downing Street, Reuters reported.
Propelled into the top job to "get Brexit done", Johnson in 2019 won his party's biggest majority in more than 30 years but now faces calls to resign after a series of revelations about gatherings in Downing Street during COVID-19 lockdowns. Johnson has repeatedly apologized for the gatherings and said that he didn't know about many of the events, though he attended what he said he thought was a work event on May 20, 2020. To trigger a leadership challenge, 54 of the 360 Conservative MPs in parliament must write letters of no confidence to the chairman of the party's 1922 Committee.
As many as 20 Conservative lawmakers who won their seats at the last general election in 2019 plan to submit letters of no confidence in Johnson, the Telegraph reported. An analysis by The Times newspaper showed that 58 Conservative lawmakers had criticized the prime minister. The letters are confidential, so the chairman is the only person who knows how many lawmakers have actually written them.
