After Rishi Sunak’s resignation as chancellor of the exchequer and Sajid Javid’s resignation as health minister, Britain’s major newspapers on Wednesday portrayed a dismal picture for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who confronts the biggest leadership crisis of his tenure.
According to the front page of The Times, Johnson “has lost the trust of his party and the country,” and thus, it would be “a disaster” for him to cling to power at this point.
Since he lost a vote of confidence in parliament by 148 votes last month, Johnson “has no conceivable possibility to reinstate his authority, consequently UK will suffer the most as the country needs strong leadership in these acute national crises,” according to The Times.
The longer he stays, the more chaos there will be. This is a case when his departure would be beneficial to the country as a whole.
Iain Martin, a columnist, lamented the mismanagement within the government and predicted a despair state of affairs under incoming chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.
“A Team Boris scrambled to find someone willing to assume the second most important political role in the country and risk being the shortest-serving individual for the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer,” Martin wrote.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and current defense secretary Ben Wallace, he added, have been discussed as possible Johnson replacements.