North East MPs have called for Boris Johnson to quit now after both Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resigned from the government.
The prime minister’s future was thrown into severe doubt on Tuesday evening as the chancellor and health secretary resigned within minutes of each other. The bombshell announcements came after Mr Johnson was forced to apologise and admitted he had known about previous allegations of “inappropriate” conduct by Chris Pincher, who was suspended last week, before appointing the Tamworth MP as deputy chief whip.
After seeing two of the most senior members of the Conservative cabinet quit, top Labour figures in the North East called on the PM to go too. Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah said: “It should have been game over for Boris a long time ago. This has told us what we already knew, that his own cabinet did not have confidence in him but they were just too scared to speak out.
Read More: Boris Johnson clinging on after Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resign
“The person who needs to lose their job now is the Prime Minister. It has been shameful to see ministers lying on behalf of a lying Prime Minister, now he needs to get what is coming to him. Johnson needs to go, but the Tory Party is corrupted and changing one man won’t fix that – we need a general election.”
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell added: "Boris Johnson has degraded the office he holds and lost the confidence of Conservative MPs and his cabinet. We face serious domestic and international challenges but these can’t be addressed with a Prime Minister who has no credibility or the confidence of Parliament.
"He must now step aside so the country can heal and deal with the very real issues faced rather than be lead by a Government focussed only on his survival."
Gateshead MP Ian Mearns accused the government of having “dragged standards in public life to an all-time low” and predicted that Mr Johnson could be gone from No 10 “by the end of the night”.
He added: “This has been unravelling for him for months now. I cannot think of another Prime Minister who would not have resigned months ago. These things sometimes take a long time, but once they start to unravel it can happen very quickly.”
At time of writing, none of the region’s Conservative MPs had responded to requests for a comment. Glen Sanderson, the Conservative leader of Northumberland County Council, declined to comment on whether Mr Johnson should quit – but said that “clearly, leadership is needed”.
Kate Osborne, the Labour MP for Jarrow, said the PM “must resign”, adding: “He has no authority and no plans to help this country out of cost of living crisis.”
Kim McGuinness, the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Integrity, trust, honour; the Conservative Party is finally admitting this Prime Minister lacks even a hint of these qualities. He partied while people died, he broke the laws he made for the rest of us to follow and whenever he was presented with a choice between the truth and a lie he turned his back on the principles of public service and looked after number one.
“Now, we find out he ignored concerns about serious sexual misconduct and then lied again when he was found out. The rest of the Tory party needs to do the right thing and tell the PM the game is up. Let’s clean up Downing Street and focus on the cost of living crisis pushing families into financial hardship.”
Read More:
- Newcastle Council could buy Eldon Square after pandemic damage causes shopping centre's value to plummet
- Gateshead Quayside arena in need of £20m Levelling Up boost as construction costs escalate
- £3bn devolution deal for North East mayor and 17,000 new jobs is 'in national interest'
- The next Stack? New venue planned just down the road from dismantled city centre shipping container village
- Boris Johnson future LIVE: Updates as Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resign
