Andrew Marr: If Boris carries on like this he will destroy the Conservative Party

6 July 2022, 18:25

Tonight with Andrew Marr - 06/07/22

If Boris Johnson "carries on much longer like this" he will destroy the Conservative Party, Andrew Marr has warned.

"There are days for adjectives and there are days for cold facts," he said in his opening monologue.

"The Prime Minister gets up.

"He's going nowhere.

"He sends his newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to do the morning round of broadcast interviews.

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"At 8.11, Laura Trott from the Department of Transport resigns. Mr Zahawi keeps talking.

"8.25, Will Quince, education minister, resigns. Mr Zahawi concludes.

"9.43, Robin Walker, education minister, resigns. 11.05, Felicity Buchan, parliamentary private secretary to the Department of Business, resigns. A minute later, John Glen, treasury minister, resigns.

"But at 11.36am, Victoria Atkins, justice minister, resigns. At midday, Jo Churchill, environment minister, resigns. Forty minutes later, Stuart Andrew, housing minister, resigns, followed in quick succession by Claire Coutinho at the treasury, David Johnston at the Department for Education, and Selaine Saxby from Defra.

"By now the Prime Minister has completed questions in the commons, during which he was savaged by Keir Starmer, the Labour leader."

Andrew went on: "The Prime Minister, accustomed to roars of approval from the Tory benches, was mostly heard in silence.

"After that, Sajid Javid, who resigned as health secretary last night, told the Commons that enough was enough."

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PM will lose good will of Tories if he doesn't resign

He continued: "Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, then writes to the Prime Minister, withdrawing his support. Controversially, he does not resign.

"At 2.24pm Kemi Badenoch, equalities minister, Alex Burghart, education minister, Julia Lopez, minister at the Department for Culture, Neil O'Brien, minister at the Department for Levelling Up, and Lee Rowley, minister for industry, resign.

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"Two minutes later, Mims Davies, employment minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, resigns.

"In the course of the afternoon, as Tory MPs discuss changing their internal rules so that they can remove Boris Johnson later this month, another six ministers resign.

"Johnson goes to a committee meeting where a succession of the most senior MPs in the Commons, in effect, plead with him to go. He seems unmoved.

"'Of course!' - I don't think of course.

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"I told you last night that I thought this Prime Ministership was over - I still do.

"I'm not the only one - in the last hour or so a group of four ministers who haven't resigned went to tell the chief whip his time was up.

"They're now in Downing Street waiting for him to speak to the Prime Minister himself.

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"One of them, was Nadhim Zahawi, his own newly appointed Chancellor, who began today with such optimism.

"Tonight, there are renewed whispers that Johnson might try to dissolve Parliament, rather than leave voluntarily. He has just denied that.

"And that would be a tear down the House policy, not grown up politics. If Boris Johnson carries on much longer like this, it isn't his own reputation that he will destroy, it's the Conservative Party."