Late last night, Boris Johnson appeared to have stabilised the situation, albeit temporarily. He had managed to appoint a new Chancellor and Health Secretary and no other cabinet ministers had followed Sunak and Javid out the door. But this morning, his situation has rapidly deteriorated. Resignations from the junior ranks started up again, previously loyal MPs declared time was up, and Nadhim Zahawi’s media round was an illustration of how unsustainable the situation now is.
The most immediate threat to Johnson is the ’22 committee changing the rules to allow another no confidence ballot. Opinion is moving rapidly in this direction. Rob Halfon, an executive member, who was just a week ago saying it would be Maoist to change the rules, now favours doing so. Separately, a senior member of the executive tells me that they now favour a delegation going to Johnson to tell him that it is over and that they will change the rules to allow another vote if he doesn’t quit.
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