Boris Johnson is causing a constitutional crisis and acting “Trumpian” by not resigning, says Conservative Ripon MP Julian Smith.
Mr Smith heavily criticised the Prime Minister in an interview with BBC Radios 4’s Today programme and said Mr Johnson had suffered a “catastrophic loss of confidence” among Tory MPs.
The comments come as Mr Johnson faced calls from his own MPs and some members of his cabinet to resign last night.
Yesterday, a record 40 ministers and aides quit the government. Brandon Lewis, Northern Ireland secretary, becoming the latest to step down this morning.
The Prime Minister has said he has a mandate from voters to continue.
But Mr Smith said:
“It’s a preposterous argument, the British voters voted for the Conservative party.
“At the time of that election, Boris Johnson was the leader. But that was not a personal vote, it was a vote for individual candidates across the country.
“The bulk of those MPs who supported him at that election now do not have the confidence in him to remain as Prime Minister.”
Mr Smith joined Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, yesterday in calling for the Prime Minister to step down.
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However, Nigel Adams, a Johnson ally and MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes parts of rural Harrogate, remains in the cabinet and is yet to comment.
This morning, Mr Smith said the country was in a constitutional crisis because Mr Johnson’s refused to leave Downing Street despite having no “confidence from his party”.
He said:
“I think we are [in a constitutional crisis] because he doesn’t have the confidence of his party. So on what basis is he residing in Number 10?
“Obviously many times before you have had Prime Ministers who may have outstayed their welcome.
“But the key difference is that Boris Johnson, for whatever reason, has had a catastrophic loss of confidence and is still holding out in a Trumpian style seemingly trying to write the next chapter or the first chapter of his memoirs or trying to prepare for the speaker circuit.
“But [he is] actually challenging, extremely worryingly, the system that we have run the country for years.”
