Two senior Conservative politicians, the chairman of the 1922 party committee Sir Graham Brady and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, as well as the Queen’s Chief Secretary Sir Edward Young, were ready to telephone the Queen to ensure that no new election would be held if Johnson asked her if that was the case.
So writes the political journalist and commentator of the Financial Times, Sebastian Payne, in his new book “The Fall of Boris Johnson”.
Before Johnson announced that he would step down as leader of the Conservative Party – the Tories – and thus also as Prime Minister on July 7, he was stormed in the wake of a series of scandals, most notably ‘partygate’.
According to the book – and British media – calling new elections was one of the tactics considered by his prime minister’s office to force a referendum, get re-elected and stay in power.
However, monarchs can refuse such requests in the UK, in line with The principles of Lascellewhich protects against unnecessary and potentially harmful electoral processes.
Created a monster
– Asked to be “unavailable”
Payne quotes a source in the Whitehall Government Quarter as saying that “if Johnson were to approach the Queen and demand a re-election, party colleagues who wanted him to resign would expect 1922 committee chairman Brady to tell the Castle that he would voted no confidence in the foreseeable future and that it might therefore make sense that Her Majesty is unavailable for a day”.
According to another source, Johnson’s prime minister’s office was “courteously informed” that the Queen “couldn’t be reached by telephone” if she called to find out about the new election, the book says.
Johnson survived a motion of no confidence within the Conservative Party in June and, under party rules, could not be similarly contested for another year. But at the time Payne writes in the book, there was discussion about whether these rules should be changed so that a new no-confidence vote could be held.
By that time, the support around Johnson had deteriorated significantly and several members of the government, among other things, had left their posts.
He probably would not have survived a new vote had it taken place.
Mannefall for Boris
Tribute to the Queen
However, Johnson did not end up calling for a new election, but instead resigned as party leader after great pressure built around him on July 7.
After the queen’s death on 8 September, the former prime minister took the opportunity to pay tribute to the monarch, calling her “Elizabeth the Great” among other things.
In a statement, he said it was “the saddest day” in Britain’s history as the Queen’s “great and shining light” had now “gone out”.
Johnson met with Queen Elizabeth just two days before stepping down as prime minister, and Liz Truss took over the Downing Street baton.
