Boris Johnson received a flood of resignation letters on Wednesday as pressure continued to mount on the embattled UK Prime Minister. This came after two high-profile cabinet ministers, health secretary Sajid Javid and chancellor Rishi Sunak, resigned on Tuesday.
This week’s exodus was prompted by the latest in a long list of scandals that have plagued the Conservative government. It emerged this week that Johnson had promoted Chris Pincher to the position of deputy whip despite being aware of sexual misconduct allegations against him.
It seems that this was the final straw for many Tory officials who have expressed no confidence in Johnson’s leadership.
Read More: Extraordinary blow to Boris Johnson as Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak both resign
As the Prime Minister was preparing to travel to Westminster for Prime Minister’s Questions this morning, the resignation letters continued to pour in and dozens have so far quit. Despite the chaos he finds himself in, Johnson has given no indication that he intends to resign.
Here’s a timeline of the Pincher scandal that led to this latest crisis for the Tory Prime Minister, going all the way back to 2017 for context.
2017
Chris Pincher quits the whip’s office after Tory activist Alex Story accused him of making unwanted advances. Story said Pincher had acted like “a poundshop Harvey Weinstein” in 2001. Pincher denied the allegations and was later cleared of wrongdoing by an internal party investigation.
2019
Boris Johnson brings Pincher back into government as a Foreign Office official and then housing minister.
February 2022
Johnson promotes Pincher to the role of deputy chief whip in spite of some concern from other MPs about Pincher’s conduct. His promotion was held up by a referral to an ethics committee following allegations from a Conservative MP who said he received unwanted advances from him.
29 June 2022
Pincher attends a Conservative party event where he allegedly drunkenly groped two men and had to be sent home in a taxi.
30 June 2022
Pincher resigns as deputy chief whip and publishes a letter saying that he had drunk too much and embarrassed himself. Johnson did not suspend him from the Conservative party.
1 July 2022
A government spokesperson says that Johnson was not aware of the allegations against Pincher when he promoted him in February. The line is later changed to not being aware of “specific” allegations.
2 July 2022
Former advisor to Johnson, Dominic Cummings, tweets asking why the Prime Minister was denying knowledge of the allegations when he had said “pincher by name, pincher by nature.”
3 July 2022
Four more allegations against Pincher come out in the UK Sunday papers and Johnson is accused of ignoring warnings about his behaviour when promoting him.
4 July 2022
The Prime Minster’s office admits that Boris Johnson was, in fact, aware of the allegations against Pincher when he promoted him. The Downing Street spokesperson said, however, that the issues had been “either resolved or did not proceed to a formal complaint.”
Marathon runner, Mark Dabbs, accuses Pincher of touching his bottom while they had their photograph taken.
5 July 2022
Health secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak resign from Johnson’s cabinet, saying they had lost confidence in the Prime Minister’s leadership. Javid said the government was “not acting in the national interest.” A raft of other senior resignations rock the Johnson administration, including the Solicitor General, Alex Chalk and Jonathan Gullis, parliamentary private secretary at the Northern Ireland Office.
6 July
Pressure mounts on Boris Johnson with further resignations, including Will Quince, parliamentary under-secretary of state for children and families at the Department for Education. The number of resignations is now approaching 30. After being booed on arrival, Johnson told the Commons that it is his "job" to carry on despite "difficult circumstances."
The Guardian reports that Boris could face another confidence vote within days with the Tory 1922 Committee considering changing their rules at a meeting on Wednesday to allow it go ahead.
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