UK newspapers: ‘Game over’ for Boris Johnson after key ministers quit

Boris Johnson’s government rocked by the shock departures of two senior ministers, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid

Anger at Johnson has been building in the ruling Conservative Party for months scandals and missteps

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Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. File photo: AFP

Published: 1:43pm, 6 Jul 2022Updated: 4:50pm, 6 Jul 2022

Britain’s national newspapers painted a grim picture on Wednesday for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who faces the biggest leadership crisis of his premiership after Rishi Sunak quit as chancellor of the exchequer and Sajid Javid resigned as health secretary.

“Game over”, declares the headline of The Times’ leader, which adds it “is a mistake” for Johnson to continue clinging to power because he “has lost the confidence of his party and the country”.

“There is no conceivable chance that Johnson, who failed to secure the backing of 148 MPs in a confidence vote last month, can recover his authority to provide the effective leadership that the country needs at a time of acute national crisis,” The Times writes.

“Every day that he remains deepens the sense of chaos. For the good of the country, he should go.”

Inside the paper, columnist Iain Martin described the chaos within the Government as he expressed limited hopes for the newly appointed chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.

“There was a mad scramble by a deluded Team Boris as they tried to identify a person, any person, prepared to accept the second most important political post in the country and risk being the shortest-serving holder of the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer,” Martin wrote.