Rebel Tories plot move against Boris Johnson as ministers quit

Bloomberg

Boris Johnson could face a leadership challenge as soon as next week as rank-and-file Conservative MPs meet Wednesday to discuss whether to allow a fresh confidence vote.
Members of the Tory 1922 Committee will meet at 5 p.m. to discuss Johnson, a person familiar with the matter said. If there is a majority in favor of another confidence vote, a ballot could come as soon as next week, the person said.
The threat comes with Johnson on red alert for signs of a coordinated plot from his ministers to bring him down, according to a senior government official, following the resignations of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday. There has been a steady flow of Tory MPs resigning from more junior positions on Wednesday.
After a dramatic scramble to shore up his administration and replace Sunak and Javid, Johnson is prepared to ride out those blows on a difficult day in which he’ll be under constant scrutiny. First he’ll face questions in the House of Commons at 12 p.m. and later in the afternoon, he’s due to appear before Parliament’s Liaison Committee for a grilling on topics including “integrity in politics and the rule of law.”
But the prime minister’s allies judge that he’d struggle to survive if six or eight of his cabinet quit because that would lay bare his lack of support and leave him struggling to even form a top team, the official said.
So far, officials in No. 10 reckon that other key figures such as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will continue to support the prime minister, but they are taking nothing for granted. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi agreed late on Tuesday to replace Sunak at the Treasury.
“The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously,” Sunak wrote in his resignation letter. “I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”
On Wednesday morning, junior Education Minister Will Quince said he had no choice but to resign after receiving “inaccurate” briefings from No 10 before he was sent on the airwaves to defend Johnson’s handling of a scandal involving Chris Pincher, an MP who the prime minister promoted in February despite receiving prior warnings about inappropriate behavior.

Resignations
That row exploded last week when Pincher resigned as a government whip, or political enforcer, following newspaper allegations he had groped two men. He has denied the specific allegations while acknowledging in his resignation letter that he’d “embarrassed” himself and “caused upset” to others.
The crisis deepened when more allegations against Pincher emerged over the weekend, and Downing Street was forced to change its position about exactly what Johnson knew and when.
Ministerial aide Laura Trott resigned Wednesday saying “trust in politics is — and must always be —of the utmost importance, but sadly in recent months this has been lost.” Late on Tuesday a string of junior officials followed Sunak and Javid in abandoning Johnson.