A delegation of Cabinet ministers planned to meet with
Johnson at his Downing Street office on Wednesday evening to press him to
resign, according to British media reports. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps
and longtime loyalist Brandon Lewis were among those expected to demand that he
quit.
“The job of a prime minister in difficult circumstances
when you’ve been handed a colossal mandate is to keep going. And that’s what
I’m going to do,” Johnson said earlier at the weekly session of Prime
Minister’s Questions in parliament.
David Davis, a Conservative legislator who had previously
called on the 58-year-old leader to resign, told parliament that he was again
asking Johnson: “to do the honourable thing, to put the interests of the nation
before his own interest, and before … it does become impossible for government
to do its job.”
Johnson said he did not believe that it was against the
national interest for him to remain as prime minister.
“I thank him very much for the point he’s made again. I
just couldn’t disagree with him more,” Johnson said.
Later on Wednesday, James Duddridge, a Conservative
lawmaker and close aide of Johnson, told Sky News the British leader “is
buoyant, he is up for a fight” after a meeting with members of his top cabinet
team.
Duddridge said Johnson and the newly-appointed finance
minister Nadhim Zahawi would set out a new joint plan for the economy next week
which would include tax cuts.
Johnson sacked Michael Gove, a senior minister who media
earlier said had told the British leader he should quit.
The attorney general for England and Wales, Suella
Braverman, also called on Johnson to resign and became the first cabinet
minister to say they would run to replace him in any Conservative Party
leadership contest.
“I do think the time has come for the prime minister to
step down,” Braverman said on ITV. She said she did not want to resign from her
post. “If there is a leadership contest I will put my name into the ring.”
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