‘Good news for country’, says Opposition as Boris Johnson bows out
London, July 7
Moments after the news broke on Thursday of Boris Johnson’s decision to step down as Conservative Party leader and therefore as the British PM, after days of high political drama, the overwhelming reaction from different quarters was that of relief.
The opposition Labour Party led the jubilant reaction to the imminent end of the Johnson-led Tory government, declaring it “good news for the country”.
The party pointed to recent scandals of Covid law-breaking parties in Downing Street and mis-steps over MP misconduct cases that ended in a wave of resignations from within the UK Cabinet, which ultimately made Johnson’s position as PM untenable.
“It is good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister. But it should have happened long ago. He was always unfit for office,” said Labour Leader Keir Starmer.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted there would be “a widespread sense of relief” that the “chaos” was coming to an end.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Johnson would “go down in history as a lying law-breaking Prime Minister, who abused the trust and patience of the British people.” UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng called the situation a “depressing state of affairs”.
