In this blog, we are going to know about the political crises in the UK easily from the past to the present.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Our story begins in 2019, this year General Elections were held in the UK. This election was being contested by two main political parties. Their Conservative Party, also known as the Tories and the Labour Party. The Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson, And the Labour Party was led by Jeremy Corbyn. This election was won by the Conservative Party with a full majority.
They have a total of 650 seats with the majority mark being 326 seats. In this election, the Conservative Party won 365 seats, and the Labour Party was at 202 seats. As the result, Boris Johnson became the new Prime Minister of the UK.
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2016 to 2018. There arises a question that why did Boris Johnson have to resign 3 years later?
There are several reasons among them on is he lost the confidence of the public as well as his party.
His controversies
His controversies began in November 2021. In November 2021, an MP of his party Owen Paterson was suspended for breaking the rules for Lobbying. To prevent that suspension, Boris whipped his party members.
The whip system is a way to discipline party members. So that if something is being put to the vote, it ensures that every member of the party votes for what the party wants. They wondered why Boris Johnson wanted to protect a corrupt person. This was the first allegation against Boris Johnson.
The second allegation was on 30th November 2021 when the first report on the Party gate Scandal was published. This report shows that a staff working at the Prime Minister’s Office was partying, and holding gatherings, while the rest of London was in lockdown. While people weren’t allowed to leave their homes, People were asked to remain at their homes, not meet people, and the people working at the Prime Minister’s Office were partying.
FINES:
The Election Commission of the UK fined the Conservative Party £17,800.
Why were they fined?
Because when Prime Minister Boris Johnson, renovated the residence of the Prime Minister, he did not declare the donations he had received. The total bill to renovate the Prime Minister’s residence was £200,000. But the public grant for this was only £30,000.
In April 2022, after their investigation, the Metropolitan Police fined Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, for attending Boris Johnson’s birthday party, while the country was in lockdown. Rishi Sunak was the finance minister while Boris Johnson was the PM.
By June, Boris Johnson’s reputation among the people dived. The leaders of his party were taking back their support as well. There was a Confidence Vote in which 41% of the MPs of the Conservative Party voted in favour of dismissing Boris Johnson. It was embarrassing when 41% of the MPs of his party did not support him. Even so, Boris Johnson remained in the PM’s office, he continued his position.
In the UK, the Election Commission acts courageously and independently against the party and fines them for their wrongdoings, and the media is given the freedom to expose scandals. Additionally, their police conducted an independent investigation into the Party gate Scandal.
His resignation
He appointed the new Deputy Chief; Chris Pincher was revealed to have sexually assaulted two people. Out of embarrassment, he resigned on June 30th. When Boris Johnson was questioned about this, he claimed to know nothing about the allegations.
But in further investigation by the media, it was revealed that Boris Johnson was aware of these allegations since 2019. When this news broke, the ministers of the Boris Johnson government, lost their patience, they had had enough. As long as Boris Johnson remained the Prime Minister, they said that they wouldn’t continue.
They did not want such a Prime Minister. Rishi Sunak resigned from the post of Finance Minister. Sajid Javid resigned from the post of Health Secretary. Over the next 24 hours, 36 MPs resigned from their roles in the government. By this point in time, in total, 62 MPs had resigned. If there’d be no one to run the government, how can it go on? Left with no choice, on 7th July Boris Johnson had to resign as well. He resigned from the post of Prime Minister. “I want to say to the millions of people, who voted for us in 2019, Thank you for that incredible mandate.”
Liz Truss
September 2022, a difficult time for Britain, Queen Elizabeth passed away. Inflation was out of control due to the war in Ukraine, and an economic crisis in the country due to Brexit. The reputation of the party was in danger. Scotland was threatening to conduct a referendum. It might break apart from the UK. Most of the problems faced by the UK now are credited to the 2016 Brexit.
After Boris Johnson’s resignation, Conservative Party held elections to choose the new PM. The procedure is basically that the new leader needs to come up with the support of 100 MPs, if they get 100 MPs to support them, the party chooses among the members with the required support and the party members vote to choose their leader. In July 2022, after Boris’ resignation, two leaders emerged- Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
The Tories held online voting among the party members, and Liz Truss won with 57% votes. And so, Liz Truss became the next Prime Minister of the UK in September. Due to so many crises, Liz Truss had to shoulder many responsibilities.
Liz Truss Plans
She presented a new plan on 23rd September. Promising to revive UK’s economy. She released a huge package with tax cuts. Tax cuts that were unprecedented in the last 50 years. The idea was to use trickle-down economics. The benefits would eventually trickle down by giving tax cuts to the rich and reaching the commoners. This idea was a flop.
Plans failures
By this point in time, everyone knows, that trickle-down economics doesn’t work so. As soon as she announced this plan, the value of the British Pound fell drastically. It reached an all-time low. The interest rates went up. The IMF told the UK’s government to re-evaluate its plan.
On 14th October, she laid the blame entirely on Kwasi Kwarteng. And he was removed from his position. The next Chancellor was Jeremy Hunt. The previous Foreign Secretary. As soon as he became the Chancellor, he rolled back everything promised by Liz Truss.
Liz Truss became the least popular Prime Minister in UK’s history. 55% of the members of her party demanded that Liz Truss be removed from the position, On 19th October. on 20th October, Liz Truss was forced to resign.
Need for a new leader
On 19th October, the Labour Party wished to introduce a new law in Parliament. The law bans Fracking.
Fracking is a way to get oil from the ground that is largely criticized. Because it leads to groundwater poisoning. It increases water pollution levels and has a terrible impact on the environment, overall. This is an environmental issue. The Labour Party wanted to pass the law to completely ban Fracking in the UK. The Conservative Party not only looked at the environmental perspective of this bill but also, that the Labour Party got a lot of votes on the bill.
They couldn’t afford to lose the vote. Because that would make it seem as if the Parliament did not have any confidence in their party. They did not want their party to lose its position. So, a whip was issued by the Conservative Party that all MPs of the Conservative Party have to vote against the law.
After this Parliament Session, the Home Secretary Liz Truss resigned, and Liz Truss had no other choice than to resign.
Rishi Sunak
After Liz Truss’ resignation, it was time to choose the next Prime Minister. The leaders had to collect the approval of at least 100 MPs. Rishi Sunak was the first to cross the mark of 100 MPs. It was expected that Boris Johnson would stand to be re-elected. But he couldn’t cross the 100 MPs mark.
Another leader was Penny Mordaunt, she was trying to be the next Prime Minister. But she couldn’t get the 100 nominations. Since Rishi Sunak was the only one to cross the mark of 100 MPs, automatically he was declared the next Prime Minister. “Rishi Sunak has now reached 100 backers. Which means that he has now passed the threshold needed to make the ballot for the next PM.” When Rishi Sunak became the PM, some Indians in India rejoiced, because he is a person of Indian origin.
Conclusion
He is faced with many responsibilities. As you saw, the UK is going through so many crises. The falling value of the Pound Sterling. The rapid inflation. It’s getting increasingly difficult for people to get by. The impact of the Ukraine War. Of Brexit.
On top of it, the reputation of the party has fallen unprecedently. The world is eagerly waiting to see the decisions that’ll be made by Rishi Sunak. To protect the country from these crises. As I told you, he was the finance minister in Boris Johnson’s government.
FAQ’s
What are the main political parties in the UK?
Conservative Party and Labour Party
Leader of the Conservative party?
Now Rishi Sunak
Leader of the Labour party?
Jeremy Corbyn
Boris Johnson’s duration as a prime minister?
3 years
5. Reason for Boris Johnson’s resignation?
The main reason was No confidence voting
6. What was Boris Johnsons quote at his resignation?
I want to say to the millions of people, who voted for us in 2019, Thank you for that incredible mandate
7. What is the expansion of IMF?
International Monetary Fund
8. Liz Truss’s duration as a prime minister?
Six weeks
9. What is inflation?
A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money
10. What is Brexit?
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union
