Boris Johnson resigns as MP
Following new allegations that he lied to the British House of Commons in the Partygate affair, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation as a member of parliament on Friday. Commentators are divided over whether this means he will leave the UK's political stage for good.
Consign him to the spam box
Boris Johnson has brought so much misery to the country that he must never be allowed back on the political stage, columnist Max Hastings warns in The Times:
“We are facing the gravest difficulties - economic, social and political - the nation has experienced for a generation. Some of these, at least, are attributable to Johnson's disastrous premiership. If we are to move forward, to find a new and more successful path, we must discover how to become again serious people, addressing issues and not personalities. Explicitly, we must stop talking about Boris Johnson; consign him to the spam box.”
Making a mockery of politics for too long
Westminster can breathe a sigh of relief, says Der Standard:
“Johnson has no qualms about telling outright lies in his private life as well as in politics; everything and everyone is subordinate to his selfish interests; populist slogans replace serious politics, tackling real challenges for the good of the citizens is far too boring. ... In addition, there is his complete contempt for all political convention. Yet traditions and conventions are to a large extent the only thing holding the UK and its constitution together. To ignore them and even contemptuously push them aside is extremely dangerous. ... British politics will be more boring without Boris Johnson. But the air around Westminster is suddenly much better to breathe.”
He'll be back
Boris Johnson's political career is far from over and that's a good thing, argues Conservative MP James Duddridge in The Sun:
“Losing Boris from the Parliamentary team is a huge mistake. Was Boris perfect? No. Who is? But we needed him during Covid, leading the coalition to back President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, and without him Brexit would not have happened and the Conservative Party would still have been divided on the European issue. We need more people like Boris Johnson, not fewer. My tip, head to Ladbrokes and put a fiver on him coming back, maybe even before the next election.”