Blow to Boris Johnson’s Campaign as Minister Quits Cabinet
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns quit after claims he knew about a former aide’s role in the collapse of a rape trial.
Boris Johnson’s bid for re-election as British prime minister was rocked by a cabinet resignation on the day the Conservative leader launched his campaign.
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns quit after claims he knew about a former aide’s role in the collapse of a rape trial. It’s a blow for the Tory Party at the start of one of the most unpredictable British election contests in recent history.
Johnson was trying to get his campaign back on track after another cabinet minister -- Jacob Rees-Mogg -- was forced to apologize Tuesday for comments he made about people killed in a tower-block fire.
Key Developments:
- Welsh Secretary quits after row over collapse of rape trial, adding to Tory troubles
- Johnson gave statement outside Number 10, blaming Parliament for postponing Brexit and warning Labour would waste “the whole of 2020 in a horror show” of more delays.
- Johnson compared Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to Stalin in Telegraph column.
- Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will visit a school in London at 2.30 p.m.
- Johnson plans a rally in the West Midlands on Wednesday evening
Last Minister to Quit During a Campaign? 1931 (2:15 p.m.)
When did a minister last resign during an election campaign? According to “Butler’s British Political Facts”, there’s Desmond Brayley, who quit as a defense minister during the second election of 1974 over a corporate scandal. But he was in the House of Lords.
For a better parallel, we have to go back to 1931 and the resignation of two Welshmen, Gwilym Lloyd George, parliamentary secretary to the Board of Trade, and Goronwy Owen, a whip. They quit the National Government in protest at the calling of the election, but neither was in the Cabinet. There’s no record of a Cabinet minister quitting during a campaign since the start of the 20th century.
Johnson: Labour Would Be ‘Horror Show’ (12:45 p.m.)
Johnson spoke outside his Downing Street office, formally announcing a general election and expressing his frustration that Parliament had repeatedly blocked Brexit. Postponing the U.K.’s exit from the EU is “disastrous” for trust in politics -- but a Labour government would usher in a “horror show” of more “dither” and delay, he said.
“I’ve got to the stage where I’ve been wanting to chew my own tie because we are so nearly there, we got a deal,” Johnson said. The delay is “bad for the country and the economy.”
Johnson cast the election as a choice between his Tories who will invest in schools and hospitals and “champion enterprise” -- and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour which believes in “high taxes for everyone” and has, Johnson alleged, “done a deal” with the Scottish Nationalist Party for a second referendum on Scottish independence.
“If I come back here with a working majority in parliament then I will get parliament working again for you,” the Tory leader said.
Corbyn Won’t Engage With ‘Stalin’ Slur (12:30 p.m.)
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wouldn’t engage in personal attacks after Boris Johnson compared him to Soviet despot Joseph Stalin and claimed the Labour leader has a “hatred” of wealth creators.
“I don’t do personal attacks,” Corbyn told supporters after he was asked about Johnson’s claims in an article in the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph newspaper. “For me real politics, the politics that I stand for, is about sharing power and wealth.”
Corbyn said Labour’s National Executive Committee will meet later today to decide the party’s election manifesto.
Johnson: Parliament Paralyzed (12:15 p.m.)
Boris Johnson said he’ll be able to get his Brexit deal through Parliament in “a few weeks” if his Conservatives win a majority.
In a video shot in his car on the way to visit Queen Elizabeth II, he said “she always asks the best questions,” and that today’s question is why there is a general election. “There’s only reason: I’m afraid that Parliament is paralyzed,” he said.
If the Tories win on Dec. 12 “Day one, we’ll put that deal back to Parliament, get it through in a few weeks from December, come out in January,” he said.
Johnson Loses Second Cabinet Minister (12:05 p.m.)
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns quit Boris Johnson’s cabinet, the second minister to do so since the election was called.
Cairns said he was resigning over allegations relating to a former aide. The aide had been criticized by the judge in a rape case for giving inadmissible evidence, which he said had sabotaged the trial. At issue was how much Cairns knew about the case before the aide was chosen as a Welsh Assembly candidate.
“This is a very sensitive matter, and in light of continued speculation, I write to tender my resignation as Secretary of State for Wales,” Cairns wrote in a letter to Johnson. “I will cooperate in full with the investigation under the Ministerial Code which will now take place and I am confident I will be cleared of any breach or wrong doing.”
It’s the second ministerial resignation since the election was called, after Nicky Morgan quit as Work and Pensions Secretary last week. She said she was leaving politics, citing the impact on her family and the “abuse” faced by politicians.
Corbyn Targets Leave Supporters (11:15 a.m.)
Corbyn hit the campaign trail in Telford, where the Tories have a majority of just 720 votes. It’s a key seat because Labour needs to convince the 63% of residents who voted to leave the EU in 2016 that it’s a party which can still represent them.
The scale of the challenge was shown in a YouGov poll published Nov. 1, which found only 43% of past Labour voters who also voted leave still intend to back the party.
“Many people in our country have grown weary of politics,” Corbyn told the rally in Telford, Shropshire. “Westminster hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory recently. It’s a long, long way from the reality of people’s lives.”
In an appeal to traditional Labour voters, Corbyn repeated his call-and-response chant that the state-run National Health Service is “not for sale.” He also attacked Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments on the Grenfell fire tragedy (see 8 a.m.). “Do you want leaders who think they are above us all?” he asked, as he portrayed the Tories as rich and out-of-touch with the concerns of voters.
Johnson Meets Queen as Campaign Begins (10:30 a.m.)
Boris Johnson traveled to Buckingham Palace to meet with Queen Elizabeth II to formally inform her of the start of the general election campaign.
The prime minister and the head of state spoke for about 25 minutes before Johnson returned to his office in Downing Street. He will make a statement to cameras at 1 p.m. before traveling to his campaign launch on Wednesday evening, his office said.
Labour Struggles to Shake Antisemitism Charge (8:30 a.m.)
The opposition Labour Party is seizing on Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about the Grenfell Tower fire (see 8 a.m.) to try to demonstrate the Conservatives are out of touch with ordinary voters.
“I think it reflects an arrogance about Jacob Rees-Mogg which is not going to help the Tory Party at this election,” Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman Diane Abbott told BBC radio earlier.
Yet Labour faces its own perception battle after three Jewish newspapers called leader Jeremy Corbyn a danger to their community for failing to tackle antisemitism in his party. Abbott said Labour is trying to stamp out the problem but also added: “It’s not every element of the Jewish community that believes Jeremy is an antisemite.”
Cleverly on Back Foot Defending Rees-Mogg (8 a.m.)
Instead of launching his party’s election campaign, Conservative Chairman James Cleverly had the task of defending colleagues amid the fallout from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s remarks about the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in 2017. The leader of the House of Commons was forced to apologize after he said in a radio interview it would have been “common sense” to flee the building -- against fire service advice.
But his remarks were amplified by Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who suggested Rees-Mogg would have survived the fire because he is more “clever” than the victims. Bridgen himself apologized on Wednesday.
“What they said was wrong and they have apologized for that,” Cleverly told ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’ program on Wednesday. “We want to focus on the future and indeed on the priorities of all of the whole of the U.K. including people who live in hardship and poverty.” Cleverly later told the BBC Rees-Mogg and Bridgen don’t need to resign because they had apologized.
Farage Offers Pact with Rival Candidates (7:40 a.m.)
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said he is in talks with euroskeptic Conservative and Labour Party candidates about standing aside in their constituencies in exchange for a promise not to support Boris Johnson’s EU withdrawal agreement in Parliament.
It comes after Johnson rebuffed an offer from Farage for a nationwide pact. Farage said he would back a no-deal Brexit, while Johnson said he was pressing ahead with the agreement he struck with the EU.
“We are happy to talk to Conservatives, or indeed Labour MPs,” Farage told BBC TV. “I will always put country before party to get us free.”
Earlier:
--With assistance from Thomas Penny, Robert Hutton and Greg Ritchie.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs
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