NDTV:-
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was clinging to power Thursday, having defiantly responded to calls from his loyalists to step down by sacking a minister and former top ally.
More than 40 ministers and aides, including three cabinet members, have quit the government since late Tuesday, with resignations continuing to trickle in overnight.
The Conservative leader was confronted at various points on Wednesday by members of his cabinet telling him it was time to go, local media said.
His reaction was to fire Communities Secretary Michael Gove, reportedly the first to tell him that he must resign for the good of the Tory party and country, with a source close to Johnson telling the BBC that Gove was “a snake”.
Gove was Boris Johnson’s right-hand man in Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, but dramatically chose to run against him for the Conservative leadership that same year, and again in 2019.
The Sun newspaper said Johnson had told colleagues they would have to “dip (their) hands in blood” to push him out of office.
Allies of the prime minister said he was going to “fight on”, with his parliamentary private secretary (PPS) James Duddridge telling Sky News Johnson was in a “buoyant mood”.
But on Thursday morning, the front pages of British newspapers highlighted the precarious position the scandal-hit leader was in.
The normally staunchly pro-Conservative Daily Express spoke of Johnson’s “last stand”, with the Daily Telegraph calling Johnson “mortally wounded”, and The Times saying Johnson was “fight(ing) for his life”.
On the other end of the political spectrum, The Guardian condemned Johnson as “desperate and deluded”.
