UK's Johnson to ‘fight on’ to remain prime minister: Reports

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not resign, according to local media reports on Wednesday.

A storm of resignations within the Conservative government since yesterday saw 38 MPs, including two senior ministers, leaving their posts.

Johnson had to face calls of resignation from opposition parties and some of his backbenchers in the House of Commons over his appointment of MP Chris Pincher as the party’s deputy chief whip who was disgraced after being accused of drunkenly groping two men.

Johnson remains "absolutely defiant" and "does not intend to resign", a senior Number 10 source was quoted by Sky News.

He wants to "fight on" and is likely to make more ministerial appointments, according to the same sources.

The prime minister has been urged to resign by some of his Cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi – who Johnson appointed yesterday after Rishi Sunak’s resignation – and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The backdrop to the dozens of resignations came after the scandal over Pincher.

Downing Street initially said that Johnson was unaware of previous specific allegations against Pincher, but it later emerged that he was in fact informed when he was foreign minister in 2019 of previous instances of alleged misconduct on Pincher’s part.

Just before the resignations, Johnson had apologized for appointing Pincher as the deputy chief whip.