The Resignation of Mr. Boris Johnson: A Reappraisal of the Role of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom  

In the days leading up to Mr Johnson’s resignation speech of 7 July 2022, from which he left out the word “resign”, he repeatedly referred to the overwhelming mandate he had received from the British public in 2019, empowering him to implement his various policies as Prime Minister as he best pleased. In doing so, he may have confused the mandate given to the victorious party in a general election, in response to a winning manifesto, with the personal mandate of the electorate in favour of the elected President of a parliamentary democracy. The only votes Mr Johnson directly received on 12 December 2019 were those of 25, 531 Conservative-supporting voters of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, giving him a 52.6 per cent share of the vote in a constituency with an electorate of 70, 365 eligible voters, in the face of a 68.5 per cent turnout for the election. He undoubtedly enthused the wider British electorate, including large numbers of former Labour voters, to cast their votes for the Conservative Party at the time, thereby securing an unassailable parliamentary majority. This landslide victory does not, however, translate into a personal mandate, allowing him to stay as a “lame-duck” Prime Minister after losing the support of the bulk of the parliamentary Conservative party, given that the head of Government “holds that position by virtue of his or her ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons”. The rapid succession of ministerial resignations in the run-up to Mr Johnson’s resignation deprived him of any reasonable chance of clinging on to his Prime Ministership and leading a heroic rearguard defence against all odds.

The first de facto Prime Minister of the geographical entity of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) was Sir Robert Walpole, who doubled as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1721 and 1747. William Pitt the Younger then became the first prime minister of Great Britain and Ireland, albeit briefly, in 1801. Following the Partition of Ireland in 1921, Andrew Bonar Law was the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The first holders of the office were not officially recognised, and the title of Prime Minister first appeared in an official document when Benjamin Disraeli signed the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. ‘Questions to the Prime Minister’ were introduced in the House of Commons in 1881 and the title was first recorded in Hansard, the record of parliamentary debates, in 1885. The Chequers Estate Act 1917 is the first statutory reference to the office of Prime Minister.

 Over the years, Downing Street, an unremarkable gated cul-de-sac of brick terraced Georgian houses connecting Whitehall to St James’s Park, has come to be associated with the office of Prime Minister. Sir Robert Walpole was the first occupant of No. 10 Downing Street, a gift from King George II, moving into the first official residence of the First Lord of Treasury on 22 September 1735. No. 11 then became official residence of the decoupled Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1828, while No. 12 houses the Government Chief Whip. Mr and Mrs Johnson controversially and lavishly upgraded the larger flat at No 11, which they occupied during his Prime Ministership, in an episode that came to be known as Wallpapergate. They also appear to have savoured the many delights of Chequers, their official country residence in the Buckinghamshire countryside, around 41 miles from Downing Street. 

 According to The Cabinet Manual, the first edition of which was published by the Cabinet Office in October 2011 setting out “the internal rules and procedures under which the Government operates”, the Prime Minister is “the head of the Government”, and “has few statutory functions, but will usually take the lead on significant matters of state”. Furthermore, in keeping with the lack of a written Constitution: “The roles of the Prime Minister and Cabinet are governed largely by convention. The Prime Minister is the Sovereign’s principal adviser, chairs Cabinet and has overall responsibility for the organisation of government”. Ministers “are subject to an overarching duty to act in accordance with the law” and “hold office as long as they have the confidence of the Prime Minister”.

Over the years, the role of the Prime Minister, also First Lord of the Treasury, has evolved, expanding the responsibilities of the leader of government. The Prime Minister recommends Ministerial appointments, holders of certain high-ranking ecclesiastical, judicial, and civil service positions, and membership of the Cabinet and Cabinet committees, of several public boards and institutions, and of Royal and statutory commissions. The Prime Minister has overall responsibility for most of the Civil Service and for National Security. An impressive bureaucratic infrastructure has developed to provide backup, in the form of the Press Office (1931), the Political Office (1964), and the Policy Unit (1974). The Prime Minister’s Office is part of the Cabinet Office and is headed by the Principal Private Secretary, seconded from Whitehall, while the Appointments Office deals with senior ecclesiastical and other Crown appointments.

 Eleven Prime Minister have been compelled to resign after losing motions of no confidence in Parliament, the most recent being James Callaghan in 1979. Other Prime Ministerial resignations have followed policy failure (Neville Chamberlain), ill health (Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan), loss of authority within the parliamentary party (Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May), a power-sharing pact (Tony Blair), an electoral loss (Gordon Brown), a political gamble on EU membership (David Cameron), or for reasons that remain unclear (Harold Wilson).

If a Prime Minister resigns, the Sovereign invites “the person who appears most likely to be able to command the confidence of the House to serve as Prime Minister and to form a government”. Boris Johnson has resigned at a time when his administration enjoys an overall majority in the House of Commons, leaving the party in government to select his successor. While the Cabinet Manual refers to recent situations where Prime Ministers have not issued their resignations until a suitable individual has been identified to form a new government, there appears to be no justification for a resigning Prime Minister to stay in post until a caretaker government has been formed if this seems likely to worsen the political situation. The Deputy Prime Minister would indeed be expected to take over and hold the fort in a caretaker government until a definitive leader is identified.

Mr Johnson, in his resignation speech, indicated his intention to carry on in post until his successor has been clearly identified to ensure stability for the country. Not unnaturally, this seemingly selfless request has met with much opposition, both from within Conservative ranks but also from all opposition parties, over suspicion that Mr. Johnson might hijack the political agenda before he eventually departs. The events of the next few weeks will be determined by political machinations which cannot be predicted with any great degree of confidence. Meanwhile, Mr Johnson can be expected to dispense his favours to his supporters via a Resignation Honours List and himself be honoured by the Sovereign, and to then rejoin the celebrity lecture circuit, write newspaper columns and books, feature in TV shows, and perform the other extracurricular tasks he so excels at, displaying his unique talent for entertainment from the sidelines, even as the country continues to sluggishly recover from the economic shocks of recent years.

Ashis Banerjee