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Boris Johnson ally Nigel Adams steps down as MP
The Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, has stepped down with immediate effect.
In a post on Twitter, he said:
Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate.
I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect.
It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised, educated &
1/2
— Nigel Adams MP 🇬🇧 (@nadams) June 10, 2023
I want to thank my constituents for their wonderful support since 2010.
2/2
— Nigel Adams MP 🇬🇧 (@nadams) June 10, 2023
Key events
Some analysis from Sky News’s Beth Rigby.
His resignation a shock: close political allies tell me they didn’t know it coming. But timing of bombshell makes sense: he’d clearly decided to quit rather than suffer the humiliation of vote to suspend him, but he wanted honours list signed off first. Once that done, he was off
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 10, 2023
There’d been expectation privileges cttee might avoid toughest of sanctions, but hear that subsequent info passed to cttee, & police, which emerged when Cab Office reviewed docs for Covid inquiry damning (BJ spot called this a political motivated stitch up) & BJ ‘bang to rights’
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 10, 2023
Also heard from one figure that the findings of the committee were unanimous against him – but will have to wait for report to be published to find out (that will happen perhaps next week with the cttee now looking to expedite publication)
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 10, 2023
With Boris Johnson appearing to leave the door open for a return to Parliament, saying he was leaving “for now” in his lengthy statement last night, Tory MP Bob Seely told Times Radio that Johnson “ain’t going to be leader of the Conservative Party again” and his achievements were “all in the past”.
Michael Savage
Boris Johnson quit with a furious resignation statement that left open the threat of a return. But now unencumbered by the duties of parliamentary life, what lies ahead for the former prime minister?
Another lap of the lucrative speaking circuit
Johnson has already proved that despite the manner of his departure from office and the opprobrium heaped upon him by some of his own MPs, he can still command hefty fees from crypto bros, banks and businesses for one of his idiosyncratic speeches. He has already earned in the region of £5m since standing down as prime minister. Quitting parliament not only allows him to maintain his reputation as a winner among potential paymasters, it also means he will no longer have to declare his earnings.
Likelihood: 5/5
Labour is not “remotely complacent” about winning the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election or the general election, according to the shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth.
Speaking at a campaign event in the constituency on Saturday, Jonathan Ashworth told the PA news agency: “We are going to be campaigning hard for every single vote here. “This campaign here is about 13 years of economic failure by the Conservatives, 13 years of driving our NHS into the ground, 13 years of failing to give young people good jobs and opportunities to get onto the housing ladder and it’s about the complete mess the Tories made of the economy last year, putting a bomb under the economy.
“Labour is not remotely complacent, not remotely complacent because we are working hard to win the trust of the people… but I do just sense that people have had enough of the Conservatives. “People are fed up of nothing working in this country. “In many ways this is a last-gasp government. Rishi Sunak is asking the British people to pay the price of 13 years of their economic failure.”
Aletha Adu
Rishi Sunak is facing a further test of his leadership as another ally of Boris Johnson quit parliament, triggering a third byelection.
Nigel Adams, who had already confirmed his plans to retire at the next general election, on Saturday afternoon decided to stand down with immediate effect.
The former minister was nominated by Johnson for a peerage, but did not make the final list alongside Nadine Dorries, Alok Sharma and Alister Jack. Sunak had blocked Johnson’s allies on the peerages list to avoid difficult byelections, which appear to be trickling in regardless.
Announcing his resignation, less than 24 hours after Dorries and Johnson, Adams said on Twitter: “Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate. I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect.
Andrew Rawnsley argues that Boris Johnson has taken the coward’s way out by quitting the Commons because he calculated that he was going to be sacked from parliament.
In the richly storied history of British politics, there has been no ascent, peak, decline and fall quite like it. Some people have a go at trying to compare him with previous tenants of No 10, but that is a futile quest. We have never seen anyone quite like him in Downing Street before and, if we are a lucky country, we will never do so again.
Less than four years ago, his party was congratulating itself for making him their leader and hailing him as a demi-god for securing a near-landslide victory at the December 2019 election. Risible as it may now seem, even some of the more sensible Tories talked with wild hubris about a Johnson premiership lasting a decade, a fate that Britain mercifully avoided.
Now the first British prime minister to be convicted of breaking the law while in office adds another ignominious entry to his blot-splattered biography by becoming the only British prime minister to be compelled to quit the Commons because of the magnitude of his disgrace.
You can read the full article here:
The Tory donor Crispin Odey is to leave Odey Asset Management, the partnership said on Saturday, after a series of allegations of misconduct.
In a statement, the executive committee of OAM said Odey, who founded the hedge fund, will “no longer have any economic or personal involvement in the partnership”.
It came after a report in the Financial Times, together with Tortoise Media, that included several allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct from women who either worked at the firm or had social or professional dealings with Odey.
The statement, signed by the chief executive, Peter Martin, and the chief financial officer, Michael Ede, said the firm had investigated the allegations concerning Odey but “cannot comment in detail as it is bound by legal obligations of confidentiality”.
What do Uxbridge residents think of Johnson’s resignation?
Miranda Bryant
It was not until the final paragraphs of Boris Johnson’s more than 1,000-word resignation letter – after the comments about Brexit revenge, witch-hunts and kangaroo courts – that he managed to devote a line or two to the job he would be leaving behind: MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
In Uxbridge town centre the morning after, he was not exactly top of mind for his constituents either, many of whom were disillusioned at the state of British politics. But there was palpable relief at his departure.
Beth, 23, a restaurant manager, was one of several to employ a four-letter expletive to share their feelings about the former prime minister.“Good. Bye bye. Finally, again. He’s very good at this by this point.”
She had not, however, thought she would see the back of him so soon. “I expected him to loiter around like they all do.”
You can read more of Miranda’s reporting here:
Labour has clear lead over Tories in more than 100 key seats, poll suggests
Michael Savage
Worryingly for Rishi Sunak as he faces three byelections, a new poll has found Labour has a clear lead over the Tories in more than 100 battleground seats that could decide the next election.
In a rare insight into marginal constituencies at next year’s election, Keir Starmer’s party has now secured a 10% swing from the Conservatives in a set of 144 seats in which the vote will be won and lost. Labour now holds a seven-point lead over the Tories in the seats, which include marginals in England, Wales and Scotland.
With both main parties increasingly refining their key policy offers ahead of a looming election, the research suggests Labour now sits on 39% of the vote in the marginal seats, up from 32% at the last election. Meanwhile, the Tories have slumped from 44% to 32%.
However, the polling suggests that Labour’s hopes of securing an overall majority remain on a knife edge. To achieve this, Labour needs to win an additional 124 parliamentary constituencies. The analysis suggests it is on course to win about 117 seats from the Conservatives in England and Wales and about six to eight from the SNP in Scotland. That would give that party 123-125 extra seats.
The Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, responding to a third byelection being triggered by a Tory MP in 24 hours, has echoed her boss Ed Davey’s call for a general election.
The Conservative party is in meltdown and must now call a general election.
After years of failing our NHS and failing to deal with the cost of living crisis it is time people across the country have their opportunity to give a verdict on this chaotic Conservative government.
The resignation of Nigel Adams means the Tories are now facing three byelections in quick succession. Those three are:
Uxbridge and South Ruislip – Johnson’s seat, which he won with a majority of 7,210 in 2019.
Mid Bedfordshire – Nadine Dorries won this seat with a comfortable majority of 24,664 in 2019.
Selby and Ainsty – in 2019, Adams won this with a majority of 20,137.
Boris Johnson has stood down as a Conservative MP after an investigation into the Partygate scandal found he misled parliament and recommended a lengthy suspension from the House of Commons. The former prime minister angrily accused the investigation of trying to drive him out, and claimed there was a ‘witch-hunt under way’.
MPs from both major political parties have attacked Johnson – Labour’s Angela Rayner called him a ‘coward’, while former Conservative MP Anna Soubry described his 1,000-word statement as ‘shameful’.
Boris Johnson ally Nigel Adams steps down as MP
The Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, has stepped down with immediate effect.
In a post on Twitter, he said:
Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate.
I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect.
It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised, educated &
1/2
— Nigel Adams MP 🇬🇧 (@nadams) June 10, 2023
I want to thank my constituents for their wonderful support since 2010.
2/2
— Nigel Adams MP 🇬🇧 (@nadams) June 10, 2023
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