Boris Johnson in crisis after David Frost quits

Boris Johnson’s leadership fell deeper into crisis after one of his closest advisers ­quit the cabinet, topping a torrid week for the British Prime Minister.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, with Lord David Frost last December 20 as he signed the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Picture: AFP

Boris Johnson’s leadership fell deeper into crisis after one of his closest advisers ­quit the cabinet, topping a torrid week for the British Prime Minister after a party rebellion on new Covid curbs and by-election humiliation.

Brexit negotiator David Frost resigned over concerns about a ­series of core policy decisions, including the high-spending regime, the obsession with hitting “net zero” environmental targets and Covid vaccine passports.

Lord Frost, who only a year ago celebrated Britain’s departure from the EU with the Prime Minister, said he would leave his post immediately after media reports leaked a resignation letter sent ­earlier this month.

Mr Johnson is already reeling from a rebellion by 100 of his MPs in a parliamentary vote over coronavirus measures and the stunning loss of a 23,000-majority seat in a by-election on Friday AEDT.

That was partly blamed on a slew of reports that his staff and aides had held parties last Christmas despite virus restrictions in place at the time.

The North Shropshire by-election loss for the Conservatives intensified speculation of a leadership challenge. Tory MPs are now openly questioning Mr Johnson’s future.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen warned that the Prime Minister was “running out of time and out of friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government.  “Lord Frost has made it clear, 100 Conservative backbenchers have made it clear, but most importantly so did the people of North Shropshire,” he tweeted.

Arlene Foster, who stepped down as Northern Ireland’s first minister because of post-Brexit trading arrangements, said the Frost resignation had huge implications. “The resignation of Lord Frost from the Cabinet is a big ­moment for the Government but enormous for those of us who believed he would deliver for NI,” she tweeted.

Another MP, Roger Gale, said Mr Johnson still had to prove he was a capable leader. “This has to be seen as a referendum on the Prime Minister’s performance and I think the Prime Minister is in last orders time … one more strike and he’s out,” he told BBC Radio 4.

Senior backbencher Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said Mr Johnson retained the “benefit of the doubt” but had to make improvements to his operation. “He has got to go away and work out how he can conduct himself and govern this country in a way that avoids these sorts of issues,” he told Sky News

There is no suggestion a leadership challenge will be mounted in the short term but insiders ­believe the past week’s events have left the Prime Minister ­“fatally wounded”.

Leading Labour MP Jenny Chapman said: “The government is in chaos. The country needs leadership, not a lame duck PM who has lost the faith of his MPs and cabinet.”

Lord Frost recently came second in a poll of most popular ministers held by ConservativeHome, an influential blog read by the grassroot Tories who could end up deciding Mr Johnson’s replacement.

Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner said the resignation demonstrated “a government in total chaos right when the country faced an uncertain few weeks.

“@BorisJohnson isn’t up to the job. We deserve better than this buffoonery,” she tweeted.

Lord Frost told Mr Johnson in his resignation letter: “I hope we will move as fast as possible to where we need to get to: a lightly regulated, low-tax, entrepreneurial economy.

“We also need to learn to live with Covid and I know that is your instinct too,” he said, in apparent reference to the new measures introduced by the government last week. “You took a brave decision in July, against considerable opposition, to open up the country again. Sadly it did not prove to be irreversible, as I wished, and ­believe you did too.”

The series of crises engulfing Mr Johnson have seen him garner increasingly negative coverage in Britain’s right-wing press that is usually favourable to his leadership and his party.

The Daily Telegraph, the newspaper where Mr Johnson used to work as a correspondent and columnist, called the Frost resignation “courageous” and a “turning point in the history of this ­administration”.

The Sunday Times, another pro-Conservative broadsheet, ran the headline “crisis deepens for PM” on its front page while the right-wing Daily Express went with “another blow for Boris”.

Lord Frost, 56, was appointed as Johnson’s so-called EU ­“sherpa” soon after the British leader took office in July 2019, and became chief trade negotiator after helping to finalise last year’s divorce deal.

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