The Fort Worth Press - Four top aides desert UK's embattled Johnson

USD -
AED 3.67302
AFN 70.177799
ALL 94.694858
AMD 399.571201
ANG 1.800481
AOA 912.000034
ARS 1027.729361
AUD 1.603355
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.697676
BAM 1.879673
BBD 2.017107
BDT 119.384911
BGN 1.881012
BHD 0.376934
BIF 2953.447033
BMD 1
BND 1.357194
BOB 6.903412
BRL 6.21685
BSD 0.999039
BTN 85.070401
BWP 13.87506
BYN 3.26939
BYR 19600
BZD 2.010284
CAD 1.43675
CDF 2870.000189
CHF 0.90009
CLF 0.03586
CLP 989.480209
CNY 7.298801
CNH 7.306215
COP 4373.91
CRC 507.256127
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 106.009258
CZK 24.10875
DJF 177.904853
DKK 7.171097
DOP 60.855358
DZD 135.127343
EGP 50.858598
ERN 15
ETB 127.201346
EUR 0.96095
FJD 2.31865
FKP 0.791982
GBP 0.797448
GEL 2.810197
GGP 0.791982
GHS 14.690824
GIP 0.791982
GMD 71.999964
GNF 8634.310428
GTQ 7.698187
GYD 209.014897
HKD 7.76805
HNL 25.382989
HRK 7.172906
HTG 130.598126
HUF 395.534005
IDR 16213
ILS 3.64741
IMP 0.791982
INR 85.38525
IQD 1308.697741
IRR 42087.498013
ISK 139.549837
JEP 0.791982
JMD 155.655935
JOD 0.709299
JPY 157.086031
KES 129.119811
KGS 86.99942
KHR 4014.412683
KMF 466.124975
KPW 899.999441
KRW 1457.470401
KWD 0.30818
KYD 0.83258
KZT 517.549255
LAK 21848.149928
LBP 89462.854397
LKR 294.435368
LRD 181.893348
LSL 18.576261
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.604891
LYD 4.904373
MAD 10.074676
MDL 18.432484
MGA 4712.157617
MKD 59.135031
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.99987
MOP 7.992119
MRU 39.880827
MUR 47.070154
MVR 15.402589
MWK 1732.340221
MXN 20.164402
MYR 4.487015
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.576261
NGN 1541.640096
NIO 36.761173
NOK 11.628915
NPR 136.06247
NZD 1.771166
OMR 0.384748
PAB 0.999039
PEN 3.720135
PGK 4.054781
PHP 58.591972
PKR 278.129073
PLN 4.094575
PYG 7791.44642
QAR 3.634825
RON 4.784295
RSD 112.416046
RUB 99.929361
RWF 1393.656896
SAR 3.75514
SBD 8.383555
SCR 14.26593
SDG 601.501981
SEK 11.078902
SGD 1.3585
SHP 0.791982
SLE 22.8039
SLL 20969.503029
SOS 570.975493
SRD 35.057966
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.741951
SYP 2512.530243
SZL 18.584334
THB 34.159588
TJS 10.933512
TMT 3.51
TND 3.186697
TOP 2.342101
TRY 35.177625
TTD 6.789044
TWD 32.699497
TZS 2419.99986
UAH 41.889284
UGX 3656.895723
UYU 44.484182
UZS 12897.645363
VES 51.575121
VND 25425
VUV 118.722003
WST 2.762788
XAF 630.424796
XAG 0.033795
XAU 0.000382
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.765978
XOF 630.424796
XPF 114.617972
YER 250.375036
ZAR 18.612085
ZMK 9001.2026
ZMW 27.648246
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    0.0800

    11.73

    +0.68%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    58.86

    -0.27%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    36.26

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    59.8000

    59.8

    +100%

  • BCC

    0.9500

    123.19

    +0.77%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.24

    -0.14%

  • GSK

    -0.0300

    34.03

    -0.09%

  • RIO

    -0.0300

    59.2

    -0.05%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    12.15

    +0.41%

  • BCE

    0.0600

    22.9

    +0.26%

  • CMSC

    -0.1321

    23.77

    -0.56%

  • AZN

    -0.3300

    66.3

    -0.5%

  • BP

    0.0400

    28.79

    +0.14%

  • RELX

    0.3000

    45.89

    +0.65%

  • VOD

    0.0600

    8.43

    +0.71%

  • CMSD

    0.1000

    23.65

    +0.42%

Four top aides desert UK's embattled Johnson
Four top aides desert UK's embattled Johnson

Four top aides desert UK's embattled Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered four staff defections on Thursday as pressure intensified on the embattled leader over lockdown parties and his loose-lipped style of politics.

Text size:

One of the departures was linked to an inflammatory remark made by Johnson, attacking opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer over a notorious paedophile.

"Being honest, I wouldn't have said it and I'm glad the prime minister clarified it," finance minister Rishi Sunak said in an extraordinary rebuke of his boss during a televised news conference.

Sunak is tipped as a leading contender to replace Johnson, if a brewing Conservative revolt against the prime minister develops further.

Downing Street confirmed that chief of staff Dan Rosenfield was leaving, just over a year after he took on the role with a brief to professionalise Johnson's chaotic operation.

His resignation comes after a top civil servant, in a long-awaited inquiry, this week condemned "failures of leadership" in Downing Street over a series of parties held in violation of Covid restrictions.

Also going is Johnson's "principal private secretary", Martin Reynolds, who sent a now-notorious email in May 2020 urging Downing Street staff to "bring your own booze" to one lockdown gathering.

Johnson "thanked them both for their significant contribution to government and No 10, including work on the pandemic response and economic recovery", a spokesperson said.

Their departures were confirmed not long after those of two other top advisors -- director of communications Jack Doyle and head of policy Munira Mirza.

According to the Daily Mail, Doyle told colleagues as he left: "It was always my intention to do two years. Recent weeks have taken a terrible toll on my family life."

Doyle was implicated in the "partygate" affair after attending at least one Downing Street event that is under investigation by police.

Johnson's long-term ally Mirza quit after the prime minister tried to link Labour's Starmer to the failure by UK authorities to prosecute veteran TV host Jimmy Savile, who died in 2011 aged 84.

While alive, Savile was seen as a widely loved presenter. But after his death accusations emerged that he had been a serial abuser of hundreds of children, without facing prosecution.

In parliament on Monday, Johnson shocked many on his own side when he aired a conspiracy theory prevalent among far-right groups that Starmer had personally failed to prosecute Savile when he was director of state prosecutions in England and Wales from 2008 to 2013.

- 'Scurrilous accusation' -

Under Starmer's watch, police decided not to press charges against Savile despite widespread suspicions about his behaviour.

Starmer was not personally involved in the decision, and he accused Johnson of "parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try to score cheap political points".

Johnson belatedly tried to backtrack late Wednesday, after strong criticism from some Tory MPs, sections of the media and a lawyer representing victims of Savile.

But Mirza said that did not go far enough, according to her resignation letter reported by the Spectator magazine.

Johnson's remark in parliament "was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse", she said, noting that the prime minister had yet to apologise.

"You are a better man than many of your detractors will ever understand, which is why it is so desperately sad that you let yourself down by making a scurrilous accusation against the leader of the opposition."

Mirza, who was once a member of the now-defunct Revolutionary Communist Party, worked with Johnson when he was mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, joining him in Downing Street from 2019.

Speaking to Channel 5 News on Thursday before news broke of the other resignations, Johnson said he was "sorry to lose" Mirza, crediting her for "an outstanding job".

Dominic Cummings, Johnson's former chief aide turned bitter foe, said Mirza's resignation was an "unmistakable signal the bunker is collapsing" as the "partygate" allegations swirl.

M.Delgado--TFWP