The government led by Theresa May is shaky more and more. After the resignation of Dave Davis, minister in charge of leaving the European Union, de facto the man who had the Brexit negotiations in hand, the Foreign Minister also decides to throw in the towel Boris Johnson.
“This afternoon, the Prime Minister accepted the resignation of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. His replacement will be announced shortly. The Prime Minister thanks Johnson for his work,” Theresa May's office said in a statement.
The official resignation came minutes before the Downing Street number one hearing in the House of Commons on Davis' previous departure and appointment to her post as Dominic Raab.
Instead of Johnson, however, May has chosen by surprise Jeremy Hunt, hitherto Minister of Health, considered a "moderate" Tory on the European dossier, as well as a figure loyal to the premier, while Johnson has always been one of the leaders of the Eurosceptics.
Two of the key characters of Brexit therefore leave their office in disagreement with the policy of the British Prime Minister who had announcedor an agreement with the EU aimed at maintaining close trade relations. An agreement which, according to some members of the Government, including Davis and Johnson, could put the United Kingdom in a position of weakness in the negotiations with Brussels.
"For me it was a question of principle - said in the morning the now ex-minister Davis - It would have been up to me to defend this project and in good conscience I could not negotiate and promote a strategy that in my opinion cannot work". In fact, according to him, May would have “made too many concessions to the EU. I fear that Brussels will now take everything we offer and ask for even more, because they always do that. I hope my resignation will lead to a rethinking of strategy and too close alignment with EU rules in the future”.
The close exit of two ministers puts May in serious difficulty, whose government could, according to the BBC, potentially plunge into "a real crisis".
Let us remember that Johnson is not just any politician, but one of the artifices of the victory of the “Leave” at the 2016 Brexit referendum alongside Nigel Farage, who however walked out on politics a few months after the consultation.
The announcement has not caused any particular shocks on the markets for the moment: the London Stock Exchange rises by 0,4%, while the euro/sterling exchange rate settles at 0,88 (+0,3%).
