‘Boris’s career seems over’ as ‘UK government explodes’: Europe’s front pages declare ‘it is time for Johnson to go’ as continent reacts to ministers quitting
- Shock resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid made headlines across Europe
- Verdict was overwhelmingly negative, as papers said Boris’s ‘days are numbered’
- Johnson’s government ‘exploded’ and his ‘career seems over’, two headlines said
- Only Germany’s Welt said anything vaguely positive: ‘Johnson refuses to leave’
‘Boris Johnson’s career seems over’ after his government ‘exploded’ with the shock resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, leaving him ‘hanging by a thread’.
That is the grim verdict on the Prime Minister’s future from Europe’s press today as columnists across the continent speculated on how much time he has left in office.
Their verdict: Not long.
Repubblica: Boris Johnson’s career seems over, according to one of Italy’s largest newspapers reporting on the shock resignations of Sunak and Javid
El Pais: Johnson’s government has ‘exploded’, was the headline in one of Spain’s largest newspapers this morning
Der Tagesspiegel: Berlin’s largest paper headlined with a quote from MP Andrew Bridgen, who said last night that it is ‘time for Boris to go’
Perhaps the most-damning assessment came from the Italians, who know first-hand what a collapsing government looks like after a turbulent few years of their own.
‘Boris Johnson trembles, that’s why his career really seems over,’ ran the headline in La Repubblica, one of the country’s largest and best-respected newspapers.
Johnson’s government is ‘hanging by a thread’ added rival daily Corriere della Sera, while newswire Ansa said Downing Street is ‘in pieces’ after the shock exits.
‘Boris Johnson’s government explodes due to the trickle of scandals that corner the prime minister,’ is how Spanish broadsheet El Pais summed up a day of drama.
Rafael de Miguel, the paper’s London correspondent, said the resignations ‘mark the beginning of the end of Boris Johnson’ – describing him as rushing to ‘plug the leaks’ in his administration by appointing Nadim Zahawi as Chancellor.
‘With Zahawi at his side, he may survive, at least until after the summer,’ Miguel adds, but believes the ‘continuous calamities’ that surround Mr Johnson will surely see him sink sooner or later.
Berlin’s largest newspaper Tagesspiegel writes that ‘Britain falls into a government crisis’, saying that ‘under Johnson’s leadership, the Conservative Party is not seen by the public as value-led, nor does it serve the national interest.’
‘It’s time for Boris to go,’ the paper’s headline says, quoting from Tory MP Andrew Bridgen who spoke out against Mr Johnson last night.
Daniel McConnell, the Irish Examiner’s political editor, penned an opinion piece in which he declared that Mr Johnson’s ‘days are numbered.’
Any normal Prime Minister would have resigned after two of his most-senior ministers quit the government, Mr McConnell writes, but Boris ‘is not normal’.
‘He is a liar, a cad, and a serial cheat,’ the column continues, and has managed to survive plenty of scandals up until now.
But, Mr McConnell says, it now appears ‘likely’ that Mr Johnson is facing his ‘inevitable demise’.
The Irish government, he adds, ‘will be perfectly happy to see him go’ – hamstrung, as it is, by wrangling over post-Brexit customs checks that Mr Johnson agreed to.
Irish Times: Shock resignations of Sunak and Javid ‘spell the end for Boris Johnson’, according to the lead story in the Irish broadsheet
Corriere della Sera: Johnson is ‘handing by a thread’, according to analysis of the latest political scandal by one of Italy’s biggest newspapers
‘Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resignations spell the end for Boris’ is the Irish Times’ headline, while the Irish Independent says he is ‘battling to save his leadership’.
Johnson is ‘reeling’ according to Spain’s La Vanguardia, while Germany’s Der Spiegel says he is ‘on the edge’.
French newspapers Le Figaro and Le Monde say the Prime Minister is ‘weakened’ as the ‘ranks of rebels continue to grow’.
Only one newspaper, Germany’s Die Welt, has anything even vaguely positive to say: ‘Johnson refuses to leave Downing Street’, is its headline.
The Prime Minister ‘showed no signs of relinquishing his post as of Tuesday night’, the paper writes, suggesting that Mr Johnson could gamble it all on a snap election that would give him a mandate to continue in office.
‘The Conservative Party must face the pressing question of how dangerous Johnson is now to its own power,’ the paper adds.
Die Welt: Virtually the only paper with anything positive to say, the German outlet noted that Mr Johnson ‘shows no signs of relinquishing his position’
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