Some call it politics, but, in reality, it is whether or not the government that is left after the purge is corrupt or honestly competent.
25 July 2019
By Hilary Clark
Dubbed the “night of the blond knives” (click here) after the new prime minister’s famously unruly hair, 18 of the 29 ministers who sat round the table of the now-departed leader Theresa May won’t be sitting in Johnson’s pro-Brexit war cabinet.
Some, like the former finance minister Philip Hammond resigned, others were pushed.
While many of the senior cabinet appointments were expected, no one had predicted quite so many sackings including that of pro-Brexit Liam Fox from his job as international trade secretary.
“The problem is the more you sack, the more enemies you’ve got behind you – that’s the danger of getting such a big clear out,” Liberal Democrat peer Richard Newby told Sky News.
“He has made a lot of promises, hasn’t he? Probably more than there are jobs so he’s got to get rid of anybody to whom he has not made a promise and that’s probably the biggest feature.”
Johnson, one of the architects of Brexit, will have just 98 days to reach a new departure agreement with the European Union over Brexit, or, as he has threatened, crash out without a deal....
