Red Wall voters rage at Boris Johnson ousting

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson may have announced he will resign, but it could be a while yet until he is officially out of No 10. The treasurer of the 1922 Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clinton-Brown, believes Dominic Raab should now be caretaker Prime Minister in an “ideal world” but conceded that “ship has sailed”. He added: “We must now live with the fact that Boris Johnson will be Prime Minister until a successor can be voted on.” Conservative MPs are not the only group hoping to see the back of Mr Johnson – figures in the EU have long been celebrating the Prime Minister’s downfall.

When it was reported last month that Mr Johnson was to face a no confidence vote in his leadership, many in Europe revelled in the chaos going on in Westminster.

Jeroen Lenaers, a Dutch MEP with the European People’s Party, said: “Johnson’s departure would be good news for anyone who cares about the relationship between the EU and the UK.”

But he also warned: “We don’t know who would replace him, and it could be better or worse.”

Mr Lenaers continued: “I saw a British Prime Minister who was in great difficulty in his own country and tried to use Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol to his own political gain.

“He made very cheap political considerations for his own political gain.”

Terry Reintke, vice-president of the Greens, echoed the sentiment of Mr Leanaers.

She said: “Boris Johnson has proven again and again to be an unreliable partner in the negotiations with the EU.

“He has undermined the trust not only of international allies and friends, but most of all of the people in the UK.

“No matter how the no-confidence vote will end tonight, we need a fresh start for EU-UK relations.”

François Alfonsi, a Green MEP from France said the Tory Party as a whole was to blame for the mess.

He said: “What happens in the UK is a palace revolution at the heart of the Conservative Party.

“Johnson was not in favour of any acceptable compromise with Europe, but the responsibility goes mainly to the Tory Party and his replacement with another Tory would not improve things.”

Many in the EU were furious at Mr Johnson’s Government for its approach to Brexit.

Brussels said last month it would commence legal action against the UK over plans to overwrite parts of the Brexit agreement.

Mr Johnson published a bill to give ministers new powers to override elements of the Northern Ireland protocol.

Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president, said at the time: “Let there be no doubt: there is no legal nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement.

“Opening the door to unilaterally changing an international agreement is a breach of international law as well. So let’s call a spade a spade: this is illegal.”

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Mr Sefcovic also said the UK had not “sat down at the table with us since February” nor seen any constructive ideas since March last year.

Now that Mr Johnson is on his way out, more MEPs in Brussels have expressed their joy.

Bernd Lange took to Twitter to take aim at Mr Johnson.

He said: “Finally. End of an undignified spectacle. It was Boris Johnson only about maintaining power and one’s own ego.

“Staging + escalation instead of solution-oriented politics. Enough of the British theatre thunder. We need a fresh start. Relationships EU – UK & practical solutions for the implementation of the NI protocol.”

MEP and Brexit critic Guy Verhofstadt added: “Things can only get better.”

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