UK prime minister Boris Johnson was clinging to power on Tuesday night after chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid resigned from the cabinet within minutes of each other.
A number of junior government members also quit, with many Tory MPs believing the ministerial mutiny could signal the beginning of the end for Johnson.
But there was relief in Downing Street when a number of other senior figures — including deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, foreign secretary Liz Truss, defence secretary Ben Wallace and levelling-up secretary Michael Gove — indicated they were staying. Johnson immediately began reshuffling his cabinet.
Javid and Sunak’s resignations came after Downing Street was forced to admit that Johnson had been personally briefed about past allegations of sexual misconduct by the now disgraced former Conservative deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.
The truth is now starting to catch up with Johnson. Conservative MPs believe Johnson’s premiership is approaching its end; last month more than 40 per cent of MPs expressed no confidence in their leader and cabinet unity has broken. Still, Johnson’s instinct will be to hold, writes Robert Shrimsley.
Full text: Read the damning letters with which Sunak and Javid announced they were quitting Johnson’s government.
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Five more stories in the news
1. BYD overtakes Tesla in global electric vehicle sales BYD, the Chinese carmaker backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has dethroned Elon Musk’s Tesla as the world’s biggest electric vehicle producer by sales, signalling China’s rising dominance over the sector.
Go deeper: Analysts view the rise of China’s domestic car industry as a forerunner to a tectonic shift in the global auto market as Chinese EV makers start to sharpen their focus on export markets.
2. Sequoia Capital China targets $9bn fundraising China’s premier venture capital group is close to raising $9bn to plough into start-ups desperate for cash, defying global investor apprehension about Beijing’s zero-Covid policies, a crackdown on technology groups and heightened geopolitical risk.
3. Twitter launches legal challenge to Indian government Twitter is challenging the Indian government in court for the first time over its orders to block tweets and accounts, saying some were excessive and outside the scope of officials’ legal authority. The legal fightback is a potential test case in the struggle between social media platforms and prime minister Narendra Modi’s government.
4. South Korean consumer prices rise at quickest rate since 1998 South Korea’s consumer prices rose 6 per cent in June from a year earlier, the fastest rate since November 1998 and up from a 5.4 per cent increase in May. Rising inflation has put intensifying pressure on the Bank of Korea to deliver the first 50 basis point rate rise in its history.
5. Norway government halts oil and gas strike Norway’s government has intervened to end a strike by oil and gas workers that threatened to slash production at a time when Europe is scrambling for supplies to offset cuts to Russian output.
Oil market: Oil prices dived on Tuesday, falling by the most in almost four months, as a broad sell-off in commodities markets reflected fears that an economic downturn will undercut fuel demand.
The day ahead
Hong Kong leader faces first legislative Q&A Chief executive John Lee will hold his first question and answer session with lawmakers. Lee has requested to limit the scope of the questioning to seven specific areas. (Hong Kong Free Press)
Fed minutes The US Federal Open Market Committee will publish the minutes of its June meeting. Details from the meeting may give further clues about the extent to which the central bank is willing to tighten monetary policy.
Women’s Euro 2022 The tournament, which kicks off in England today and runs through to the end of the month, is expected to set records for a broadcast audience for women’s football as well as attendance figures in the 10 stadiums that will host the 31 matches.
We are now accepting entries for the High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2023. Apply for a place in the fifth annual FT ranking, compiled with Statista.
What else we’re reading and listening to
My garlic for a home Developers in some parts of China have in recent weeks promised to accept stocks of garlic — as well as watermelons, wheat and barley — as down payments from farmers on new apartments. The food-for-property barter deals reflect increasing desperation among real estate developers after a sharp fall in the industry.
Knocking on the door of a porn empire Financial pressure pushed porn giant MindGeek to alter its practices radically. But one of its biggest rivals changed almost nothing. For this episode of the Hot Money podcast, reporter Patricia Nilsson travels to the company’s Prague headquarters to understand why.
Related read: Moscow’s fresh wave of missile attacks has rekindle Kyivans’ fear.
Who pays for climate change? A Peruvian farmer is suing German utility RWE for the emissions it produced over 124 years, which he argues contributed to warming that threatens his hometown Huaraz. The case is just one of a ballooning number of climate-related lawsuits that have been filed since the Paris Agreement was signed six years ago.
How close is Russia to taking Donbas after the fall of Luhansk? The fall of the entire Luhansk province was hailed as a victory by Vladimir Putin. But it is a symbolic more than a strategic one, say military experts. The Russian president is still a long way from his objective of “liberating” the whole of the Donbas region, of which Luhansk is one half.
Hong Kong’s IPO market still lags behind other exchanges The central problem is that Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has focused overwhelmingly on the same disruptive Chinese internet and digital platform companies that were left reeling after an intense crackdown from Beijing. As with so much in Hong Kong, the city’s IPO market must increasingly take its direction from the mainland, writes Hudson Lockett.
Work & Careers
Some of the most successful CEOs share a pattern of leaving the company they started — and returning again. Apple’s Steve Jobs and Superdry’s Julian Dunkerton are among their ranks. Meet the founders with the boomerang factor.
Source: Economy - ft.com
