Boris Johnson quits: How will his replacement be elected?

In the wake of deepening cabinet mutiny in the United Kingdom government over his handling of a series of scandals, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation.

Johnson's colleagues have been unsparing to him, although he apologised a couple of days ago for appointing Tamworth MP Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip in February this year. Controversy broke out after Pincher reportedly groped two male colleagues on June 29 at a private Tory MPs club in London in an inebriated condition. He had to resign on next day. Coincidently, there was a similar complaint of sexual misconduct against the MP in 2019. 

On July 1, Johnson apologised. But that did not convince his Cabinet colleagues who were peeved at the fact that Johnson appointed him as the deputy chief whip despite knowing about Pincher's involvement in the sexual misconduct. 

What made matters worse was that Downing Street initially claimed that the prime minister had no idea of the misconduct, but a day later it clarified that Johnson did know about the charges that were 'either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint'.

The mutiny erupted with the resignations of health secretary Sajid Javid and chancellor Rishi Sunak. Till last reports, over 50 cabinet members had stepped down.  

What next for Johnson?

Since the confidence vote was held last month, Johnson is immune from another leadership challenge until June next year. With a flurry of ministers quitting the government, the prime minister was forced to resign from his post and pave the way for a leadership contest for his replacement.  

In that case, the 1922 Committee will have to set the timetable for the leadership contest.

For a Tory MP contestant, he/she has to be nominated by eight colleagues. If there are more than two leaders in the race, except two, all can be whittled down through secret voting. 

The winner will become the Conservative Party leader and the prime minister. The process takes several weeks. 

The 1922 Committee Executive, the head of the group of Conservative backbench MPs, could alter the rules to hold the confidence vote soon. 

The cabinet members and ministers who resigned include:

* Chancellor Rishi Sunak

* Health secretary Sajid Javid

* Welsh secretary Simon Hart 

* Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis

* Education ministers Will Quince Alex Burghart and Robin Walker

* Solicitor general Alex Chalk

* Treasury ministers John Glen and Helen Whately

* Justice minister Victoria Atkins

* Environment minister Jo Churchill

* Housing minister Stuart Andrew,

* Levelling up ministers Kemi Badenoch and Neil O'Brien

* Business minister Lee Rowley

* Culture minister Julia Lopez

* Work and pensions minister Mims Davies

* Home Office minister Rachel Maclean

* Equalities minister Mike Freer

* Health minister Edward Argar

* Security minister Damian Hinds

The Parliamentary private secretaries who resigned include:

* Northern Ireland Office Jonathan Gullis and Mark Logan

* Department of Health and Social Care Saqib Bhatti, 

* Department of Transport Nicola Richards

* Welsh Office Virginia Crosbie 

* Department of Transport Laura Trott

* Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Felicity Buchan

* Treasury Selaine Saxby, Craig Williams and Claire Coutinho

* Department for Education David Johnston and Sara Britcliffe

* Department for Levelling Up Duncan Baker

* Scottish Office Ruth Edwards

* Department for International Trade Peter Gibson

* Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs James Sunderland

* Department for Levelling Up Jacob Young

* Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Mark Fletcher

* Department for Work and Pensions James Daly

* Department for Levelling Up Danny Kruger

* Department of Health and Social Care Others Gareth Davies

* Vice-chairman of the Conservative Party for youth Bim Afolami

* Trade envoy to Morocco Andrew Murrison

* Trade envoy to Kenya Theodora Clarke

* Trade envoy to Angola and Zambia David Duguid

* Trade envoy for New Zealand David Mundell.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Attorney General Suella Braverman and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had urged Johnson to step aside. Johnson, who came in power about three years back with a thumping majority, is facing one of the worst crises in British political history. He has suffered a bigger rebellion than Theresa May. Last month, he narrowly survived a confidence vote among Tory MPs. Since he became the prime minister in 2019, a total of 66 MPs have left the government, which is 14 more than the 52 resignations during the whole of Theresa May's leadership.