Health Ministers Sajid Javid and Finance Ministers Rishi Sunak announced their resignations a few minutes apart on Tuesday evening, tired of the repeated scandals that have rocked the government for months.

In the process, other members of the less senior government also threw in the towel, including the Secretary of State for Children and Families, Will Quince, bringing the number of departures to a dozen.

Weakened but determined to stay, Boris Johnson will defend his post at noon (11:00 GMT) in Parliament during the weekly session of questions to the Prime Minister, which promises to be electric.

He will then face the chairmen of the main committees of the House of Commons, including some of his most vocal critics within his Conservative party.

The latter resigned last week after being accused of touching two men.

After claiming the opposite, Downing Street admitted on Tuesday that the Prime Minister had been informed as early as 2019 of old accusations against Mr Pincher but that he had "forgotten" them when naming him.

In announcing his resignation on Wednesday, Will Quince explained that he had "no choice" after having repeated "in good faith" in the media elements ultimately "inaccurate" from Downing Street on this affair.

Schools Secretary Robin Walker, also resigning, wrote to Mr Johnson on Wednesday that the government's "great achievements" had been "overshadowed by errors and questions about integrity".

"Integrity" in question

A point also raised by Mr. Javid, 52, who judged that the British were entitled to expect “integrity from their government”.

The departure of his finance colleague, Rishi Sunak, 42, comes in a particularly difficult economic context, in the midst of a crisis in the cost of living in the United Kingdom.

Boris Johnson quickly replaced the two resigners by appointing his Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi to Finance and Steve Barclay, hitherto in charge of government coordination, to Health.

Britain's new Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi leaves Downing Street in London on July 5, 2022 JUSTIN TALLIS AFP

Ministers loyal to him reaffirmed their support, such as Nadine Dorries, in charge of Culture.

It is sometimes "easy to leave", but "much more difficult" to implement reforms for the country, Nadhim Zahawi said on SkyNews on Wednesday.

Despite these marks of support, will Boris Johnson be able to survive this umpteenth crisis, he who has always refused to consider resigning?

In the Telegraph, former Brexit secretary David Frost, who left in December, called on him to resign because "if he hangs on he risks dragging the party and the government down with him" .

Already significantly weakened by the Downing Street party scandal during the pandemic, Mr Johnson survived a vote of no confidence from his own camp a few weeks ago.

There have been several sexual cases in Parliament: an MP suspected of rape was arrested and then released on bail in mid-May, another resigned in April for watching pornography in Parliament on his mobile phone and a former MP was was sentenced in May to 18 months in prison for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy.

British Health Minister Sajid Javid in Downing Street in London, July 5, 2022 JUSTIN TALLIS AFP

The departure of these last two deputies caused partial legislative elections and heavy defeats for the conservatives.

And this while the party had already suffered a very poor result in the local elections in May.

The economic context is also particularly delicate, with inflation at its highest for forty years, at 9.1% in May over twelve months, and social unrest.

According to a poll by the YouGov institute on Tuesday evening, 69% of British voters believe that Boris Johnson should resign.

© 2022 AFP