"He's talking nonsense!" The two British Prime Ministers engaged in a verbal altercation. Richie Sunak | Johnson | Prime Minister
According to Agence France Presse on June 12th, British Prime Minister Richie Sunak was embroiled in a public verbal altercation with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson on June 11th, with the focus on Johnson's controversial nomination for honors over his main political ally.
According to reports, Johnson's highly anticipated list of political honors was announced on the 8th, including Brexit loyalists and even those involved in the "Party Gate" scandal that led to his resignation last year. But there were a few expected candidates missing from the final list, which led the Johnson camp to accuse Sunak and Downing Street of intervening before submitting the list.
A spokesperson for Sunak told reporters that this accusation - that the Prime Minister and other officials removed Johnson's name before submitting it to the House of Lords Appointment Committee - is "completely untrue.".
According to reports, Sunak subsequently fiercely criticized Johnson, accusing him of demanding that he overturn the committee, which rejected Johnson's eight nominations for non elected members of the House of Lords.
Sunak said at a technology conference in London, "Boris Johnson asked me to do something I wasn't prepared to do because I don't think it's right."
According to reports, Johnson countered in a statement, saying, "Richie Sunak is talking nonsense."
The report suggests that Johnson's list of resignations and honors - usually passed by the prime minister's successor with a wave of his hand - has sparked new factional infighting within the ruling Conservative Party.
Political observers believe that Johnson's resignation as a member of parliament is a retaliation for Sunak's use of "party doors" and a series of other scandals to force him to step down in July last year.
Johnson's two undelivered allies, former Minister of Culture Nadine Doris and fellow Conservative MP Nigel Adams, have both resigned from their parliamentary positions.
Johnson also resigned as a member of parliament, claiming that his political opponents framed him in a cross party investigation aimed at finding out whether he lied to the parliament about the party held by Downing Street in violation of the COVID-19 epidemic prevention regulations.