Another resignation letter

Another political resignation letter has last week been written and sent both to its addressee, Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, and also more generally to the ‘general public‘. This time it is from the man who headed as its Chairman the Conservative Party organisation, Oliver Dowden The context is that last week there were two by-elections and the Conservative party lost both of them catastrophically, a clear indication of dissatisfaction with the government, and probably particularly with what is known in the mass media as ‘partygate’.

This resignation letter is as pointed in a ‘forked’ way as the resignation letter commented on in last week‘s blog. It stresses loyalty to the Party, but also says that someone has to take responsibility for the election defeats. Clearly Dowden is suggesting that Johnson should have done and his resignation has been made to emphasise that. In more ordinary political circumstances such letters would indicate a clear breaking of ranks, and would likely precipitate resignation of the person being addressed. Clearly the attributes of Boris Johnson are such that he is impervious to such influences at least in a public forum.

Last updated: 30 June 2022